Featured battle : Big Bethel

Part of American Civil War

Date : 10 June 1861

At Big Bethel, near Fortress Monroe, Maj Gen Ben Butler with 7 Union regiments attacked one of J.B. Magruder's outposts on the James peninsula. It was held by just 1,400 Confederates but Union confusion and rebel artillery blunted the attack and drove Butlers troops back. The casualty rate of 76 Union to 8 Confederate went some way to supporting the southern assertion that 1 true rebel was worth 10 'Yankees Hirelings'.

Artillery Warfare 1939-1945

Simon and Jonathon Forty
This book is about big guns and their use from 1939 to 1945. As with their book on Tank Warfare Simon and Jonathan Forty [book reviewed on this site] have given us a super insight into that period. Both theory and practice are covered using original reports on actions, training documents and technical instructions for a wide range of topics. There are useful comparisons, many shown diagrammatically, between weapons and ammunition of different nations. Included also, as very long range artillery, are the V1 and V2 rockets.
A superb eight page Abbreviations and Glossary section at the beginning of the book clarifies all the technical terms and delivers a basic understanding of the fundamentals of artillery.
There are hundreds of photographs and an extensive bibliography.
This book is made special because it is almost encyclopaedic in scope and because of the amount of contemporary material reproduced here without the clutter of ‘wisdom after the event’. From mountain warfare with guns on mules to V2 rockets and everything between makes it well worth a place on anyone's reference shelf.
We highly recommend this work to all levels of readers.


Pen & Sword Military, 2020