Tag Archives: Military

The Fan Dance

In the early morning hours before the world has woken up it is possible to hear the faint crunch of boots treading on gravel and the quiet labored breathing of determined hikers. You won’t hear it every day, but in the Brecon Beacons the ritual reemerges regularly. Those sounds of quiet urgency come from the lungs and feet of the latest aspirants to join the Special Air Service (known worldwide as the “S.A.S.”), the United Kingdom’s military special forces. 

The Brecon Beacons National Park is a beautiful expanse of green rolling mountains pocked with small lakes in southern Wales. To these recruits the beauty of the park is overshadowed by their immediate task – to complete a daunting 64 kilometer crucible through the park. Known as “Endurance” they must complete the course including a summit of the park’s highest peak, Pen y Fan, in under 20 hours. Standing at 886 meters, Pen y Fan gives the trial its second name: The Fan Dance

Rolling green mountains of the Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales. Photo by Andrew Zapf

If waking up pre-dawn is your thing then you can play along with the military recruits in a commercialized version of the event with the pay-to-play Fan Dance Series. At a mere 24 kilometers, it still manages to add over 1,600 feet in elevation. The third option is to wake up on a Saturday morning, enjoy a leisurely breakfast with coffee and scones, and attack Pen y Fan in the warm light of day. 

Up until last month my five year old son had never climbed a mountain on his own. In the past he’d been pushed along trails in a stroller or carried when his little legs got tired. Something happened on his fifth birthday. A switch flipped. He started displaying grit and determination. His inner dialogue started coming out and I could hear him whisper encouragement to himself on our hikes. “You can do it.” He’d say, only to himself, but also loud enough for the sharp ears of his dad.

Start of the path from Pont ar Daf car park to Corn Du and Pen y Fan summits. Photo by Andrew Zapf

I planned a challenging, but achievable day for him. Starting out at the Pont ar Daf car park along the route A470, the direct route to the top was only 2.2 miles on a gradual slope. In the morning I fed him yoghurt and granola for slow release energy, and packed a few snacks for the way up. At the top my wife and I promised him a rest, playtime, and a small picnic. The day was set to be his.

There were no soldiers on the trail with us that morning. Only other hikers. Singles, couples, and families. For some reason our son picked out a smaller child being carried by another father and singled him out for competition. He must beat that kid to the top. At each rest stop he’d look around for that kid. If he saw him he urged us to keep going forward. His inner competitiveness propelled him to the top.

View of Corn Du from the top of Pen y Fan. Photo by Andrew Zapf

Once he knew he was going to win the undeclared race he slowed down to play with some rocks. He’d seen a lot of castles in our English travels and wanted to replicate them with the plentiful building materials at hand.  He picked out three rather large rectangular rocks and carried them the last quarter mile to the summit of Pen y Fan. (There were quite a few out-of-breathe adults that admired him/expressed their shame to me while at the top). 

For a five year old, a 4.5 mile hike with nearly 1,600 feet of elevation gained on The Fan Dance is a triumph.

Mother and son enjoying the view from Pen y Fan. Note the rock carried to the top lying in the grass. Photo by Andrew Zapf
A small mountain, but a big accomplishment for a five year old.

Andrew Zapf is a co-founder of Pushing Horizons.

Disclaimer: All views expressed are that of the author. As an REI Associate, Pushing Horizons earns from qualifying purchases.

What We’re Reading This Month – August 2020

This past month has been a busy one. As society emerges from months of isolation the demands of stir-crazy families, a modern economy, and extended work hours in our day jobs has drastically cut down on the available reading time. I’ve turned to a few audiobooks during my commute to feed my appetite, but have still managed to read a few pages each night from a trusty hardbound, real-life book. This month’s reading selection features a mix of what was on-hand and what was easy to consume in these days.


The centerpiece for my reading this month has been The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson. Since last autumn I have been eagerly awaiting its release. There are few authors I’ve bothered to set up a Google Alert for, and he is one of them. For Father’s Day this year my wife purchased it for me and which fit neatly into the mental space I’ve made for the 80th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

“And so, with family turmoil, civic trauma, and Hitler’s deputy falling from the sky, the first year of Churchill’s leadership came to an end. Against all odds, Britain stood firm, its citizens more emboldened than cowed. Somehow, through it all, Churchill had managed to teach them the art of being fearless.”

