Michael B. Tyquin

The campaign content is here it is just hard to follow. Tyquin certainly knows his stuff with regard to the structure and operational environment of the areas he presents on. However, I'm disappointed with this book. It was nearly so much more. There would be not much more effort to make this a great book even 5 stars. Much information is in the book... but is hard to get out.

Tyquin has covered the campaign in Greece very well and has many supporting maps and figures. Unfortunately these figures fall short because they require detailed reading of the passages (sometimes in a future chapter) to interpret. Having more information such as dates and times associated with unit movements would have made these maps excellent. Information boxes often have a lot of blank space, there is nearly always an extra paragraph or two that could be added. Some books like the Osprey Series don't have a spare cm. This book could fit so much more in just with the editing.

The book does not follow a linear path. It deals with separate actions but does not tie this in clearly with simultaneous missions. This makes the tactical environment clear but completely loses where each action fits the strategic situation.
Just some extra editing and little more detail would have made this an exceptional book. Instead it is probably best for those with a specific bent on military command procedure. The main staff discussed are the most senior commanders and the middle level commands which were so important on the tactical level are not mentioned.

Now, some points that interested me were the way that Tyquin (being a military man himself) was able to give explanations to why officers took certain actions when they often ended up badly. Other authors such as Mike Carlton in Cruiser are scathing when an officer makes what is the wrong decision. Tyquin regularly demonstrates that individual decisions at the time were often the best ones but that overall they could not have seen these decisions would lead to worse problems in time.

So close to being an excellent book... yet so far.… (meer)