Books by Bruce A. Watson

In 1857-8, rebels in northern India recruited tens of thousands of volunteers in a mutiny that threatened to engulf the entire subcontinent. This work explores how the vastly outnumbered British army, with extended lines of supply and reinforcement, could defeat so large a force on its home ground.

Desert Battle is a study of the nature of desert warfare with special attention to the evolution of weaponry, the organization of forces, the impact of the desert environment on the ability of those forces to sustain battle, and the influences of the desert on battle tactics.

The author utilizes the methodology John Keegan developed to define sieges as a form of battle and to explore the categories of combat--those relationships of men versus weapons and the commitment to battle on the part of the contestants--which determined the outcome of battles and wars.

In November of 1940, the German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer attacked British Convoy HX-84. Watson recounts how the Scheer's 11-inch guns turned the ship into a burning hulk in twenty-two minutes, but most of the convoy escaped. In November of 1940, the German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer attacked British Convoy HX-84.