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Title: Supplying War : Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton by Martin van Creveld ISBN: 0-521-29793-1 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 12 December, 1979 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.6 (15 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A must-have for military history enthusiasts
Comment: At first glance, the method of commenting and explaining the complex matter of military logistics trough a very limited number of specific examples (Wallenstein and Patton, but also Napoleon and Hitler's Russian Campaigns in beetween... and some others)may seem ineffective. Logistics are a matter wich has proven hard to grasp even to some great field commanders (Rommel, to say one) so it is difficult to study it through easy , almost textbook examples, using very limited mathemathics (if you passed primary school exams, you can tackle them). Yet this book does. It does not explain a general theory of logistics : it shows there' s not a general theory, only partial models useful in a special historical and technological situation. And it does not tell it to you through the marketing-style tables you'd expect, but through almost annedotic examples,fun to read and fun to ponder. Did you know almost all the bullets Napoleon's Army carried in the campaign to Wien remained unfired ? And that in the same campaign problems arised from shortage of bread... and from his Marshall's disobedience ? L' Empereur had ordered his front line cavalry squadrons to take supplies only from the (more or less willing) villages on one side of the road, to leave the other side for those coming behind. He was simply not obeyed, and this caused supplying havoc afterwards. And Hitler would perhaps not have attacked Russia, if he only attempted the simple calculations shown in this book, showing he simply had not enough fuel and trucks. Read it.
Rating: 5
Summary: the best book about the history of logistics
Comment: Martin Van Creveld provides an interesting overview of how logistics influenced the outcome of miltitary operations. The first part of the book deatils warfare during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the armies had to keep advancing in order in replemish their supplies. If the army stayed in the same area over a large amount of time such as Napoleon's army in Moscow, than the army would run out of supplies. This situation did not change during the Franco-Prussian War in which the Prussian army had to scrounge for food at the outskirts of Paris. All though food remained a problem for the armies there was always a plentiful supply of ammunition since armies of the 18th and 19th centuries expended very little of it. Martin Van Creveld makes some surprising claims in the later part of the book describing twentieth century warfare. Martin Van Creveld believes that the Schlieffen Plan was doomed to failure because of the logistical constraints of the German army. Because most of supplies delivered to the German army were by rail, the desturuction of the railways impeded their advance. Also German planners made no plans to deal with the massive traffic jams in Belgum. The next chapter Van Creveld has an revisionist appraisal of the Germany invasion of Russia in 1941. Van Creveld believes that Germany had the supplies to deal with winter warfare but the inability to transport them across Russia. Due to the difference between German and Russian rail tracks and maintance problems of German engines the supplies never reached the front. Van Creveld strongly criticizes Rommel's handling of the North Africam campaign. Rommel advance to far for his supplies to be replenished. The problem of supply duirng the North African War was that the supplies had to be delivered by trucks that were highly vulnerable to air attack. When Rommel tried to solve the problem by taking Tobruk, he only made matters worse. The ships that arrived at Tobruk were in range of Allied aircraft and as a result sunk. The final Chapter, Van Creveld evaluates Allied operations in Western Europe. Van Creveld believes that Patton's success had to due with the fact that Patton ignored logistic officer's plan for a slow a orderly pace but instead took advantage of the situation to advance quickly. Van Creveld theorizes that Montgomery's narrow front approach could have logistically reached Northwest Germany but were have not captured Berlin. I would highly reccomend this book for anyone who wants a new and interesting perspective about operations during the First and Second World Wars.
Rating: 4
Summary: Accountants, Gamblers and Thieves
Comment: Studying this book one gets the distinct impression that some of the most acclaimed military men in history were gamblers with a lucky streak or in other words very successful thieves, who solved their own supply problems by stealing it.
That is how Napoleon did it while he was winning, but when he organized his own supply for the Russian campaign he lost. Likewise the Prussian general staff got a reputation for perfect planning while in the field the army operated by chaotic requisition. The Schlieffen plan was unworkable from the start, Patton won by stealing from his neighbor units and ignoring the supply bureaucrats and Rommel overextended himself without a chance of winning ...
Interesting perspectives that give lot of food for thought - even if they may be somewhat biased. For example when Creveldt blames the German general stuff for not preparing the Russian campaign properly he claims that Hitler 's decisions made sense ....
It is a pity that the book stops in 1944; Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf war would be very interesting by comparison.
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Title: Moving Mountains: Lessons in Leadership and Logistics from the Gulf War by William G., Lt. General Pagonis, Jeffrey L. Cruikshank ISBN: 0875845088 Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 1994 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Feeding Mars: Logistics in Western Warfare from the Middle Ages to the Present (History and Warfare) by John A. Lynn ISBN: 0813318653 Publisher: Westview Press Pub. Date: 01 November, 1994 List Price(USD): $39.00 |
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Title: Command in War by Martin van Creveld ISBN: 0674144414 Publisher: Harvard University Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 1987 List Price(USD): $21.50 |
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Title: Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army by Donald Engels ISBN: 0520042727 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 1981 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: TRANSFORMATION OF WAR by Martin L. Van Creveld ISBN: 0029331552 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 31 March, 1991 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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