In true Larson style, he weaves the historical narrative of the Battle of Britain, which began this month in 1940, with that of the human experiences of Winston Churchill, his family and closest associates in his first year as prime minister. Historical figures, especially the giants like Churchill, can be so famous that we view them as a two-dimensional version of themselves. Larson’s true skill is drawing out primary sources – letters, diaries, speeches, etc. – from the unlikely corners of history to inflate these 2D oversimplifications into three-dimensional, flesh and blood people with human foibles, emotions, and insecurities when the outcome of monumental events were uncertain. 

Furthermore, Larson reveals a wartime England that still clung to the normalities of life. Air raid sirens, shelter wardens, and rubble have been well-captured by history, but it was also a time when night clubs stayed open, debutantes were still presented to society, and the love-struck sought flowers and chocolate to express their affections. Probably the most memorable chapter for me describes the night of Queen Charlotte’s dance of 8 March 1941 and the death of jazz band leader Kenrick “Snackhips” Johnson as bombs rained down on central London and exploded into packed hotels, night clubs, and shopping districts. 

The Splendid and the Vile showed that Londoners didn’t simply turtle into a year-long shell only to emerge when the Nazi’s turned their military attention to invading the Soviet Union in May of 1941 True, many nights were spent sleeplessly awaiting the Luftwaffe, fighting fires, and digging the wounded and the dead from the rubble. But other nights were spent with lovers, dancing in clubs, courtship, and adultery. Churchill’s family enjoyed the privileges of the privileged society and spent weekends in the country in comfortable homes and exceeding their ration coupons. It was an exciting time to be alive for the English and the prospect of nightly death sharpened their appreciation for life. Larson magnificently portrays how life went on in England through the stories of Churchill’s daughter, Mary Churchull, and private secretary, John Colville who had their own stories of love and disappointment.

WIth this book I have renewed appreciation for Larson’s writing and added respect for the English spirit as they persevered with living and fighting when the second world war seemed the most hopeless and bleak.

Fighter: The True Story of the Battle of Britain by Len Deighton

“The Luftwaffe, hitherto a tactical supplement to the blitzkrieg, a force that had taken orders from the army, was about to take upon itself a strategic role. Moreover, it was asked to create a strategy, and then to translate that strategy into day-to-day tactical objectives for its bombers and fighters. The experience of its staff officers was not equal to this task.”

It’s been in my head for months to learn about the Battle of Britain while living in England. 2020 marks the 80th anniversary of the start of the battle and there are several events across the country to mark England’s success in defeating the Luftwaffe’s attempts to crush the Royal Air Force and England’s fighting spirit. I’ve sung the praises of Len Deighton for years. He’s one of my father’s favorite authors and his Cold War spy thrillers are some of the most enjoyable reads I have in the past five years. He’s also had success writing alternative histories – which have been converted into a television series. Deighton has also written some histories, and with his storyteller’s pen, has done an excellent job of making them readable and digestible

While he tells a remarkable narrative, Deighton does analyze the Battle of Britain beyond the mythical heroic Royal Air Force pilots and their advanced Spitfire and rugged Hurricane fighter aircraft. He delves into British aircraft production, the Luftwaffe staff shortcomings, German short sightedness. Probably the greatest feat Deighton reveals is the immense difficulty and achievement in the logistical balancing needed to build, employ, and maintain the Royal Air Force Fighter Command at a time when wooden-framed, cloth-covered aircraft were still in the British inventory. It’s a quick read and the way he organized his sections I was able to read a little at a time without having to commit to a full study of the battle.

The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan

“I struggle for your rights despite my fears. But your rights have to be balanced against our needs for survival. That is why you cannot be satisfied. For you, every viable solution will always be lacking in justice. In a peace plan, everybody will have to do with less than they deserve.”

In a departure from the Battle of Britain theme, I downloaded the audiobook of The Lemon Tree for my commute into work. In a vary Erik Larons-esque style, Tolan weaves the long history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with the story of a single home built by an Arab family and later occupied by an Jewish family. The home, and the lemon tree that was planted in the garden, become the focal point for all of the contradictions, injustices, and mutual hope that characterizes the evolving conflict. It’s a story looking backwards, not a solution looking forward, but it’s greatest feature is the empathy a reader can gain for both sides. 

I listened to this as an audiobook and hearing the stories orally added an additional layer of hurt to the injustice.

The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene

“The prudent man might seem cold, his rationality sucking pleasure out of life. Not so. Like the pleasure-loving gods on Mount Olympus, he has the perspective, the calm detachment, the ability to laugh, that comes with true vision, which gives everything he does a quality of lightness – these traits comprising what Nietzsche calls the ‘Apollonian ideal.” . . . Odysseus loved adventure; no one was better at the experience of pleasure. He was simply more reasonable, more balanced, less vulnerable to his own emotions and moods, and he left less tragedy and turmoil in his wake. . .  . In a world where people are increasingly incapable of thinking consequentially, more animal than ever, the practice of grand strategy will instantly elevate you above others.”

