Battle for the World

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 124, 7 November 1941, Page 5

Battle for the World

HAVE seen it stated that Max Werner is the pen name of a distinguished refugee from Europe. It is said that he was one of the leading military strategists of Czechoslovakia and now resides in America. However this may be it is certain that his books show a detailed and expert knowledge of the problems of modern warfare and an accurate acquaintance with military literature in all the countries of the world, In days such as these, when the comments of amateur strategists and the studies of military experts have been falsified by events, it is rare to come across two books written by the one author in which estimates of military strength and the details of strategy and diplomacy need little revision, although one book was written before the war and the other in the early months of this year. Werner gives the first full account of the Polish campaign, of the eight months of "all quiet," of the RussoFinnish war, the Norwegian campaign and the superbattle in the west culminating in the fall of France, which provides adequate material for .a discussion of all the military and diplomatic factors involved in the present war. Much of what he writes in Battle

of the World (the Military Strength of the Powers) will come as a surprise to those who have not read his earlier book. It seems incredible that facts which were well known to Werner in 1939 were not appreciated at their full value not only by the ordinary readers of newspapers who are forced to rely upon these sources of information, but also by leading experts in the different countries whose job it is to keep up to date with regard to modern developments in warfare.-(Book Review of " Battle for the World," | by Max Werner. H. Winston Rhodes, 3YA, October 14.)