The Pendulum of Battle

Operation Goodwood, July 1944
by
Christopher Dunphie
Pub: Pen & Sword, reviewed by Ian Daglish

First, a disclaimer. I was asked by Pen & Sword to review this new book on a subject close to my heart. Now, Pen & Sword being my own publisher, one might ask if some bias might creep in to my review. However, any positive bias will be compensated by the fact that I myself have just completed a book on the same subject. At least I ought to be up to speed with the subject I am reviewing!

GOODWOOD is an interesting battle in many ways. In particular, it was an attempt to break through the German lines using massed tanks to minimize infantry casualties, using massed strategic bombers as super-heavy battleground weapons. And for almost half a century the battle was studied by NATO as an example of defence in depth defeating just such an overwhelming offensive. 

One of the last serious books on GOODWOOD was John Sweet's 'Mounting the Threat', published in 1977. This was a fairly academic study, now showing its age in light of information that has since come to light. Christopher Dunphie is a soldier rather than an academic, and his approach is very different. Although Sweet was privileged to attend a Staff College Battlefield Tour of the GOODWOOD battlefield (in 1971), Dunphie is even more heavily influenced by the 'BFT' format. Hardly surprising since he was a Staff College instructor.

'Pendulum of Battle' is rich in British Army anecdotes. We find all the classic yarns told by the old soldiers to every year's BFT by such respected old soldiers as 'Pip' Roberts and Bill Close, and finally enshrined in film in 1979 when Staff College decided to capture their tales for posterity. As a readable summary of years of experience of Battlefield Tours, this book works very well indeed. And Dunphie is admirably honest when expressing his own personal views and judgements. Whether discussing the personality of Montgomery or the tactics of Monty's forces, these insights add value to his work. 

One criticism of this book is that it could have been written twenty years ago, and takes little account of information that has come to light in more recent times. Certain key primary sources are acknowledged, but the book also leans heavily on secondary sources that are at best anecdotal and sometimes questionable. While a few of the recently published memoirs have proved useful additions to our knowledge, many more do not stand up to scrutiny, any more than did some tales told during battlefield tours.

Like many (sadly, most) books about the Normandy campaign, this work suffers from numerous errors of detail. Taken individually, these are perhaps not serious. Today's mis-captioned pictures are arguably comparable with the British inability in 1944 to identify enemy tanks or guns. But one has to ask: why write that Dollmann had a 'heart attack' on 28 June when for 20 years we have known he killed himself; why write that Wittman 'single-handedly' defeated the British at Villers-Bocage when we know that his role was inflated by Gobbles' propaganda machine; why state with confidence that Rommel was rendered hors-de-combat by 193 Squadron when it is beyond reasonable doubt that Chris le Roux, Squadron Leader of 602 Squadron, was the Spitfire pilot involved? And why-oh-why do authors lacking the technical knowledge continue to try to impress their readers by using statistics that are simply wrong? All we gain from reading that the Stuart tank had a '35mm' gun, or the Cromwell tank '101mm' of frontal armour (if only!) is the realization that Staff College allowed their students' heads to be filled with unchecked and unhelpful statistics.

This criticism is perhaps harsh as it applies equally to many other accounts of the Normandy campaign. The great value of this work is that it presents a view of the battle as taught to generations of British Army officers. And it is an entertaining read.

THE PENDULUM OF BATTLE
Operation Goodwood, July 1944
by
Christopher Dunphie
Pen & Sword 2003
ISBN 1 84415 010 0
price £19-95

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