The Unknown Army : The Nature and History of the
Russ Military Forces. By Nikolaus Basseches. (Heinemann. 75. 6d)
MR. BASSECHES'S book has been translated into English from unspecified language. The preface is dated March, 1942, and book was therefore written long before the greatest triumphs the Russian army. It will give little help to a reader who wi to know about the organisation and equipment of the Red Army today. But the reader who wishes to trace the relationship betw the Red Army and the old Russian military tradition, or who wis to know the way in which the army fits into the framework Russian society will find this book full of interesting ideas material. There is no mention of Timoshenko or Zhukov, but th is a good sketch of the military tradition of Russia from Alexan Nevsky to Tukhachevsky. Of particular importance is the acco of the re-moulding of the Red Army which began in 1932 which has created the forces which have acquitted themselves well against Germany. Mr. Basseches in his preface rash exaggerates the world's lack of knowledge of the Red Army, and
book of this type ought never to be published without either an index or a table of contents.
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