by Justin Pollard John Murray, HK$195
Anyone compiling an anthology is faced not just with the problem of what to put in, but what to leave out. So readers will search Charge! The Interesting Bits of Military History, Justin Pollard's entertaining hotchpotch of footnotes to the same, in vain for the tale of the Gurkha rifleman who navigated through the Malaysian jungle with a map of London's Underground.
Likewise, there is no mention of the fish and chip wagon that, having been loaded late in Southampton, was the first of the British Army's vehicles to disembark in the battle for the Falklands. Similarly absent is the story of the British cavalry officer who unwittingly parked his tank overnight above a foxhole in the final stages of the second world war. The terrified, dishevelled German soldier who emerged from under it in the morning turned out to have been his pre-war private tutor.
Perhaps the strapline should have read: Some of The Interesting Bits of Military History. As fans of George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman series will aver, there is no end to the wealth of funny ha-ha and funny peculiar incidents that have attached themselves to the doings of the military down the ages.
Given the restrictions of space, Pollard has picked a healthy selection that runs from ancient times to the 20th century, although the geographical emphasis is emphatically western. He is occasionally remiss on dates and places (it would be helpful to know that the Battle of Gaugamela took place in what is now Iraq in 331BC) and he sometimes falls short on context. It is interesting to learn that Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot only because his chauffeur took a wrong turning that happened to bring him face to face with his assassin, but Pollard doesn't explain why this presaged the start of the first world war. Omitting such detail detracts from the anecdote.
Nevertheless, there is a terrific amount to enjoy in Charge! Ensign Frank of the King's German Legion survived the battle of Waterloo by hiding under a bed. The most highly decorated British NCO of the first world war was a conscientious objector. Admiral Popov of Russia came up with the brilliant idea of circular battleships - but they simply spun in circles whenever their guns were fired. General Georgios Hajianestis of Greece announced to his staff that he couldn't leave his bed because his legs were made of sugar. And when the duty officer at Pearl Harbour (above) was told that the radar showed a huge number of approaching aircraft, he responded: 'Well, don't worry about it.'