Featured battle : Stormberg

Part of The 2nd Boer War (or Three Years War)

Date : 10 December 1899

The first of the 'Black Week' battles. The British under Gen Sir William Gatacre were sent to re-take Stormberg Junction which had been taken by the Boers and threatened to stir the Cape Afrikanders into rebellion. Gatacre's planning and organisation were hopeless and after very little preparation on the 9th, a night march followed by a dawn attack was ordered. It soon went terribly wrong, troops got lost and most retired. Many, however, were not told to withdraw and at dawn were soon gathered up by the more organised Boers.

The Third Reich in 100 Objects

Roger Moorhouse
The format of covering a topic through the photographs of 100 objects with an explanation of their context succeeds or falls on the knowledge followed by the depth of research done by the author. This book by Roger Moorhouse succeeds in so many ways. To steal a phrase from advertising it ‘reaches the parts that other books don’t touch’. There are evaluations of the well known objects such as the Tiger tank and the V1 rocket but Hitler’s moustache brush and Eva Braun’s lipstick case also feature. And who knew that the long-johns of Rudolf Hess were examined by the Ministry of Economic Warfare to see if there was any propaganda value to be got from them. The range is all encompassing from submarines to resistance postcards the military and civilian life of the Third Reich is exposed. With only a page or two about each objects the ground covered is not exhaustive but there are four pages of bibliography to guide the reader who wants to know more.
There are 258 pages with references for each entry and there are, in addition to the photographs of the objects, a lot of supporting photos.
The caution is that if you have a few minutes to read one entry you get drawn into the next and the next. This book is that readable.
We highly recommend it.
[see also reviewed on this site Napoleon in 100 objects another good read]

Greenhill Books, 2017