Battling the Elements: Weather and Terrain in the Conduct of War

Battling the Elements: Weather and Terrain in the Conduct of War. By Harold A. Winters with Gerald E. Galloway, Jr., William J. Reynolds, and David W. Rhyne. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. ISBN 08018-5850-X. Maps. Photographs. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. 317. $35.95.

Military geography has been a neglected study, in academe and in the field. Now, within one year, this excellent text joins an equally valuable one by John Collins (Military Geography, published by National Defense University Press) to enlighten practitioners of the military art about this arcane subject. In this book, Harold Winters et al. present an easily-understood primer on the relationships between warfare and geography. The authors, who began their opus when all were teaching Geography at the United States Military Academy, discuss terrain, weather, climate, soil and vegetation, as these affect military operations. Beginning with summaries of weather extremes, the reader is led through wind and rain, clouds and fog,...