I Read Books: The Hinges of Battle

The sequel to Durschmied’s The Hinge Factor has my favourite of his anecdotes*.

The focus on older battles is perhaps a little disappointing. To generalise, I find the chapters where he has a personal stake most interesting. For example, the Stalingrad section is clearly important to him as his father served on the Eastern front. The Afghan section has a handful of interesting details (though maybe not as many as the book length treatments The Return of a King or Signal Catastrophe) from his time as a war correspondent there in the 80s. And the Diên Biên Phu section is clearly improved due to his having interviewed General Giap.

(This despite the fact that he’s not that impressed with Giap as a general)

Read This: For another set of interesting historical stories.

Don’t Read This: If historical hinge points and battles are of no interest to you.



* Reproduced below.