Books on Tactics

[dhuffjr]

Let's start a list of books you have found helpful in learning real world tactics that can be applied to TacOps.

One to start is The Mechanized Battlefield: A Tactical Analysis Edited by Lieutenant-Colonel J.A. English, Major J. Addicott, and Major P.J. Kramers. Published by Pergamon-Brassey's.

 

[tinjaw]

Armor Attacks : The Tank Platoon: An Interactive Exercise in Small-Unit Tactics and Leadership by John Antal is a good read. Along with his others.

I am currently reading The Defense of Hill 781 by James R. McDonough.

There are some good suggestions here, here, and here.

I also have purchased, but not yet read Iron Fist: Classic Armored Warfare Case Studies by Bryan Perrett, Maneuver Warfare: An Anthology edited by Richard D. Hooker, Jr., The Art of Maneuver by Robert Leonhard, Combined Arms Warfare in the Twentieth Century by Jonathan M. House, and Sun Tzu and the Art of Modern Warfare by Mark McNeilly.

And by all means do not forget the PDFs that are installed with TacOps. The Major picked those for a reason.

 

[dhuffjr]

Those are some good links. I thought I would start this thread here to go with the question by Don about tactics.

I forgot to add Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army by Isby. There is Red Thrust by Zaloga that is quite good as well. I have several more that I can't recall of the top of my head....I'll have to rumage around the next couple days to compile a better list.

Dennis

 

[Hub]

Combat Team: The Captain's War by John Antal

 

[MajorH]

The following was lifted from the TacOps User Guide. The information is now about six years old and probably omits some good newer titles.

TacOps Reading List

By Major Holdridge and Kyle Mizokami

Q: Can you recommend some good references for TacOps that I might be able to find at my local bookstore?

A: I don't know of anything on OPFOR that might be locally available. The best reference on OPFOR (OK, OK the Former Soviet Union) is "Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army" by David C. Isby. Every modern wargamer should have this book. It is thick and has lots of photos. I can not recommend it enough. It can not often be found on the shelf of a popular bookstore, but I am sure they could order it for you. Also worth ordering are "Soviet Airland Battle Tactics" by William Baxter, and "Red Thrust" by Steven Zaloga.

For US weapons and tactics, good titles that you might find locally would be "Iron Soldiers" (paperback) by Tom Carhart - a real fun read, "Crusade" by Rick Atkinson, "Armor Attacks" and "Infantry Combat" (large format paperbacks) by John Antal, "Tank Attack: A Primer of Modern Tank Warfare" (large format paper back) by Steven Zaloga, "Desert Storm Ground War" (large format paper back) by Hans Halberstadt, and "From Shield to Storm" by James Dunnigan.

You might also call the Marine Corps Association at 800 336-0291 and order their book called "Mastering Tactics" by Major John F. Schmitt, USMCR. $11.95 for Association members and $14.95 for non-members. This is a 8 1/2" x 11" work book that breaks down 15 of the Tactical Decision Games that appear every month in the Marine Corps Gazette. The scenarios cover everything from squad to battalion level engagements with detailed maps and the book includes an excellent Table of Organization for the USMC.

As a general rule, anytime you see a book by David Isby or Steven Zaloga - buy it. They give good scoop, and they don't puff up their work with casual speculation.

These are fiction paperbacks but for modern weapons and tactics info they are better than a lot of nonfiction works: "Team Yankee", "Sword Point", and "Bright Star" all by Harold Coyle, and "Red Storm Rising" by Tom Clancy.

Other References:

Nonfiction: World War II
Infantry Attacks, Erwin Rommel
Panzer Battles, Gen. F.W. von Mellenthin
War as I Knew It, Gen. George S. Patton
A History of the Blitzkreig, Bryan Perrett
The Heights of Courage: A Tank Leader's War on the Golan, Avigdor Kahalani

Nonfiction: Persian Gulf War
Certain Victory: The U.S. Army In the Gulf War, BG Robert H. Scales, Jr.
Iron Soldiers, Tom Cathart
Crusade, Rick Atkinson
The Desert Shield Fact Book, Frank Chadwick
Triumph Without Victory: The Unreported History of the Persian Gulf War, staff of US News and World Report

Nonfiction: OPFOR Weapons and Tactics
Soviet Airland Battle Tactics, William Baxter
Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army, David Isby
Inside the Soviet Military, Cary Schofield
Inside the Soviet Army, The Liberators, Victor Suvorov
Red Thrust, Steven Zaloga

Nonfiction: Weapons and Technical, also General Interest
Armored Cav, Tom Clancy
Armies of NATO's Central Front, David Isby and Charles Kamps
Strike Force: USMC Special Operations, Agostino von Hassell
Airborne: Assault From the Sky, Hans Halberstadt
Mud Soldiers: Life Inside the New American Army, George Wilson
Weapons Systems, US Army 1992, Government Printing Office