Finally, the end of my COVID-induced physical separation and work absence has given way to a rushing return to the office. A backlog of emails, papers, and activities to coordinate has eaten into the reading time I previously enjoyed. I turned to Robert Greene for a daily dose of professionally thought-provoking material. Having finished The 48 Laws of Power a few months prior I decided to pick up another of his works, this time The 33 Strategies of War. Each “law” is packaged into a chapter of historical case studies, analysis, related parables, and cautionary counter-examples. In short, Greene gives a readers’ digest of political-military content for the busy and the rushed. I tend to read a few pages each morning over coffee, allowing my brain to engage with the material as the caffeine stimulates my central nervous system.

Geared toward the non-military professional, The 33 Strategies of War employs lessons of past conflict for common usage. There may be some disappointment for those that view their industry as cutt-throat and hope to find practical advice on wielding the knife. It’s not prescriptive for action, but encourages the reader to think with a clear vision. 

Don’t expect to become a new Napoleon after reading this work, but don’t be surprised if you find yourself with a more ruthless inner monologue in your daily interactions.

Andrew Zapf is a co-founder of Pushing Horizons.

Disclaimer: All views expressed are that of the author. As an REI Associate, Pushing Horizons earns from qualifying purchases.

World War I: Logic & Folly

2019 marks the centennial of the Paris Peace Conference following the conclusion of ‘The War to End All Wars.’ This Armistice Day,  it seems appropriate to take a long look back at the war and flawed peace that set the stage for the century’s remaining conflicts. The centennial of the Great War has brought renewed interest and focus on the causes, conduct, and consequences of the First World War. The entire generation that has any memory of this great conflict has passed and gone and all that we are left with are their words and deeds that slowly fade and transform into myth. Over the past few years a number of excellent books have been published on the First World War, and here are some of our favorites:

“The key decision-makers – kings, emperors, foreign ministers, ambassadors, military commanders and a host of lesser officials – walked towards danger in watchful, calculated steps. The outbreak of war was the culmination of chains of decisions made by political actors with conscious objectives, who were capable of a degree of self-reflection, acknowledged a range of options and formed the best judgements they could on the basis of the best information they had to hand. Nationalism, armaments, alliances and finance were all part of the story, but they can be made to carry real explanatory weight only if they can be seen to have shaped the decisions that – in combination – made war break out.”

“The key decision-makers – kings, emperors, foreign ministers, ambassadors, military commanders and a host of lesser officials – walked towards danger in watchful, calculated steps. The outbreak of war was the culmination of chains of decisions made by political actors with conscious objectives, who were capable of a degree of self-reflection, acknowledged a range of options and formed the best judgements they could on the basis of the best information they had to hand. Nationalism, armaments, alliances and finance were all part of the story, but they can be made to carry real explanatory weight only if they can be seen to have shaped the decisions that – in combination – made war break out.”

Everyone should read The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman about the decisions and chain of events that followed the assisnation of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. I’m currently rereading it after twenty years. However, of the more recent publications Christopher Clark’s The Sleepwalkers is a great place to start. It is an extremely relevant and thought provoking analysis of the circumstances prior to the First World War, meticulous in its accumulation of information. I love the author’s introduction and approach to the topic – mainly that the figures behind the July Crisis of 1914 acted within the limits of their experiences and circumstances.

What Clark does exceptionally well is demonstrate how the threads of plans, fears, and faulty ideas in international politics of the time spliced together to absolve the decision-makers of any responsibility for the catastrophe. Russia’s contribution to the calamity is central, the Balkan focus of the Great Power politics made the system unstable and volatile, while the Triple Entente refused to allow Austria-Hungary any reasonable room to maneuver in pursuit of its national interest. The First World War came as the unlikely culmination of rigid, narrow, and faulty thinking – by many people. It’s an excellent history with an impressive amount of thoroughness. 

2 June 1915

“It is a curious thing, Field Marshall, that this war has produced no great generals” – UK Prime Minister H. H. Asquith

“No, Prime Minister, nor has it produced a statesman.’ Major General Henry Wilson, Sub Chief of Staff, British Expeditionary Force

The Great War was a tragedy of diplomacy and generalship. The Sleepwalkers addresses the former, while Allan Mallison’s book addresses the latter – albeit exclusively on the British side. While he touches on the relationship between the British government and its generals Mallison savages the military men that favored seniority over brilliance, petty jealousy over competence, and the bayonet over the bullet.

