Commando Strike: The Story of Amphibious Raiding in World War II - Hardcover

MACKSEY, Kenneth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0436270250 ISBN 13: 9780436270253

Publisher: Leo Cooper, 1985

Synopsis

Leo Cooper in association with Secker & Warburg, London [Published Date: 1985]. First Edition. Hardcover, xvi, 227 pages, plus 19 unnumbered pages of plates; black and white illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.. [From front jacket flap] Kenneth Macksey is not the first military historian - though he is among the few - to have realized that as much can be learned about the conduct of the Second World War by the examination of what was planned, but never happened, as by the endless re-examination of what actually took place. His detailed research, in England and in America, into the development of Amphibious Raiding Forces, presents a fascinating and unrevealed insight into the extraordinarily haphazard way in which this form of irregular warfare evolved on both sides of the Atlantic. In the background stand the politicians, who show little consistency of purpose or harmony of intent; nearer the foreground senior officers reveal inter-Service rivalry and no little degree of personal animosity, as much in London as in Washington. Between them, and the brave men to whom this book is a tribute, and whose exploits are retold in their after-action reports, stood innumerable problems which the author examines in detail: inadequate supplies, lack of information about weather, beaches and tides and, most vitally, about the opposition likely to be encountered, which caused many planned raids to be stillborn and many others to end in disaster. In recreating the atmosphere of the raids themselves Kenneth Macksey has relied exclusively on the written records of those who took part, taking the view that the passage of years is liable to colour the memory. In dealing with the internecine wrangles of the "Top Brass", it is not inapposite to quote from his Introduction: " . . . the causes of shortcoming in the publication of recent history are often the result not only of the demand to protect national security, but also the need to avoid defamation of living individuals." Most of those individuals are now dead and their endeavours, however well-intentioned or misjudged, can now be weighed in the balance, as, indeed, can the hitherto unsung, and sometimes hilarious exploits of the true heroes of this absorbing book.

Edition details

• Publisher: Leo Cooper
• Publication date: 1985
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0436270250
• ISBN 13: 9780436270253
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256