Nonfiction: Osprey Books
Inside the US Army Today, Gordon Rottman and Ron Volstad
Inside the Soviet Army Today, Steven J. Zaloga and Ron Volstad
Desert Storm Special #1: Land Power, The Coalition and Iraqi Armies, Tim Ripley
Panama 1989-90, Gordon Rottman and Ron Volstad
Warsaw Pact Ground Forces, Gordon Rottman and Ron Volstad

Nonfiction: Strategy, Operational Art, and Grand Tactics.
Forward Into Battle: Fighting Tactics From Waterloo to the Near Future, Paddy Griffith
Strategy, B.H. Liddell Hart
Maneuver Warfare Anthology, James D. Hooker, ed.
The Art of Maneuver, Robert Leonhard
Maneuver Warfare Handbook, William S. Lind and Michael Wyly
The Art of War, Sun Tzu (any translation)

Fiction:
Red Storm Rising, Tom Clancy
Team Yankee, Bright Star, Trial By Fire, The Ten Thousand, Harold Coyle
Arc Light, Eric Harry
Fire Arrow, Franlin Allen Leib
Red Army, The War in 2020, Ralph Peters.
The Defense of Hill 781, James McDonough

 

[Redwolf]

Here is what improved my play:

"Armor attacks" by John Antal. Very good one, but note that the second book in the series (the infantry one) appears to have errors in the flow of decisions and results, I didn't like it nearly as much as the Armor one. The third one (the captains War) is in between, closer to the first one.

Steven Zaloga - "Red Thrust"

David C. Isby - "Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army" (good for formations and other lower-level, i.e. tactical, results of Soviet thoughts)


Ken Tout - "Tank!"

Richard E. Simpkin - "Deep Battle: The Brainchild of Marshal Tukhachevskii" (hammers in the lesson to not only focus on what you see. This book is more useful on the tactical level than it appears).

Charles B. McDonald - "Company Commander"

 

[tinjaw]

Closely Related Question

I have the 1981 Book Club Edition of "Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army" by David Isby. I heard there was also a different edition of this book, but I cannot remember which edition was supposed to be the better one. If it is the '81 BCE then great. If it the other edition, which edition is that and is it worth paying for if I already have the '81 BCE?

 

[Redwolf]

I have the 1981 Book Club Edition of "Weapons and Tactics of the Soviet Army" by David Isby. I heard there was also a different edition of this book, but I cannot remember which edition was supposed to be the better one. If it is the '81 BCE then great. If it the other edition, which edition is that and is it worth paying for if I already have the '81 BCE?

I don't think there was anything newer. You might think of the Western counterpart.

 

[MajorH]

My edition is copyright 1988 and has a forward that is also dated 1988. Don't know how different it is from earlier editions.

 

[John Osborne]

My copy is dated 1981.

John

 

[Redwolf]

Doh, half of us have the old stuff :crosseye:

Class war!

 

[Tripler]

It's not necessarily on tactics per se, but my suggestion is an awesome primer for a beginner, or even a decent refresher for a veteran: "How to Make War" 3rd Ed. (c) 1993, by James F. Dunnigan. (ISBN 0 688 12157 8).

Damned good book in that it taught me the essential strengths and weaknesses of every single type of unit, system, and platform in the inventory. A good read if you've got the time.

Tripler
I'll have to see if there's a more revised edition. . .

 

[tinjaw]

I'll have to see if there's a more revised edition. . .

Yes. There is a fourth edition. I have purchased all four editions over the years and love each one.

 

[dhuffjr]

My edition is copyright 1988 and has a forward that is also dated 1988. Don't know how different it is from earlier editions.

I have both the 81' and 88' editions. For the most part the 88' version is the same. There is of course new equipment listed as well as new pictures. On the whole obviously the old version is better than nothing but if opportunity presents itself I would grab the second edition.

Dennis

 

[Hub]

I just found this book at a thrift shop:

Dragons at War: Land Battle in the Desert by Capt. Dan Bolger (Ivy Books)

It's about the 1-83 Rotation at the NTC in Oct/1982. I just started it, but I can already tell it's going to be good. Interesting in that it depicts fighting using equipment about 1-1/2 to 2 generations old now, like the M-60, M113A1, M-47 Dragon, etc. Full of maps and drawings- a chapter describes what happened in each of 13 simulated actions during the rotation, what went right, and what didn't...

cont'd

I'm about 90% through the book- if you are interested in TacOps, then you will be interested in this book. It's listed in Amazon.com for $.01 (used) and up...