He doesn’t write alternative histories,  but he does wonder out loud the direction a few different decisions would have taken the war. Chief among them is the decision to use the entire army in France rather than use the small force to train the millions they would eventually need.  Or the shortsighted decision to empty staff officers from army headquarters to fill the British Expeditionary Force, leaving the desks left for developing strategy of a world war empty. 

Too Important for the Generals asks the same questions that need asking as contemporary wars languish adrift from policy, rotating generals re-declare victory, and the world waits for this generations’ great statesmen.

“While it is obvious that none of the post-war violence can be explained without reference to the Great War, it might be more appropriate to view that conflict as the unintentional enabler of the social or national revolutions that were to shape Europe’s political, social and cultural agenda for decades to come. . . It was in this period that a particular deadly but ultimately conventional conflict between states – the First World War – gave way to an interconnected series of conflicts whose logic and purpose was much more dangerous.” 

History is written by the victors . . . or so they say. However, what Robert Gerwarth does is flip that idea and explains how the inability to justify death, destruction, and sacrifice with victory shaped the “post-Great War” years of the defeated states. Without a victory to lean on, the defeated Central Powers redefined the logic of violence against civilians and the dehumanization of “enemies,” the belief in betrayal by fifth columns, and the rediscovery that violence and the threat of violence can bring political change for political minorities – see Fascists and Bolsheviks. Further exasperated by the collapse of the polyglot empires, national minorities fought to attain statehood and security in an undefined new world order – conflicts that would carve and recarve states over the following decades. It’s a tremendously well-researched book, engaging, and an important perspective on early Twentieth Century history – which I hope can influence both the waging of war and the making of peace in the Twenty First Century.

Andrew Zapf is a co-founder of Pushing Horizons.

Disclaimer: All views expressed are that of the author.  

World War II: Strategic Bombing Campaign

“From recently built bases in East Anglia, a new kind of warfare was being waged – high-altitude strategic bombing. It was a singular event in the history of warfare, unprecedented and never to be repeated. The technology needed to fight a prolonged, full-scale bomber war was not available until the early 1940s and, by the closing days of that first ever bomber war, was already being rendered obsolete by jet engine aircraft, rocket-powered missiles, and atomic bombs.” – Masters of the Air, Prologue

It seems to me that some in England have a fetish for the 1940s. During World War II, London was still the center of a vast world-wide empire. It was a time when its citizens were lauded for remarkable resilience during the Nazi Blitz. The British can rightly hang their hat on the inspiration of their wartime Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, who carried the mood of the nation on his shoulders. Museums stand across the nation on the sites of former World War II headquarters and stations vital to the war – Churchill’s War Rooms in London, Bletchley Park – home of the enigma code breakers, and others. Seasonally, towns across the island celebrate with 1940s-themed events where vintage fashions and vintage cars are revived along with period Big Band music. Even my town’s local property preservation company advertises itself as The Damp Busters, complete with an image of a Lancaster bomber. The name is derived from the 1955 World War II film The Dam Busters, not the most obvious reference in 2019.

England’s remembrance is tinged with a large dose of nostalgia that ignores some of the commonplace contributions of the English countryside. In my daily work I constantly encounter names of former Royal Air Force (RAF) bases that housed RAF and United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) squadrons. Names such as Alconbury, Wyton, Bassingbourn, Molesworth, and the like. Most of the bases have long since been reclaimed by the villages’ farmers, transformed into other military installations, or simply memorialized on local village signs (insert picture of village sign). However, these names are also the last reminders of the greatest air campaign and largest bomber force the world has ever seen. I reckon that there is no time in the history of human aviation where more human beings took to the skies than during the massive 1,000-plane missions of 1943-1945.

I have begun digging into the Strategic Bombing Campaign out of personal interest and professional curiosity. As the Masters of the Air quote above indicates, the advocates and planners of strategic bombing were pioneers in aviation and warfare unrivaled by anything in history in regards to technological complexity, marshalling of resources, and sheer power of destructive force. The books reviewed below are just the tip of the iceberg on this subject, but one I’m inclined to continue exploring.

“Visitors to the bases noticed that there was something wrong with these boys. Most of them were ‘quiet, edgy, morose.’ And many of them drank tremendously and lived only for the day; they lacked the sweeping horizons and large dreams of most boys their age. The replacements arrived excited and eager to perform, but that usually lasted less than a week. Soon they, too, had that ‘look.’ 

