Just Finished Reading: War on Wheels – The Evolution of an Idea by C R Kutz (FP: 1940)

This is yet another book I picked up in my misspent youth haunting out of the way bookshops. First published in the USA in 1940 my edition is the 2nd published in the UK in 1942. Telling the story of wheeled (and to a lesser extent tracked) warfare since ancient times it ponders on how Blitzkrieg came about and what, if anything, could be done about it as the war in Europe developed so badly for the Allied forces. Those final chapters where the author speculates on an unknown future (if any) for the Western democracies are both poignant and a stark reminder of the darkest days of WW2.

The road to those final chapters is equally fascinating. Focused mainly on WW1 the author mainly focuses on the development, deployment and use of armoured cars first on the Western Front where they inevitably became bogged down in the mud and trenches of that largely static fighting. Subsequent chapters told of the much more fluid fighting on the various Eastern Fronts but about a third of the book analysed the fighting in the Middle East with its often ideal conditions for highly mobile warfare which suited wheeled conflict a great deal. Showing how early attempts to shackle the cars with horse cavalry eventually became recognised as a huge mistake the author explained how fast moving combat vehicles, supported by truck loaded infantry, artillery and air support could range far afield and cause chaos wherever they went. Blitzkrieg, he clearly illustrates, did not emerge from nowhere. The tactics so ably used by the Germans in the opening years of WW2 had been developed by the Allies in WW1. Decades later the Germans had learnt, adapted and improved those lessons whilst the Allies had, by and large, forgotten them. Despite its title and main focus it was difficult for the author to completely ignore tanks and he spent several chapters discussing their origin and early halting use. Rather bizarrely he also spent a chapter discussing armoured trains which whist vaguely interesting did seem a little pointless.    

Overall this was an interesting and largely well written book on a weapon platform that is largely ignored. Armoured cars for reconnaissance and the daring dash into enemy territory to take and hold strategic points of interest generally gets short shrift from histories of both wars so it’s good to see that redressed a bit here. Almost equally as fascinating is that this is a historical document written as WW2 was in progress with the outlook looking rather bleak for the Allies. You can almost hear the fear and uncertainty in his ‘voice’ as he writes what may be indeed the final chapters in his story. Although probably long out of print this is worth picking up if you can get hold of it.