July-August - Air Defense Artillery

A SOLDIER'S STORY. By General of
the Army Omar N. Bradley. Henry
Hall and Company. 640 pp.; $5.00.
\ Videlv acclaimed as the best of the
field commanders' stories to come out of
\Vorld War II, General Bradley's book
achieves a delicate balance in outlining
the many-sided forces and factors that
entered into the winning of the \Var.
1\lany reviewers have laid stress upon
the author's carefully weighed analysis
of the personalities im'olved in the allied
high command and the honest differences
among them. The book, taken as
a whole, places these observations in
their proper relationship to the over-all
story that General Bradley so capably
tells.
Those who participated in campaigns
against Nazi Germany will regard this
as their story too. For many, General
Bradley's book is the first account of the
complex considerations and the action
taken at top levels of command which
resulted in the ensuing operations in
which they played a part.
Nothing could be more lucid and
simple than the author's presentation of
his story. He deals frankly with controversial
questions that other military
writers might be pardoned for by-passing.
Yet no one can possibly take offense
at any of the views or reactions expressed.
\\'here the author has been
forthrightly critical, he has never been
disparaging and he is quick to accord
recognition to the best qualities and per-
formance of dutv amono those of the
, 0
American and Allied forces who carried
the heavy burden of command through
to the final victory.
The reconciliation of differences between
allies and between the separate
branches of our own forces was a problem
that constantly rose to plague the
top planners. General Br3dley describes
an amusing conference among Air Chief
l\Iarshall Tedder and General T oocv
Spaatz with the author and General Pa~ton
in Gafsa, North Africa. U. S. ground
forces under Patton's command, had re-
66
BOOK REVIEWS
Silver Star
FIRST L1EUrENANT STEPHEN A. MATEJOV,
while a member of Battery A, 15th AAA AW
Bn. (5P). distinguished himself by gallantry
in action against on armed enemy near
5agu-ri, Korea, an 17 November 1950. On
this date, the platoon which Lieutenant
Matejav commanded was providing close
support for the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry.
He led a section of his platoon at the head
of a column which was advancing north
against the enemy. At about 0950 hours, the
paint was fired upon from positions on both
sides of the road. This intense fire came
from automatic weapons and small orms.
With complete disregard for his awn personal
safety, Lieutenant Matejov immediately left
the relotive security of his M-19 and pro.
ceeded under heavy fire to a forward position
from which he was better able to spot
the sources of the enemy fire. He remained
in his exposed position for a period of one
and a half hours spatting enemy targets and
placing his 40mm and .50 caliber fire thereon.
His coolness and heroism under fire enabled
his platoon to moss its fires on numerous en.
emy targets, and the destruction thereof 01.
lowed the column to continue its northward
attack with dispatch. His display of gallantry
reflects great credit an himself and the mili.
tory service. x x x State of New York.
ceived heavy raids by the Luftwaffe and
the meeting had been called to "explore
the need for improvement in Allied
fighter cover and air support."
'Tedder had scarcely repeated the air
force claim of Allied air supremacy in
the Mediterranean theatre when four
Focke-Wulf-190's sped in over the city.
Strafing the streets of Gafsa, they stampeded
a camel caravan past our door.
At the end of their run they dropped
their bombs. Plaster flaked from the ceiling
and when we went to open the door,
I found that the concussion had wedged
it tightly shut.
'Tedder packed his pipe, looked up
mischievously from the table, and smiled.
Tooey looked out of the window. He
turned to Patton and shook his head.
'i'\ow how in hell did you ever manage
to stage that?'
"'I'll be damned if I know,' George
shouted back, 'but if I could find the
sob's who flew those planes, I'd mail
them each a medal!' "
In preparing for the Sicilian invasion,
much difficulty was encountered by staff
planners in arranging for the distribution
of available space for the shipping
of material to the landing beach.
"Artillery asked to bring guns ashore
e\'en at the expense of engineer troops.
Engineers demanded bridging ashore
even at the expense of antiaircraft guns.
And antiaircraft asked for more guns
even at the expense of quartermaster
trucks .. each demanding a larger share
of the lift, each contending that if its
particular allotment were cut, the whole
invasion might fail."
The conflict between personalities of
the arms and services involved and the
honest differences of opinion that required
careful consideration of the planning
staff are presented in an interesting
and sympathetic manner.
General Bradley's book makes the
most of the human interest factors. I-lis
simplicity, humility and abundant good
humor are revealed throughout. It is
certainly among the most important historical
works yet to be produced in the
military field.-R. W. O.
ROCKETS, MISSILES, AND SPACE
TRAVEL. By Willy Ley. The Viking
Press, Inc. 436 pp.; $5.95.
\Villy Ley might easily be called the
modern Jules Verne; however, he, unlike
Verne, verifies and justifies his predictions
with scientific and engineering
facts now known. All artillerymen who
are interested in extending the capabilities
of existing cannons will be fascinated
by this book.
In preparing Rockets, 1'1'1 issiles, and
Space Travel, the author devotes considerable
space to historical development.
1\luch of this history lies within the
boundaries of Germany, Ley's native
land until the advent of Hitler. In addition,
the efforts of Goddard, though,
have not been overlooked by the author.
Later developments in the United
States are described, within security limitations.
Some of the more recent and
better known missile projects, such as
ANTIAIRCRAFT JOURNAL