Book Review: Six Days of War by Michael B. Oren

The Six Day War (also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War, or Third Arab–Israeli War) was never a conflict that I had thought much about.  

However with the release of the new edition of Fate of a Nation by Battlefront Miniatures, my interest was sparked, and I thought it was time to read up more about it. 

I wanted something that would give a complete  and unbiased overview as possible of the topic, but that would strongly focus on the military aspect of the conflict.

The book

The book I selected was Six Days of War - June 1967 and the Making of Modern Middle East by Michael B. Oren. 

Although the book is around 14 years old now, I choose it after some brief researching. The reviews were positive, and the author seemed credible.

I'm please I did because this was a fascinating read. Oren does a great job of taking the reader through the whole journey of the conflict (the lead up to the war, the war itself and its aftermath) and placing it within the larger frame of the Middle East conflict.

Another strength of this book was the way is it covered multiple aspects of the conflict: political, social, diplomatic and military. It was also drew on extensive Egyptian, Jordanian and Syria sources where possible, in addition to the written and oral records of the Israeli participants. 

It also covers the role of the United States and the USSR in this conflict, and weaves this into the larger story of the Cold War stand-off between the East the West, which help explains a lot about the actions of the actors involved.

The bulk of the book is divided up into the six days of the conflict itself, with each chapter outlining the major event of the war almost in a chronological account. These chapters cover the both the military events of the war, but also the politics and personalities around this.

Like any good historical author, Oren knows how to pick key events and vignettes which unlock the whole historical narrative. Here he combines insightful observations and historical facts with personal accounts to draw you into these events and make you feel like you are part of them.

This isn't a detailed military history though, so if you were interested in the real details of each battles, including orders of battle and unit by unit deployment, then this isn't the book for you. However I feel now much better equipped to read one of those histories having read this survey work.

Wargaming value

In addition to being interesting as a history book, I also thought this book did a great job of painting a compelling picture of some of the conflicts of the Six Day War that would be great to reflect in a game like Fate of a Nation or similar, including:

• expansive and dynamic tank battles as the Israeli armour pushed the numerically superior Egyptian army across the Sinai Peninsula;
• the close urban fighting between Israel's paratroopers and the Jordanian defenders as part of the battle for Jerusalem; and
• the brutal and bloody assault by Isreali forces on the the Syrian Golan defences, including bitter trench fighting.

Conclusion

In summary I found this to be an excellent read. If you're looking for an introduction to the conflict for whatever reason, then this one is recommended.

My only one minor complaint is that the book could have benefited from more maps. While there were some, it could really have used a few more.

Call to Arms 2018 - Team Yankee in 6mm

On 4 and 5 August wargamers of all types descended on Wellington for the annual Call to Arms event, which features a range of tournament and demonstration wargames.

My wargaming buddies and I generally attend most years to put on a large scale demonstration games, with Dystopian Wars and Legion being our favourite for the last few year. It's a high point of our gaming calendar, and something that we are always keen on.

This year we decided to go for a two-day 6mm Team Yankee event as we have been playing a lot of it lately and really enjoying it. Day one would involve the Americans and the British defending some vital bridges from a combined Russian and East German attack (Red Dawn), while on day two we would flip it around with NATO forces looking to secure some strategically important Scud missiles (Red Dusk).

You can read about it more on my friend Dale's excellent blog, but suffice to say it was a great time. All the amazing scenery that you can see in those photos is his hard work, and he designed the scenario for the two days.

As usual our ambition slightly outstripped our speed of play, so everyone was completely exhausted by the end of day two (which thankfully finished with a drink at the pub). I am pleased to say that the Warsaw Pact forces (more or less) took the weekend.

I also left my painting run for the Russians late (as usual) which meant two days of pretty full-on painting even before we hit the table. I'll get them photographed soon and up on the blog.

We're already making plans for next year's Call to Arms, however we might reduce our ambition a little in terms of how much we can physically get through. We're also looking at adopting some house rules that might make it slightly easier to dislodge dug-in infantry, as moving these was the focus of both days.

Below are a few random photos from the two days, but do check out the blog (they will make a lot more sense).

The start of day one

The Hinds arrive to drop off their troops

The Russian take the bridge at great cost

The East German defend of day two 

NATO prepares the attack 

The attackers strike...

But the Scud missile remains secure

The Generals assess the options

Preparing the troops for Call to Arms 2018

Wow. Over a year since the last post. This is generally the part of the blog where the author talks about how busy life as been with work and family (and that is all true in this case), but I thought I would skip past that and get straight to the update. Hopefully more regular content to come in the future.

At the beginning of the year my war-gaming buddies and I got stuck into Battlefront's Team Yankee, in which you play the NATO and Warsaw Pact forces squaring off against each other in cold-war-gone-hot 1985. We've had a blast playing it, and its quick pace and dynamic movement has been a refreshing change from our previous experience with Dystopian Wars.

However instead of playing in the default 15mm scale we've dropped it down to 6mm. I feel that the game works better visually at this scale, and there are some lovely cold war 'micro-armour' miniatures at this scale.

This year at Wellington's Call to Arms war-gaming convention we're are putting on a large scale demo game, which is something we have done over the last few years. Day one will feature the US and British forces defending two vital bridges while the USSR and East German forces advance towards them. On day two we will flip things around and the Warsaw Pact forces will defend against a NATO breakthrough.

Although I'm still busily painting up my massive Russian horde, this weekend we ran a trial game of the day two scenario. It went well and it helped test its balance and general enjoyment.

Below are a few random photos that I took. They aren't particularity great, but I'll try take some more painting photos soon. And of course expect a Call to Arms write up in a few weeks.

Here is a view of our beautiful battlefield before deployment

The British forces advance towards to the Warsaw Pact lines

My staunch Motor Rifle Company defends a crashed Hind

The East German dig-in around a strategically important tent