Bøker av Paddy Griffith

Historians have portrayed British participation in World War I as a series of tragic debacles, with lines of men mown down by machine guns, with untried new military technology, and incompetent generals who threw their troops into improvised and unsuccessful attacks. In this book a renowned military historian studies the evolution of British infantry tactics during the war and challenges this interpretation, showing that while the British army's plans and technologies failed persistently during the improvised first half of the war, the army gradually improved its technique, technology, and, eventually, its' self-assurance. By the time of its successful sustained offensive in the fall of 1918, says Paddy Griffith, the British army was demonstrating a battlefield skill and mobility that would rarely be surpassed even during World War II.Evaluating the great gap that exists between theory and practice, between textbook and bullet-swept mudfield, Griffith argues that many battles were carefully planned to exploit advanced tactics and to avoid casualties, but that breakthrough was simply impossible under the conditions of the time. According to Griffith, the British were already masters of "e;storm troop tactics"e; by the end of 1916, and in several important respects were further ahead than the Germans would be even in 1918. In fields such as the timing and orchestration of all-arms assaults, predicted artillery fire, "e;Commando-style"e; trench raiding, the use of light machine guns, or the barrage fire of heavy machine guns, the British led the world. Although British generals were not military geniuses, says Griffith, they should at least be credited for effectively inventing much of the twentieth-century's art of war.

Argues that, far from being the first 'modern' war, it was the last 'Napoleonic' war, and that none of the innovations of industrialized warfare had any significant effect on the outcome.

From 1940 to 1943 North Africa saw the first major desert campaign by modern mechanised armies. The British, Italians, German Afrika Korps and US Army all addressed and learned from the special problems human, logistical, mechanical and tactical of the desert environment, most significantly fighting in a terrain empty of resources and offering little chance of concealment. Paddy Griffith traces the fast-learned development in armour, artillery and infantry tactics in this exceptional arena and illustrates them with references to the major engagements in the North African theatre, which involved some of the greatest tacticians of World War II in one of the pivotal theatres.

Provides an analysis of the preparation of the French troops from manual regulations to the training ground, as well as a study of the changing quality of command and control within the army. This book explores the role of the French infantry at the apex of their powers and their role in these key battles.

Following the early battles of 1914 along the Marne and in the Ypres salient. World War I rapidly transformed from a war of movement into one of attrition, with the opposing sides entrenching themselves in a line of fortified positions from the Flanders coastline to the Swiss border.

Dunkirk, Toulon, Perpignan, Verdun and Brest stand out among the many historically significant sites created by Sebastien LePrestre de Vauban (1633-1707). This book examines the achievements of this pivotal figure in fortification history, exploring the sites and their subsequent significance.