Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Make for the Hills: Memories of Far Eastern Wars by Sir. Robert Thompson

Make for the Hills: Memories of Far Eastern Wars by Sir. Robert Thompson is the autobiography of this counterinsurgency expert. He was the RAF liaison with the Chindits in Burma. He was a supporter of Wingate in the postwar controversies. After the war he rejoined the Malayan civil service and helped defeat the Communists during the Malay emergency. He was then off to Vietnam providing expertise to the British and US government's. Particularly Richard Nixon. There is some "I told you so" but it's done in a rather unoffensive way. Although I tend to agree with his analysis so that probably helps. There's quite a bit here on the failure of the Americans to change their style of war fighting to defeat insurgency. If you are at all interested in counterinsurgency this is a necessary book on your bookshelf.

Highly recommended!

For more WWII book reviews Take a look at My World War II bookshelf.

For reviews take a look at My Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Partisan and Guerrilla Warfare bookshelf.

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