Military Review English Edition July-August 2014 | Page 107

BOOK REVIEWS

As early as July 1944, Hitler had been contemplating a counterattack against the Allies. However, until
conditions were set—weather, terrain, equipment, and
a stabilized front—this attack could not happen. From
a historical perspective, Rückzug clearly demonstrates
how important Germany’s ability to manage its retreat
from France was in setting the conditions for the
Ardennes Offensive in December 1944. From a more
current standpoint, this work offers valuable lessons
and insights into key concepts such as mission command, planning, and battlefield decision making.
Lt. Col. William Kenna McCurry, U.S. Army,
Retired, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

ANTI-ACCESS WARFARE:
Countering A2/AD Strategies
Sam J. Tangredi, U.S. Naval Institute Press,
Annapolis, MD, 2013, 308 pages, $35.91
For strategic landpower advocates concerned over
the current AirSea Battle debate, this book is an essential and foundational analysis of the anti-access/area
denial (A2/AD) military problem. Given the author’s
background as an expert naval analyst, the book may
be overlooked at first glance. From the book’s title and
provocative dust cover jacket depicting a U.S. aircraft
carrier hit by a Chinese guided ballistic missile, one
would expect a focus on the technical and tactical details of the Joint Operational Access Concept ( JOAC)
with a decidedly naval slant. But this book is not that
at all; instead it places the narrow JOAC/AirSea Battle
solution to the A2/AD problem into a far larger and
properly balanced strategic perspective.
Tangredi, an award-winning naval writer and
accomplished defense consultant, examines the issue
of defeating A2/AD capabilities from both a historical
and a modern-day strategic perspective. He uses selected historical vignettes of A2/AD successes (the GrecoPersian Wars, the Spanish Armada in 1588, Gallipoli in
1915, and the Battle of Britain/Operation Sea Lion in
1940) as well as defeats (Fo