One evening, Ben Smith joined a volleyball game in progress. It was the strangest thing he had ever experienced. No one laughed, no one shouted, no one made a sound. ‘The entire game was played in silence.’”

During World War II, the men that signed up for the United States Army Air Corp, later the United States Army Air Forces, fought the newest type of warfare ever imagined. They rode in the biggest aircraft ever designed with the Allies most secret technology – the Norden bombsight. But the cost of living on this frontier were punishingly brutal lessons taught in this new school. Donald Miller gives a rich voice to the stories of these men as their endurance and resilience was tested during an oft-romanticized theater of war. While the men flew in the wild blue yonder, and slept on white sheets in an Allied country, the bomber crew casualty rates exceeded any other theater of war, until the full commitment of ground forces with the invasion of Normandy in 1944. 

The bombing campaign chewed through men and equipment at astonishing rates. Men suffered in sub-zero temperatures, thrashed by dogged German anti-bomber schemes, and continuously bore the trauma of their dead and wounded. This book is tremendous in marrying the personal stories and anecdotes with the necessary historical information to give them broader context. This is the book that needed to be written as the World War II generation slowly, and eternally, slips entirely into history. It should be no surprise that this book is being made into an HBO series, à la Band of Brothers, so this is certainly worth reading now to give that future viewing experience an even deeper meaning.

“The bombing was in fact so imprecise that the Germans, seeing bombs scattered across hundreds of miles, were genuinely unaware of what the target was. The RAF suffered high casualties in the process. . .

If it was impossible to bomb precisely, then there were only two choices: bomb imprecisely or don’t bomb at all. There was no other way of hitting back, and an end to bombing was unthinkable. British forces had been driven from the Continent, and reestablishing a British military presence was out of the question. . . All that was left was area bombing.”

If Masters of the Air is that book that needed to be written to tell the human story of the Strategic Bombing Campaign, then Fire and Fury is the book that needs to be read to appreciate the immensity of the undertaking along with the moral burden on the decision makers during its implementation. Randall Hansen asks and attempts to answer the two biggest questions of the bombing campaign against Germany. Was it effective, and was it justified? At the heart of his analysis is the employment of area bombing by the British Royal Air Force, targeting civilian morale, versus American precision bombing of Germany’s industry. Hansen brings the reader from the pre-war discussions all the way through the final missions over Berlin in 1945. His discussion of the ethics and morals is accompanied by the ugly data of Total War making a powerful argument and important read. Despite the serious nature of Hansen’s topic I found the writing tremendously engaging.

In our own era of cyber threats and the possible militarization of outer space, it is critical to remember that our predecessors grappled with the moral implications of the newest technologies and most modern method of waging war. We can fortify ourselves knowing that in the greatest war the world has ever known, a Total War, many of them still chose to value human life.

Depictions of the Strategic Bombing campaign are useful in contextualizing the above-mentioned books. Twelve O’Clock High, already widely known as a Hollywood classic, depicts the immense mental strain the bomber crews and commanders had on them during the war. While, the PG-13-rated 1990 film, Memphis Belle, captures the strain bomber crews sustained while flying their missions, albiet with every cliche imaginable. Finally, the actual Memphis Belle crew was featured in a World War II documentary film and released during the war. I’m especially drawn to this short film for its World War II-era footage of the air bases and the immense logistical and personnel requirements needed to keep the bombers flying day-in and day out.

Andrew Zapf is a co-founder of Pushing Horizons.

Disclaimer: All views expressed are that of the author.  

War and Hemingway

Courage is “grace under pressure.”  

Ernest Hemingway as quoted by Dorothy Parker in her November 1929 New Yorker profile.

I hesitated before writing this article.  There are few individuals who have had as much ink spilled on their behalf than Hemingway.  A literary titan in his own time, he remains a larger than life figure whose full-throttled life full of sport, violence, women, and drink (and not necessarily in that order) has now become almost a cliche.  In our changing times, much of what people found attractive about Hemingway is now looked at askance, if not downright disdain…and.. Yet he remains both a guiding star and cautionary tale for those who seek out a certain type of life-rich in adventure, a similar ethos to that we attempt to capture on Pushinghorizons.com

In fact, while Andy and I were pressed against the barricades in the medieval city of Siena, waiting in the hot sun for men to recklessly ride horses against each other around the Campo, I couldn’t help but notice the young American college student next to us, with a battered Hemingway paperback tucked under his arm.  My first thought was “of course” that is what he is reading. My second thought, upon reflection, was “of course” that is what he is reading, and why not. I too had been drawn to Hemingway’s work as a young man and after moving to Italy, I recently dusted off my old college copy of A Farewell to Arms to discover anew the feel of retreat from Caporetto in World War I.   In spite of, and beyond, the caricature, Hemingway’s terse prose-which revolutionized writing- hold timeless truth, just as he intended. 

