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Feb. 16th, 2022 08:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qatsiBook Review: Engineers of Victory, by Paul Kennedy
This was the second of the books that were loaned to me at Christmas. There is, in fact, surprisingly little overlap for books apparently considering a similar theme, so it was worth reading both. Kennedy's book focuses on the practical side of things, with each chapter entitled How To..., discussing the obstacles faced and innovations steering the Allies toward victory in the Second World War. Although there's some range of time, there's a framing from the Casablanca conference at the start of 1943 through to mid-1944.
The first chapter contains some relatively familiar material, concerning the Battle of the Atlantic, but Kennedy emphasises that a combination of factors came into play, including but not limited to Enigma decrypts, which Kennedy feels have disproportionately caught the popular imagination. Improved radar, improved weapons on convoy escorts, improved air cover, and a more assertive strategy in chasing down U-boats when they were encountered, all played a part.
Later chapters deal with the air war (particularly the devlopment of the Mustang fighter), land-based blitzkrieg (emphasising improvements in the T-34 tank), preparation for amphibious landing (including special-purpose tanks to deal with mines and other beach obstacles), and the peculiarly Pacific problem of the "tyranny of distance" (tackling the thousands of miles and/or infeasible land routes separating Japan from Allied territories). As such, many of the problems encountered and solved were human as much as scientific, and "engineering" is used as a very broad term. Where Hartcup's book is rather dry, it does give the background on scientific progress and research; in this book, that context is missing, but conversely, the writing is more engaging and shows how practical solutions were developed.
This was the second of the books that were loaned to me at Christmas. There is, in fact, surprisingly little overlap for books apparently considering a similar theme, so it was worth reading both. Kennedy's book focuses on the practical side of things, with each chapter entitled How To..., discussing the obstacles faced and innovations steering the Allies toward victory in the Second World War. Although there's some range of time, there's a framing from the Casablanca conference at the start of 1943 through to mid-1944.
The first chapter contains some relatively familiar material, concerning the Battle of the Atlantic, but Kennedy emphasises that a combination of factors came into play, including but not limited to Enigma decrypts, which Kennedy feels have disproportionately caught the popular imagination. Improved radar, improved weapons on convoy escorts, improved air cover, and a more assertive strategy in chasing down U-boats when they were encountered, all played a part.
Later chapters deal with the air war (particularly the devlopment of the Mustang fighter), land-based blitzkrieg (emphasising improvements in the T-34 tank), preparation for amphibious landing (including special-purpose tanks to deal with mines and other beach obstacles), and the peculiarly Pacific problem of the "tyranny of distance" (tackling the thousands of miles and/or infeasible land routes separating Japan from Allied territories). As such, many of the problems encountered and solved were human as much as scientific, and "engineering" is used as a very broad term. Where Hartcup's book is rather dry, it does give the background on scientific progress and research; in this book, that context is missing, but conversely, the writing is more engaging and shows how practical solutions were developed.