Featured battle : Crossing the Medway

Part of Roman Occupation of Britain

Date : 43

The Britons had taken up a defensive position north of the river Medway. They expected the natural barrier to stop the Romans for a time while British reinforcements came up. The river was crossed, swum. by mounted auxillaries almost as soon as they reached it. The Britons were taken by surprise and reacted by swinging their whole force towards the threat. A legion then crossed the river at a different point, established a bridgehead which they were able to hold long enough for the whole of the Roman force to cross. Once the Romans were established in significant numbers the Britons fled.

Battle on the Seven Seas

Gary Staff
Here we have a good read, a narrative of the German cruiser battles 1914-1918, with lots of quotes from the people who were there. Battle locations are world wide from the Pacific to the Black Sea with both global strategy and engagement tactics described. The account of the battle of Jutland, Skagerrak to the Germans, with its focus on the cruisers, is refreshingly different to the usual version of events. Also there are some excellent photographs of the warships including some uncommon ones showing battle damage.
Three things stop this book from being excellent. The first is my very regular complaint about maps. There is an absence of scales on most of the many maps [28 maps only 2 with scales], and a few with too much information which is confusing. However, the six maps which cover the phases of the battle of Jutland are most helpful.
The second is an absence of any detailed description of the ships involved, and I had to turn to my Jane’s Fighting ships of WW1 to get a real understanding of the comparative worth of opposing vessels. A drawing and a specification of each class of cruiser would have been of great help to the general reader. And lastly a glossary of technical terms and abbreviations used, including translations of the many German terms, would have been more than helpful. The addition of these things to the 232 pages would not have made the book unmanageable.
In spite of those criticisms I still think this is a book well worth reading by anyone with an interest in World War One at sea.

Pen & Sword MARITIME, 2018