While living the life that would provide Hemingway the copy for his books, he experienced much of the armed conflict which dominated the twentieth century.  From his time as an ambulance driver on the Italian Front in the First World War, where he was wounded, to the Cold War twilight struggle that hovered around his estate near Havana during the Cuban Revolution, it seems Hemingway sought out war, all the while emphasizing its tragedy. 

As a journalist, he witnessed the war which led to the creation of modern Turkey, the Spanish Civil War, and the convoluted fighting in China; both between the Chinese and against Japan.  During the Second World War, he chased German U-boats in the Caribbean before accompanying the 4th Infantry Division from Normandy to the Huertgen Forest. In his typical penetrating insight, he captured the human aspect of war and was forever haunted, it seems, by the decisions he made as a participant in such conflict.  Many men fought more than him in the twentieth century, and some men can write better. But I can think of very few who write as well and experienced as much war as old Hemingway. The following three works are a window into Hemingway’s view of human conflict and the experiences he had which shaped those views.   

Men at War, edited by Ernest Hemingway in 1942

“When you go to war as a boy you have this great illusion of immortality.  Other people get killed; not you…Then when you are badly wounded the first time you lose that illusion and you know it can happen to you.  After being severely wounded two weeks before my nineteenth birthday I had a bad time until I figured out that nothing could happen to me that had not happened to all men before me.  Whatever I had to do men had always done. If they had done it then I could do it too and the best thing was not to worry about it.”

-From the Introduction to Men at War

A forgotten gem in the pantheon of Hemingway works, this book was created in the heady patriotic atmosphere of America’s entry into World War Two.  In coordination with a Marine Corps Officer who was a good friend of his, Hemingway collected what he believed were the most insightful works on armed conflict in one single volume.  When reading the work, it becomes clear that the intended audience were the millions of American citizens who were joining the military and would soon be entering combat. Hemingway included everything from historical accounts of medieval warfare to what was then recent fictional works from the Second World War and organized them in accordance with Clausewitz’s various definitions of war.  

I found that the various works included by Hemingway were all powerful stories on humankind’s deadly addiction to violent competition.  For modern readers, it is also interesting to see what one of America’s greatest writers thought was great war writing. For example, he insisted that all of Stephen Cranes’ Red Badge of Courage on bravery and cowardice in the American Civil War be included.   In spite of the patriotic atmosphere in which it is published, and Hemingway’s clear commitment to defeat the fascist forces, he does not shy away from highlighting the tragedy and suffering which Clausewitz highlighted as the realm of war. 

Hemingway On War, edited and with an introduction by Sean Hemingway.

“German prisoners who had been taken by irregulars were often as cooperative as head waiters or minor diplomats.  In general we regarded the Germans as perverted Boy Scouts. This is another way of saying they were splendid soldiers.  We were not splendid soldiers. We were specialists in a dirty trade. In French we said, “un metier tres sale.”

From the short story Black Ass at the Cross Roads

Hemingway’s grandson collected much of Hemingway’s writings on war in this book first published in 2003.  It highlights the great breath of both his experiences and his work. There are the rough short stories Hemingway wrote after World War I, selections from his play on espionage in the Spanish Civil War, and his correspondence as a journalist on Mustafa Kemal’s rise to power during the Greco-Turkish War.  One of the most poignant short stories I found in the book describes the deep sadness which infects the narrator after his band of French resistance fighters kill a young German soldier fleeing the Allied Advance from Normandy. An excerpt of which is above. The book is an excellent single repository of Hemingway’s own words on war.

Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy: Ernest Hemingway’s Secret Adventures, 1935-1961. by Nicholas Reynolds.

“After a few months of work, I started to see the outline of a Hemingway portrait that was very different from the others I had known.  The writer had-almost obsessively I thought-tried his hand at various forms of spying and fighting on two continents from 1937 on, before and during World War II.  The way stations were varied, often exotic: the battlefields of Spain, the back streets of Havana, a junk on the North River in China. He seemed to gravitate to men and women who operated on their own in the shadows.”

