Third World War, The The Untold Story

	Autor: John Hackett, sir Data publikacji: 1983-11-00 ISBN: 9780553236378 (0553236377) Wydawca: BANTAM BOOKS Wymiary: 17.3 x 10.4 x 3 cm Oprawa: Miękka Liczba stron: 479 33.00 zł
	Ilość:
W przypadku braku książki w magazynie, czas realizacji zamówienia może wynieść 3-6 tygodni.

Opis produktu:
Opis w j. angielskim: Third World War: The Untold Story is a follow on to General Hackett’s World War III, August 1985. General Sir John Hackett and his collaborators have attempted, back in 1978, to portray what a war between the Soviet Union and NATO might have looked like if it had taken place in August, 1985. Its presented as an expansion on the original by looking at some more secondary areas of conflict and by the hypothetical release of classified information. Instead of delving almost exclusively on the fighting in Europe as in the original book, Hackett explores what would transpire in other parts of the globe during his World War III such as Asia and Central America. From a readability standpoint, I find it light years better than his first book on this topic. In the original, he makes very heavy use of NATO acronyms. If you dont know what these mean, the story bogs down into a messy alphabet soup. While Hackett still makes heavy use of the acronyms, he gives them a bit more of a human flavor. So CINCNorth becomes a 52 year old Norwegian general instead of just CINCNorth. He also uses the adventures of a Soviet Infantry Lieutenant to follow the battle in Europe. Things like this make the story much easier to follow. I took away one star for two reasons. First off, the acronym thing is still a problem, just less so. If you dont know NATO lingo, youre gonna spend an awful lot of time looking up what the author means when he refers to SACEUR, AFCENT, AFNORTH, etc. The next problem I have is the chain of events in Europe collapses once NATO counterattacks. Before this point, Hackett goes into significant detail regarding Warsaw Pact forces taking such and such city or crossing certain international borders. Once the Communists are on the run, that all disappears. There are vague mentions of "retaking West German territory" and hints at NATO forces crossing into East Germany, but no detail. There is another issue with this and the previous book. It is very British-centric and mildly conceited. British land forces are presented as the absolute best and the lynch pin of success. The German Army gets kudos as does the Dutch Army. All other NATO armies are presented as mediocre. The US Navy and Air Force make a good showing, but do so primarily through actions and not the author stating they are of high quality. When presenting conflicts outside of Mainland Europe, the author’s patience seems to be very much tied to how vital the area is to the defense of the UK. Fighting in Scandinavia is presented in a very positive manner. Same with operations in the Middle East. Hackett gets harshly critical about activities in South America and makes snide comments about activities in Korea. I suppose this is expected. The author is a long serving British Army officer so such a vantage point makes some sense. Also, his opinions on the various NATO military forces were fairly (though not completely) appropriate for the late 70s-early 80s time frame when this and his previous book were published. I didnt factor these criticisms into my overall rating given there is a modicum of reason to them. Just understand these issues exist. If you want a look at a hypothetical World War II fought between NATO and the USSR/Warsaw Pact, this is almost certainly the best book on the market.