The Historical Atlas of World War II
This work, a companion to Holt's earlierHistorical Atlas of World War I[RBBAp 15 95], is arranged in the same useful way--a page of text for each full-page map. The outline of the book is chronological, from the 1919 peace settlement to the military events of the period from 1939 to the Japanese surrender in 1945.The bulk of the book consists of about 90 incidents or localities, with a page of text for each and a multicolored map delineating troop movements or other operations. Examples of such incidents are "Guadalcanal" ; "Sicily, July^-August 1943" ; and "Bombing of Germany, August^-May_ 1945." All areas of the world where there was military action are covered.The text is succinct and well written, and the British authors appear to have gone to some lengths to report exactly what took place, regardless of what nation was chiefly responsible. The French contribution, however, is somewhat curtailed. Even the name of the First French Army general, Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, is not given in the text and is therefore not in the index, though it appears on the maps. And that army's bloody losses in the Colmar Pocket are likewise dismissed with "Devers' (American) troops cleared the Germans from the Colmar Pocket." The index lists all Allied units mentioned in the text, and all personal names; place-names are in a separate index. A brief bibliography concludes the work.With its excellent maps, which show terrain elevations, rivers and streams, and other natural features, as well as troop movements with multicolored arrows and lines, this work is recommended for the atlas collection of any library with patrons interested in the war.The Pacific War Atlas[RBBN&V; S 1 95] provides more detailed coverage of that theater of the war.