Although I have waited to discuss this book until the end of this article, I won’t withhold the startling thesis.  The author argues, convincingly, that Ernest Hemingway was a source for the Soviet NKVD, a precursor of the KGB. My first inclination would be to dismiss such an accusation as an exaggerated claim of a passionate doctoral student desperate to stand out from his peers.  However, Reynolds was the official historian of the Central Intelligence Agency Museum and a career intelligence and Marine Corps Officer. He makes a convincing argument that Hemingway’s communist sympathies, disillusionment with America’s neutrality in the Spanish Civil War, as well as his fascination with both adventure and intrigue led him to be recruited by NKVD.  The damning evidence is limited to reports from the Soviet intelligence archives during the small window after the end of the Cold War when there was access to such archives.  

Reynolds uses this admittedly slender evidence and weaves a convincing and fascinating story of Hemingway, that in many ways is the biography of a man drawn to adventure and conflict.  For not only did Hemingway work with Russian intelligence but he apparently also ran sources on behalf of the American government in Havana, led sanctioned U-boat hunting expeditions from his fishing boat, and organized a band of French resistance fighters who screened the Allied advance on Paris.  Reynold suggests, less convincingly, that Hemingway’s earlier dalliance with the Soviet Intelligence Service drove a paranoia later in life, during the cold war, that resulted in his ultimate suicide. This is a window into Hemingway’s life which enriches and explains the impetus behind the two books above.  It is a fascinating story, one which I was unaware of when I read his legendary fiction as a young man, and highlights why Hemingway is both a guiding star and cautionary tale for those who seek out adventure. 

Roland Minez is a co-founder of Pushing Horizons.

Disclaimer: All views expressed are that of the author. 

Understanding War Through Fiction

There are many nonfiction books that bring to life the events of the past, cast real-life villains and heroes as relatable, and provide a human touch to the recitation of historical events. Pushing Horizons will undoubtedly recommend many such books to our readers, as we did last month. However, there are times when Fiction takes a prominent place in the education of a reader. There is great value in a fictionalized version of history, where an artful rendering can transform a daunting mountain of facts into a carefully constructed story symmetrically framed and walled in symbolism. To my students, perpetually busy with the demands of academic life, I offered the following novels as a break from their normal scholarly consumption – with the hidden benefit of continuing their education.

“Well, we’ve become adult without the help of our traditional leaders; we have fought wars in which they took no part and undertaken journeys on which they were unwilling to accompany us.”

Few novels make it into the required reading lists of military professionals. Once An Eagle by Anton Myrer has been hailed for decades as an instructive tome for prospective second lieutenants – helping cement the image of the mature, experienced, and savvy prior-enlisted platoon leader at the expense of the Academy-bred lieutenant. However, well-worn, annotated copies of another set of novels was being quietly passed within the military profession. After the US military’s traumatic experience and exit from Vietnam the institution of arms, along with the country, was willing and eager to jettison the memory of guerrilla warfare in favor of conventional, large-tank formation, anti-Soviet army doctrine. However, the novels of Jean Lartéguy bring guerrilla warfare to life by putting skin and flesh to the historical skeleton of France’s painful exit from their Algerian province – providing historical parallel to America’s war in Vietnam. The wars in Algeria were fought with a ferocity and intensity that forever scarred the French psyche. Lartéguy, a veteran of the Free French Forces during World War II, before he turned to journalism, gave an ugly and personal fictionalized narrative of the very real tension and contradiction of France’s opposition to the Algerian War of Independence. 

 

Lartéguy’s main characters evolve from the experiences and internment after the defeat of Dien Bien Phu in French Indochina to the savage war in Algeria. Having been asked to maintain the integrity of France, with which Algeria was an integral part, the officers of the fictional 10th Parachute Regiment resort to torture and extrajudicial murder to defeat the National Liberation Front’s fighters in Algiers and the elsewhere. Each of Lartéguy’s officers must grapple with the emotions and implications of a conflict that pitted the idea of France against the rights of her subjects. In Algeria, European and Muslim neighbors were thrust into murderous competition as the availability of a moderate central path to a peaceful resolution disappeared under revolutionary violence.   

 The “enemies” of France were the very people that had come to believe that their independence was guaranteed French liberte. Every action taken in Algeria was taken at the behest of a series of French governments that refused to accept its shrinking empire – even as Vietnam, Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria all agitated to separate themselves. I recommend The Centurions, and its sequel The Praetorians, as a way to understand that the military exists in a world of messy, often short-sighted politics where leaders with power sometimes lack the vision, and those with vision lack the influence. Armies don’t go to war alone. Their societies go with them. This novel allows the reader to compare their contemporary environment with France in the mid-Twentieth Century – a modern, republican democracy with nuclear weapons and a worldwide military presence.

