'The Shape of Battle' by Allan Mallinson
Allan Mallinson calls war “the most complex human interaction ever known”—a startling statement until you grasp his point about the numbers of people war can involve. Not just soldiers on the battlefield or in support roles, not just politicians, but to some extent entire societies are implicated. The British author focuses on six “significant feats of arms” from the medieval Battle of Hastings to Operation Herrick in Afghanistan—from stalwart shield lines to Chinook heavy-lift helicopters. It can be enlightening to read about familiar “American” engagements—D-Day, Korea—from a British point of view.
Afghanistan will be of particular interest. By 2006 British participation had less to do with 911 than with saving face with their U.S. allies—who had already dragged the Royal Army into the morass of Iraq. In rural Afghanistan, British troops confronted guerilla Taliban forces feared by the villagers and moving undetected among the civilian population. Mallinson writes that U.K. forces were under-resourced by a government wary of spending too much money, blind-sighted by lack of local cooperation, menaced by IEDs, yet they pressed on during Operation Herrick and achieved their objectives. The challenge of combat can stimulate unexpected resourcefulness. Mallinson praises the Danish contribution to the operation—a country that “hadn’t been at war since 1864”—proved tactically superior than the Brits.
The campaign Mallinson describes in detail was a tactical success, but as he reminds us, the NATO forces in Afghanistan were continually asked the same question by the Afghans, “How do we know you’ll stay?”
