Swift Sword: The Historical Record Of Israel's Victory, June 1967

by S.L.A. Marshall, American Heritage, United Press International

Genres: History

144 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

S.L.A. Marshall (full name, Samuel Lyman Atwood Marshall) served in World War I and then embarked in a career in journalism. In World War II, he was chief combat historian in the Central Pacific (1943) and chief historian for the European Theater of Operations (1945). He authored some 30 books about warfare, including Pork Chop Hill: The American Fighting Man in Action, The River and the Gauntlet and Men Against Fire: The Problem of Battle Command in Future War.

Reviews

[Ruppert Baird · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written just months after the conclusion of the Six Day War, the story is told from the side of the winners - Israel. This isn't surprising considering the Arab-wide shame at that time of a massive military defeat by a far smaller nation and military made up of Jews.

Divided into four sections corresponding to the three fronts Israel was forced to battle - Sinai, Jordan/West Bank, and Syria/Golan - and a section on Israel's citizen-soldier army, it is a fascinating and high-paced read.

There are some aggravations, though. The intermingling of the letter "M" instead of "T" randomly used in the description of the T-34, T-54, and T-55 tanks is annoying. And the lack of consistency in place names between the maps and text. And one must assume that place name translations have changed in the intervening six decades ("Rahfa" then, "Rafah" now for instance).

But, overall, I learned some things of which I was unaware. And that's is the reason for reading history.