“Hey, brother, we in a real nightmare,” Jackson finally said. “You just trust in Jesus,” Cortell said. They both knew these might be the last words they would exchange. “But keep you fuckin’ rifle out of the mud, too.” They touched hands again and Jackson turned to follow Mellas down the line.

Probably one of the better, if not the best, war novels that unflinchingly provides a realistic and emotional perspective on camaraderie, tension, and trauma of the bonds made and severed in combat. I would recommend this to any level of leader, as the Marlantes gracefully shifts from the platoon commanders’ and battalion commander’s perspective to show the rational and consequences of the brutal calculations of military benefit and human cost. It’s an immersive read, which reflects the high quality of the writing.

Karl Marlantes is a Vietnam veteran, and he makes an appearance in Ken Burn’s “The Vietnam War” documentary – which I also highly recommend. The documentary’s film footage and testimonials of the Vietnam War mirrors the fictionalized experience in Matterhorn. I don’t think Marlantes pulled any punches in his story as his words smack of real pain, real frustration, and real hopelessness he probably experienced first-hand. 

“Within an hour Cassidy had joined Hawke at the LZ and every replacement was laden with machine-gun ammunition and water to the point where he could barely move. Hawke or Cassidy would walk up to each one and have him jump up and down. If the kid looked too lively they’d throw another belt of ammo across his shoulders until his knees were just short of buckling. Then Cassidy left and they were all sitting in the mud again, covered with ammunition and canteens. “Don’t fucking worry,” Hawke joked with them. He began to speak in a sonorous monotone. “Come unto me all you who are burdened and heavy laden.” Smiles appeared. He quickly turned on them. “But I ain’t giving you fucking sinners any rest.” He turned to one of the replacements who had cracked a smile. “You think I’m fucking Jesus or something? Do I look like Jesus to you?””

I have already recommended this book to several young lieutenants to help them imagine the complexity of serving and leading in war.

“I’d change with you, Old Man, Michael thought. The days you’ve lived through. The best days of America. The optimistic days, the short wars, the little killing, the bracing, invigorating, early-century weather  . . . You married and sat down to dinner with many children in the same house for twenty uninterrupted years, and only foreigners fought in the wars then. Don’t envy me, Old Man, don’t envy me. What good fortune, what a gift to be seventy and nearly dead in 1942!”

Although entirely set during World War II era, this novel barely focuses on the combat aspects of the century’s greatest conflict. In fact, the main characters aren’t the stereotypical hero that finds themselves in extraordinary circumstances unlocking their greater, more courageous versions of themselves at the moment of crisis. Rather, the characters’ involvement in the war is so normal it allows the reader to concentrate on the emotional transformation their army experience thrusts upon them. The impacts on their worldview and personal relationships at home and within the service are relatable to today’s veteran. Written in 1948, this novel had an immediate impact on the popular understanding of World War II. 

Although Shaw’s narrative covers a lot of ground, from the 1930s to 1945, the progression doesn’t feel rushed or unnatural. In fact, it helps that he avoids the major battles of the war, using the interludes to prod the characters into different emotional conflicts and self-realizations. In the end, it’s a tragic human story played alongside one of the greatest of humanity’s calamities.

To make my list of recommendations, I would draw your attention to the way fiction, just like other forms of art, can impress upon the reader an emotional connection to the topic. There are passages within The Young Lions that are more valuable to someone willing to learn about war. Non-fiction works aren’t able to fully capture the emotion of love and loss, there are few moving sermons quoted in the history books, and the symbolism of a well-crafted story can resonate across a generation. From Irwin Shaw comes these powerful and consistently applicable warnings about the savagery of war:

“The enemy is more savage than a tiger, hungrier than the shark, crueler than the wolf; in honor and in defense of our modest way of life, we stand up to him and combat him, but in doing so we out-tiger him, out-shark the shark, over-wolf the wolf. Will we at the end of all this then pretend to ourselves that the victory is ours? The thing we defend perishes from our victory as it would never perish from our defeat. . . Kill, if you must, because in our weakness and in our error, we have found no other road to peace, but kill remorsefully, kill with a sense of sorrow, kill with economy for the immortal souls who leave this life in battle, carry mercy in your cartridge cases, forgiveness in your knapsacks, kill without revenge, because vengeance is not yours but the Lord’s, kill, knowing that each life you spend makes your life that much the poorer.”

Andrew Zapf is a co-founder of Pushing Horizons.

Disclaimer: All views expressed are that of the author.