Three years ago, I set out to write a book about World War II, which is a bit like Christopher Columbus setting out to discover Portugal. Global bookshelves are filled with scholarly narratives of the war, and most are so thoroughly comprehensive they leave no stone unturned. But therein lies their drawback. While such 700-page tomes are certainly well-suited for military history enthusiasts, they are beyond daunting for scores of other readers, particularly those keen to understand the broader brush strokes without esoteric analyses of Charlie Company’s assault on Hill 123 or the climbing speed of the Messerschmitt 109E.
The research for this work was painstaking, exhilarating, and far more enlightening than I expected. To borrow a bit from Winston Churchill, never before has one person who thought he knew so much come to realize how little he actually knew. The unfathomable courage on the battlefields was little surprise, but other aspects of the war were a revelation, even to this self-described World War II junkie.
German Horsepower. Like most WWII aficionados, I was aware the Germans pioneered mechanized, “blitzkrieg” warfare, overwhelming early foes with onslaughts of tanks and dive bombers. Such forces were the tip of a seemingly fearsome German spear, but in truth, the spear was a 19th century relic.
The article is not finished. Click on the next page to continue.
