This is the second of a two-series amazingly detailed books authored by a Polish Ph.D. in Law, living in Japan, writing about Japanese advances in the eastern Indian Ocean. As if that isn’t intriguing enough, author Michał A. Piegzik covers a little known (at least to most Americans) subject in a much larger backdrop of Allied defeats in the early Pacific War, focusing on ABDA (American, British, Dutch, Australian) forces as they reeled from Japanese attacks in Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dutch East Indies, the Philippines, Java, and Burma. For more background information on Michał A. Piegzik, please refer to my earlier review on The Darkest Hour, Volume 1.

If you read my book review on Volume 1, then I apologize for repeating myself here; however, as a standalone review, some background is necessary to put the book in context.

Casemate Publishers is distributing the latest installment of the Helion & Company’s Latin America @ War series, which focuses on the combat actions of the Super Etendard during the Falkland War in 1982. “Handbrake!” was the code word used by the British Task Force when an Exocet attack was identified on their radars.

The book is organized in a chronological order, with the first chapters devoted to the acquisition and limited training of the Argentinean pilots in France (in late 1980 and through 1981). At the outbreak of the conflict, France halted the delivery of aircrafts, pilot training and Exocet missiles - only 5 were delivered. Although some limited technical support was still provided in the early phases of the war by French technicians in Argentina, before they left to go back to France.

During the bloodbath that was World War 1, several nations took a shot at providing additional armor protection to at least some of their troops, with quite a range of results.  Often the armor was simply too awkward and bulky (think America’s Brewster armor) or too thin to afford any real protection or simply too expensive.  Perhaps the Italians were most interested in such protection, as their battles in the Alps against the Austro-Hungarian army had rapidly devolved into hand-to-hand trench warfare of the nastiest sort.  In consequence, Italy equipped several special units (often referred to as “suicide squads”) with various types of additional armor for just that kind of close-in combat.