Brute Force: Allied Strategy and Tactics in the Second World War - Hardcover

Ellis, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670807737 ISBN 13: 9780670807734

Publisher: Viking, 1990

Synopsis

Argues that the Allies' World War II triumph was due not to leadership, but to industrial capacity, demonstrating that Allied commanders were outclassed and incapable of using their numerical superiority efficiently

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

Ellis's argument, backed with statistics, is that the Allied victory in WW II was the inevitable consequence of enormous advantages in manpower and materiel, but that the deployment of this overwhelming force was so maladroit that the war dragged on longer than necessary. In his lucid summaries of the major campaigns (Blitzkreig, Battle of Britain, Eastern Front, Battle of the Atlantic, Bomber Offensive, Mediterranean, Northwest Europe, Pacific) the author is highly critical of the conduct of Allied operations, charging British General Bernard Montgomery, for instance, for overcautious tactics, and RAF Marshall Arthur Harris with "insane insistence" on area bombing. Ellis ( Cassino: The Hollow Victory ) contends that the U.S. Navy ignored the speediest and most cost-effective way to defeat Japan, choosing to squander resources in the Central Pacific instead of strangling the country economically by severing its access to the raw-material deposits in the East Indies. The book's pragmatic interpretation is convincing, and fundamentally changes the received wisdom about WW II.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Ellis ( Cassino: The Hollow Victory, LJ 6/1/84) has matured from military reporter to serious combat analyst. In this sober but readable study he concludes that the wartime triumphs of the Allies were due less to their battlefield skills than to their enormous industrial capacity. In all World War II combat theaters, he argues, Allied tactics on the ground, sea, and air were crude and wasteful, dependent upon abundant firepower rather than training and finesse. This viewpoint is not new, but Ellis buttresses it with formidable statistical proofs that will be grist for countless future debates. He freely overstates his case, possibly for emphasis, and greatly overpraises the Germans, but his basic premise is well and forcefully presented. Highly recommended to public as well as academic collections.
- Raymond L. Puffer, U.S. Air Force History Prog., Los Angeles
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0670807737
• ISBN 13: 9780670807734
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 643