Review By Martin Koenigsberg
This biography of Mad Mike Calvert is written by a Veteran of the Asian campaigns, and a big fan of the most famous of Orde Wingate’s disciples. David Rooney was a Veteran and a Scholar of WWII, as well as a Sandhurst Lecturer and here he presents Calvert as a misunderstood man with a genius for war- a key conduit for taking Wingate’s bursts of brilliance and turning them into actual activities by real soldiers. Calvert started as an engineer with a flair for blowing things up effectively, and in Churchill’s ” Set Europe Ablaze” there was an audience for it. He felt there was a role for such operations behind enemy lines- and then met Wingate who conceived of large scale ops in this sphere. Rooney tells the story of the Chindits and their two large operations simply and directly in a way that may hold the interest of even the most general interest reader. The only problem I had with Rooney’s enthusiasm for the Chindits and their cause within the British and British Indian Armies was that it WAS a cul -de sac in military thinking. Sending multiple battalion units on long treks on foot became the province of resistance and insurgent forces. Western armies send small team into deep cover- but deliver combat forces by air- guided in by the smaller groups. Wingate was right about the effect of professional soldiers on the rear areas of an opponent- but wrong about how they might be delivered or who might be best for delivering the blow. Accordingly I am less impressed with the Chindit concept than some, and felt this book sometimes waded into hagiographic waters. I’ll let readers decide if they agree with me. There are a lot of adult themes (Calvert may have been a closeted gay man and faced sketchy military charges in later life) and a few graphic discussions of wounds , so this is a book for the Junior Reader over 14/15 years. For the Gamer/Modeler/Military Enthusiast, a real interesting resource. The gamer gets all the Chindit planning and Operation moves, through the eyes of one of the main actors. The modeler gets a lot of diorama ideas. but will need more photo reference works. The Military Enthusiast gets a deep dive on WWII Commando and Chindit planning, training and fighting. A very interesting book on a key Officer of Special Operations in WWII. #WhatAreYouReading #BookReviews #20thCenturyHistory
#MilitaryHistory #BritishImperialHistory #JapaneseImperialHistory #RajHistory #LongRangePenetration #BehindEnemyLines #Chindits #Burma #CBI #PacificWar #WWII #SWW #WWIIHistory #SWWHistory #WargameResearch #MadMike #ALifeOfBrigadierMichaelCalvert #DavidRooney #PenAndSwordMilitary #OperationLongCloth #OperationThursday #SpecialForces #SAS #MalayanEmergency #FlamesOfWar #BoltAction #20thCenturyWargaming
