War in the Outposts

By Time Life Books World War II series

If ever the fighting man wondered if his individual efforts could change the course of a war, then this volume definitely answers that question. Featuring battlefield stories in Svalbard, Greenland, Ascension Island, the Middle East, Iran, Madagascar, Islands in the South Pacific.

Many of these island bases were used as emergency landing sites and weather stations. In the Middle East there was a camel corps. Run by Bedouins, the camels were taught to knell or lie down while the rider was shooting. To both offer protection for the shooter and to get out of the way. In Madagascar the local opposition would not surrender without a fight. Now when I say fight, they wanted soldiers to take the town/building with a show of arms and shots fired. Sometimes it might have only been a few troops and a couple of shots at no one and then it was all over. Everyone was happy and no one was injured, well except for the insect transmitted diseases.

I will relate the story of the weather outpost in the mining/whaling city of Spitzberg. The weather passing over the island group would hit the European mainland in 2-3 days. Both sides fought for control, but really after the Allies took hold they kept it . The poor soldiers toughing it out near the top of the world probably wondered what the hell they were doing there. What difference could they make? How about this: the combined weather reports from troops in Jan Mayen, a station on the Greenland Ice Cap, and Spitzberg showed a break in the weather system that was long enough for the Allies to pull of the Normandy Invasion.

Now this might sound trivial and it could have occurred before, but I think that War in the Outposts is the first volume to feature full page pictures! No borders! I know, so what. Well I was kinda excited to see this change to one of the photo essays in the book. Thinking back on it I’m not sure why, but it still makes me smile when I think of it.