BOOK REVIEW : SUPPLYING WAR.

I have had this book since its original publication in 1977. It is one of my favourite books which gets re-read regularly and undoubtedly strongly influenced my passion for military logistics in the horse drawn era. The book covers the development of logistics from the campaigns of the 1650s through to Western Europe in 1944 but with strong emphasis on Napoleons invasion of Russia in 1812, the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, Germany's invasion of France and Belgium in 1914 and Germany's invasion of Russia in 1941.

 The level of detail is fantastic, even down to a calculation of the number of standard forage wagons needed to provide the daily rations for the horses of just one of the German armies invading Belgium in 1914. (984 !!!!!) The book provides a significant alternative point of view on why the selected campaigns failed, or indeed even managed to get going at all, which demonstrates clearly that generalship, strategy and tactics are virtually irrelevant if the logistical foundations are lacking. On the other hand, Napoleons advance to Moscow was actually a triumph of horse drawn wagon based logistics, it only went wrong on the retreat.

It is a common belief that logistics were a minor issue during the horse drawn era and that some how or other armies just got by and in any case logistics only became a significant constraint on military operations with the advent of motor transport and modern quick firing weapons. This book clearly demonstrates the fallacy of that view but also convincingly shows that horse drawn wagons could in fact indefinitely support huge campaigns  provided only that the distance from railhead to front line remained modest. This is further reinforced by the book, Retreat from Gettysburg, that I reviewed previously.

If you have any interest in logistics especially in the horse dependant world, this book is a must read as indeed I think it should be for all the 18th and 19th century wargamers out there who's current table top battles take no account what so ever of logistics thereby rendering the results fundimentally flawed.

UPDATE.

At last I have time to update my blog. The decorating has finished, at least for the time being. That is to say that only the kitchen is left to do and that is subject to  the new kitchen we are having, until that is finalised I can not finish painting as I have no wish to paint areas that will be covered up by new units or indeed vice versa.

Anyway, I have had some "play" time recently and progress to date is as follows. The third of the Cavalry upgrades has been completed at last and I have just started building the fourth of the six batches. Work has also continued on upgrading various vehicle types as outlined in  previous post. Following the reorganisation mentioned in my last post, I am currently working on the first of my new Infantry battalions. The new structure requires 12 new Infantry battalions and creation of 24 Heavy weapons companies for existing Infantry battalions. The remaining Infantry battalions have already been provided with a Heavy Weapons company by means of breaking up the old Heavy Weapons battalions.

During the rest of today I will be writing some reviews covering the books I have read over the past several weeks as well as updating the organisation posts for the various units impacted by the reorganisation referred to above. I hope to now get back into posting every week and maybe even starting the long planned posts on Imagi Nations.

UPDATE.

Hello again !!!!!!! Yes I am still here although I could be mistaken for a professional house painter !!!!!!

Over the past three weeks I have been feverishly painting for 13 days, spent four days away on a mid week break to Kent and the other days were taken up with family/social activities. Only today have I had any real "play" time since I last posted on the blog.

In terms of modelling all I have managed to do is continue with equipment upgrades as previously described and finally complete the upgrade to my Medical battalions. These extra 132 soldiers will be issued to units over the weekend once the paint is dry. No progress has been made on the Cavalry upgrades at all.

Other than that I have spent several odd hours reviewing the overall organisation of my armies based on a number of "wargaming" experiences over the past year or so. Usually I just list these "ideas" as they occur to me and consider them at leisure. There were several inter related ideas and I have finally decided to implement them all at the same time. Digressing for a moment, I should explain my "wargaming" experiences. As previously mentioned, I have always played out battles and campaigns in my head rather than on a tabletop. It is my intention to write a series of posts about these activities under the heading of Imagi Nations, just as soon as I have time. Some of these posts will describe those campaigns and battles within the overall context of the imaginary world my armies inhabit.

That said, I have learned many useful lessons during those battles, which I will of course discuss in the Imagi Nation articles,  that give rise to organisational changes and it is those lessons I have now decided to implement. In essence the major changes are; 1: elimination of Heavy Weapons battalions and reallocation of heavy weapons to all Infantry battalions, 2: creation of some additional Infantry battalions to give each Infantry Brigade (Division) a better balance , 3: elimination of  Artillery Brigades as separate units, the Field Artillery battalions have been reallocated to Infantry Brigades and the Heavy Artillery battalions have been reallocated as Army troops.

I have completed the paperwork  detailing the new structure, with an Army of 46,000, good records are essential !!!!! I have also created the work sheets outlining the additional troops and vehicles to be built. I  will update the various unit organisational tables elsewhere on this blog as soon as possible. Overall the changes require about 5,000 new soldiers and 400 new vehicles or equipments. As my decorating duties are nearly finished, (how pleased am I ) I hope to be able to properly restart my modelling activities in another week or so. I also have a raft of book reviews to write as of course my reading has continued despite all the decorating.

If you like this blog, please let me know,  even if not, I would still very much like to have your comments please, all are welcome.