World War II Database

A few months ago, I reviewed Chris Bishop's book German Panzers in WWII. I enjoyed the detailed maps and the orders of battle for each major campaign that might not be so easy to find in reference books. Fast forward a few months, I thought I would give another book in the same series, "Order of Battle", a try.

Not surprisingly, Bishop took almost an identical approach to German Infantry in WWII as the previous book on armored units. The book was divided in chapters by major campaigns, noting the command structure down to the division level, while color charts noted typical infantry company and platoon structures by platoon type. The detailed color maps remain my most treasured pages of the book. I found the narratives easy to read and they provided some historical context, although given the context of the book, personally I would have not have minded if Bishop had done away with the very brief primer on each campaign, and instead devoted more effort to the infantry. German infantry training, for example, was completely missing from the book, which would have made a better addition to the book than the brief descriptions of events leading up to each campaign. Tactical play-by-play of major engagement would have been welcomed as well; this weakness seemed to have been carried from the prior book on armored units.

Overall, although I find myself wanting a little more than what the author provided, I still consider German Infantry in WWII somewhat of an useful reference to keep handy.