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Strategy & Tactics Quarterly #34 - Sealion: Plan to Invade England w/ Map Poster
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Sealion: Lost Opportunity or Disaster Averted? Hitler's Germany had achieved an unimaginably rapid victory over France in the spring of 1940 to gain complete domination of western Europe. Britain alone held out, secure—or so it seemed—behind the moat of the English Channel. German planners had already made preliminary studies for an invasion of the island, but these were more in the nature of contingency plans than serious operational proposals. That changed in July when Hitler called for an invasion—Operation Sealion—to be carried out that fall. This issue will examine the inception, planning, preparations, and likelihood of success. The invasion will also be placed in the larger context of the war, to include the possibility the invasion was a bluff, either to push Britain to the negotiating table or distract the Soviet Union, plus proposed alternatives for defeating Britain such as the aero-naval blockade of Britain and Grand Admiral Raeder's Mediterranean strategy.
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Strategy & Tactics Quarterly #33 - Armies of the Dark Ages
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Armies of the Dark Ages. An in-depth examination of warfare in the twilight era of the Roman Empire and beginning of the Dark Ages (roughly, AD 476 to 732), centering around the legendary King Arthur who may have been a British warlord. The central theme will be the relative efficiency of the warlord armies of this era as the older Roman professional system fell apart in the wake of the barbarian invasions. There will be an analysis of the weapons and tactics of the era, as well as the rise of great military leaders. Great battles will be included: Badon Hill (Britons against the Saxons), Nechtansmere (Anglo-Saxons against the Picts which decided the fate of what would become Scotland), and Tours (Charles Martel against the Arabs). A contrast will be made with the contemporary Byzantine military system and professional generals such as Belisarius. Also covered will be the various Arthurian legends and how they influenced warfare from the Middle Ages to the modern day.
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Strategy & Tactics Quarterly #32 - October War 1973 w/ Map Poster
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October War: Big Battles in the Middle East. Some of the biggest tank battles of the 20th century occurred during the 1973 October War, where an Egyptian-Syrian alliance took on the Israelis. The Arab forces performed much better than they did in the previous 1967 war, and the STQ will look at the reasons why. It also will look at how the Israelis adopted new tactics to deal with the threats on the Sinai and Golan fronts. There are a number of lessons from the war, including the impact of precision guided weaponry and electronic warfare—all of which would influence the development of US AirLand Battle doctrine. There is also the bigger picture, with the 1973 seen as part of the wider Cold War. Special topics will include the US airlift of arms to Israel, and the possibility of the October War leading to a superpower confrontation.
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Strategy & Tactics Quarterly #31 - Rosecrans versus Bragg w/ Map Poster
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Rosecrans verses Bragg: Stones River to Chickamauga. The American Civil War in late 1862 through September 1863 generally focused on Grant’s battle to take Vicksburg and the Mississippi and Lee’s invasion of the North that culminated at Gettysburg. A third large Union Army, though was active in the middle of the country, where Union General William Rosecrans fought Confederate General Braxton Bragg through Tennessee and Northern Georgia. The campaign started with the battle of Stones River (Murfreesboro, TN) through the Tulahoma advance and culminated in the massive battle of Chickamauga. The quarterly will take detailed looks at the forces deployed and their internal issues as well as the battles they fought.
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Strategy & Tactics Quarterly #30 - Mediterranean Campaign 1940–1941 w/ Map Poster
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War in the Mediterranean: The WWII war in the Middle Sea was a significantly neglected topic, with the naval war primarily focused on supply, with the British aiming supplies at the island of Malta to keep it protected and the Italo-Germans supplying men and material to North Africa. The complexion of the war changed many times due to fortunes of war and strategic decisions by the belligerents.
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Strategy & Tactics Quarterly #29 - Ottoman Empire w/ Map Poster
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From Constantinople to the Great War: Rise and Disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. This is a follow-on to the Byzantium STQ, covering events from the 1453 Ottoman Turkish conquest of Constantinople through the early modern struggles for the Mediterranean, Europe and the Middle East, to the end of the Empire in World War I. Great battles such as Lepanto, Malta and Vienna are analyzed, as well as elite forces like the Janissaries and Knights of St John. Along the war are Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion of Egypt and the US wars with the Barbary Pirates. A major emphasis is on the military and political factors behind the ascendancy of the Ottoman Empire, then how the Turks lost this as the European powers advanced with the emerging scientific revolution.
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Strategy & Tactics Quarterly #28 - The First Indochina War w/ Map Poster
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The First Indochina War: From 1946 to 1954 the French fought a long and ultimately doomed war in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. In the end, they went down to defeat at Dien Bien Phu, but there are many lessons to be learned. The STQ will the background of the French colonization of Indochina, the Japanese occupation of World War II and the rise of Ho Chi Minh, and special forces, Viet Minh propaganda, plans for US intervention and sections on alternative strategies for both sides.
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Strategy & Tactics Quarterly #27 - Grant’s Overland Campaign, May-June, 1864 w/ Map Poster
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Grant’s Overland Campaign, May-June, 1864: The Union Army of the Potomac's hard-fought campaign from the tangled forest of the Wilderness just south of the Rapidan River to the James River in the spring and summer of 1864 was the climatic struggle in Virginia during the American Civil War. Hard fought military operations such as the Wilderness (May 5-6), Spotsylvania (May 7-12), the North Anna (May 13-25), and Cold Harbor (May 26-3) traced the bloody path that would ultimately lead Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia to defend the Confederate capital of Richmond, thus forfeiting the advantage of maneuver to counter the Army of the Potomac's superiority in numbers and material.
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Strategy & Tactics Quarterly #26 - Alternative Strategies w/ Map Poster of World War I
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This issue presents a year-by-year analysis of the major strategic decisions made by The Central Powers and the Triple Entente during World War I. It examines the primary alternatives considered by each side for each year, analyzing where they could have done better. Topics covered include: dominant theories of strategy in 1914, the failure of the Schlieffen Plan, Britain's entry into the war, the 1915 and 1917 U-boat offensives, the Gallipoli campaign, the British Blockade and the neutrality of Scandinavia, the Somme offensive, Verdun, and the 1918 German "Kaiser's Battle" offensives. Sidebars also explain how tactical and technical developments affected both sides' strategies.
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Strategy & Tactics Quarterly #25- The Fall of Rome w/ Map Poster
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The Fall of Rome One of the most momentous events in history is the Fall of Rome, usually slated as occurring in the year AD 476. But what exactly happened? Why did the Roman state, which stood for a thousand years, collapse in the face of a series of incursions from over the Rhine and Danube? This issue will explore a wide range of factors. The state of the Roman army in the fifth century AD was potentially a very effective force with an expanded cavalry army. The political structure of the Empire will be examined with the division between east and west, the stratification into a military caste system, and the increasing deals with invaders who were given their own kingdoms within the borders of the empire. Also, great leaders like Stilicho and Aetius, and even emperors such as Honorius (often blamed for the disasters of the early 5th century) and Zeno whose Eastern Empire survived the collapse in the West.
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