Jeremy Black: Logistics. The Key to Victory, Pen & Sword Books, distributed by USNI, 216 pp.
Rightly published in the UK in 2021, the book is also distributed by the USNI to reach a much wider readership. Although all army, air force and navy commanders recognise the critical importance of logistics, studies tend to be limited to the impact of strategy, tactics used, weaponry and the influence of leaders. Jeremy Black aims to fill this gap in historical research and has analysed major conflicts past and present in terms of the role of logistics.
In twelve chapters, he spans the arc of his analyses from the fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the end of the Ming dynasty in 1644, the end of Persia in 1722, the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars until 1792, from there to the age of steam propulsion in 1850, the developments up to the First World War in 1914, the war from 1914 to 1918, the interwar period from 1918 to 1939, the Second World War from 1939 to 1945, the Cold War and the period up to the turn of the millennium and the possible development in the future. He then summarises his most important findings and conclusions.
Some of the factors influencing his considerations are climate and its changes, geography, nutrition and payment of troops, terrain and distances, transport of men and material, communication and its transmission routes, but also government policy, stability of conditions and financing issues, to name just the most important. It ends with reflections on today's cyber war and the influence of smart weapons. It is already apparent that most warriors on land are no longer members of regular armies but of organisations for the protection of the population, protection against crime, critical infrastructure and other facilities in need of protection.
While van Crefeld's book on logistics was previously regarded as the bible of logistics, this book is much more comprehensive, as it considers all armed forces and their conceivable forms of deployment from the point of view of logistics. It therefore belongs in the hands of politicians and their advisors, military leaders and heads of the blue services.
Author: Heinz Dieter Jopp Barmstedt, December 2021
English 
German
Obviously an interesting work, not only for logisticians. As the often-quoted phrase goes: "If the logistician says no, the operator should make a new plan." - At least revise his old plan in terms of a holistic approach.
I was extremely pleased to note that a strategically-minded surgeon recommends reading this book.