Customer Reviews

The Biographical Dictionary of World War II Generals and Flag Officers: The U.S. Armed Forces

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2 star:		(1)
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Good thumbnail sketches of those included, but many names ommited, enough (over 100) to warrant a supplemtary volume. Just a few of the flag Officers not included are Vice Admirals Charles Seymour Freeman, Marc Andrew Mitscher, William Robert Munroe, and George Dominic Murray. I would value highly a revised edition.

This is an excellent and invaluable resource for World War II historians. Nevertheless, as another reviewer mentioned, there are some noticable ommissions which make it frustrating to use. I agree that a revised edition, or a supplementary edition should be printed to make up for those mistakes. Nevertheless, this is a volume that every World War II historian should have on his shelf!

It may come as a surprise, that with the millions of words written about World War Two, there has not heretofore been a biographical dictionary of American generals and flag officers. This work admirably fills that gap, giving for each officer date and place of birth, education, date and type or branch of commission, early assignments, schools attended, career details, commands, decorations, and date of death, all in a highly convenient and compact form. An essential book for World War Two buffs, military history readers and writers, wargamers, students, and researchers.

I was excited to hear of this work, even knowing of the omissions mentioned by other reviewers. When I got the book, I found it to be full of errors, most notably in the section on naval officers. These errors range from the typographical (inconsistent use of italics, spelling errors, etc.) to the factual (incorrect promotion dates/assignments). The appendices at the end also have errors. For example, the appendix on "flag officers who died in WWII" omits at least two admirals, including one whose death is mentioned in his entry in the body of the book. I understand that with so many entries mistakes will slip through even the most careful editing, but the number of errors indicates the editing apparently wasn't all that careful, in my opinion. Use caution if this is your only source on a particular officer.