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In Defense of the Sherman's Reputation, 3 stars (Amazon)

Robert A. Forczyk, December 22, 2015.

Steven Zaloga’s Panzer IV vs Sherman: France 1944 is another good addition to Osprey’s Duel series. This volume does not really break new ground, but offers a textured and insightful additional layer to understanding armored combat in Normandy in 1944. Both the German Pz IV and the American M4 Sherman have been covered in earlier Duel-series titles, so sections such as design and development are somewhat curtailed and the focus on how the respective tanks were modified in 1943-44. A usual with a book by re

Through the Maelstrom: A Red Army Soldier's War on the Eastern Front, 1942-1945 (Modern War Studies), by Boris Gorbachevsky. (3 stars)

There are not a great many first-person memoirs written by junior Soviet soldiers from the Second World War translated into English, so just about any account promises to reveal new facets of the war on the Eastern Front to Western readers. Boris Gorbachevsky's Through the Maelstrom is such a memoir, recounting the author's service in a variety of rifle divisions during 1942-1945. However, Gorbachevsky spent the bulk of his war as a regimenta

Recommended, 5 stars. (GoodReads)

Russia’s War in Afghanistan is mainly outdated but it has its value a a historical document, making for a good journalistic account. The author makes a good job in presenting both sides, especially the many different Afghan guerrilla groups. The most interesting aspect, in my opinion, is the author's prediction (the book was written in 1986) that the war would last some 20 years and that nobody ever won a war of atrittion against Russia (Soviet Union at the time but the author keeps calling it Russia); the author also concedes that the Mujahideen are tough fighters and should not be underestimated.

The bo