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September 2009 MailbagArmchair General Letters | July 14, 2009 | 4 comments | Print | E-mail  Peter the Great at the Battle of Poltava. (Painting by Louis Caravaque) I want to comment on the article about Peter the Great [May 2009]. It was a great article but my understanding of the Battle of Poltava would have been enhanced by a map of the battle. Thanks for a great magazine. Keep up the good work! Doug Ault Via email Thanks very much for your feedback. Since you have brought up the subject, you and our readers may be interested in learning a little about our process for creating maps for each issue’s articles. During the production process for each issue, we examine each article to determine which ones we think should include maps. Of course, our interactive articles (Combat! You Command, YC Solution, and What Next General?) always feature battle maps, so those are a “given” in each issue, and we normally have our cartographer, Jason Petho (You Command, YC Solution, and What Next General?) and our illustrator, Greg Proch (Combat!) create a total of 8 maps (strategic and battle maps) for those interactive articles. The “judgment” part comes next as we decide which of the other Department articles (such as Hard Choices, Spy Wars, etc.) or longer Feature articles we think should have maps. Essentially, we ask ourselves the question: “Will readers be able to ‘follow the action’ in an article text without a map, or is it essential that we include one or more maps in order to make the text as clear as possible?” Typically, each Battlefield Leader article will have one or more maps, and often other Feature articles such as Battlefield Detective, History in Depth, Battle Studies, etc., will also have maps created for them. On average, each issue of ACG will have about a dozen maps, all specially created by our cartographer or illustrator exclusively for that issue. As a comparison, other military history magazines usually feature far fewer maps than does ACG – normally only a handful, perhaps 2 or 3, in each issue. We hope that our readers find the relatively greater number of maps in each ACG issue helpful and useful. We think the larger number of maps in ACG is one feature that helps set us apart from ‘the pack.’ In the case of Ralph Peters’ “Peter the Great” article in the May 2009 issue, we created a ‘strategic’ map to show Russia during that era, but decided Peters’ text detailing the Battle of Poltava was clear enough without a battle map – however, as Doug Ault has pointed out, not all readers agreed this time and we sincerely appreciate his feedback on this article.  Nick Bacon (Courtesy, The MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History) Thank you for sending me two copies of the latest Armchair General magazine. I’ll make certain that Nick Bacon gets a copy. It is a really excellent issue. Thanks again, Daniel Shannon ACG thanks you for the outstanding “10 Questions” interview with Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipient First Sgt. ret. Nick Bacon that we published in our July 2009 issue. Please pass along to him our gratitude for sharing his experiences with our readers and for his courage and sacrifice in the service of our country. Pages: 1 2 3Help Armchair General by bookmarking to
            Tags: Military History
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What is Armchair General?Armchair General (ACG) and ACG online feature a unique, interactive editorial approach that invites the reader to decide the course of action in challenging historical scenarios, to step into the shoes of a battlefield commander. Leading historians and contributors lend integrity and credibility to this fresh presentation of historical and contemporary events. Armchair General is the INTERACTIVE history magazine where YOU COMMAND and decide the course of action! |
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4 Comments to “September 2009 Mailbag”
Enjoy your magazine very much. Your interactive section is always interesting and engaging.
That said, I must take issue with Mr. Peters, The No-Victory Lie. Sadly, I routinely find myself put off by the opinions of Mr. Peters and I must question why current politics of a particular bias have become a part of your magazine. I certainly respect Mr. Peters’ opinion, but the idea that the death toll of our Iraqi “adventure” simply doesn’t add up to a Cold Harbor or an Antietam or let’s say the losses of the Arizona…is just wrong-headed thinking. The death of one of our precious Servicemen and Servicewomen for an “adventure” is simply too many.
Too many people weigh the cost of war based on faceless numbers…without reflecting that each life lost brings suffering to yet another American Family.
So maybe it’s best to armchair the past and not the present.
By KSMullins on Jul 19, 2009 at 8:40 pm
To Whom This May Concern;
Hello, I was reading your September 2009 Issue of Armchair General about the Secrets of Lord Nelson’s Naval Genius by David T. Zabecki and Carl Otis Schuster.
I would like to point out that as many documentaries have left out a very important in Lord Horatio Nelson’s command his right hand man so to speak during the battle of Trafalgar which would be my Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Grandfather Robert Hayley Judd. They failed to point out the fact that the HMS Victory was actually Judd’s ship and Nelson’s ship he was supposed to take was not completed so according to documents and family history he took the HMS Victory off my Grandfather. My uncle who lives in another part of the county (Canada) has the documents. Also you will find Judd’s name on the HMS Victory. As far as we knew he was an Admiral but he could have been a commander as well. My Uncle has his bible and his diary. Much stuff was burned by by Great, Great, Great, Great, Grandmother who went insane. What was left my uncle kept. Lots of Biographies on Nelson goes silent after he died not at all siting the fact that my Grandfather of long ago in 1812 was in fact given charge of the Victory after. Only one or two documentaries I have seen did mention his name. He fought in many wars and was one of the few survivors of Bunker Hill.
Sincerely,
Andrew Kelly
By Andrew Kelly on Jul 28, 2009 at 11:12 pm
Dear General Sept 2009
Great read!!!
Acting as Lt.Col. G.C.Marshall in the Battle of Cantigny WW1
May 28 1918, I would choose course of action #3, infiltration.
Using artillary fire on the north & south flanks to prevent
German movement.
Best Regards
warren
By warren olson on Aug 8, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Gentlemen,
Here’s a few questions you might find of interest to either pose to your readers for a discussion, or for your “What If?” section -
A) What if President Roosevelt had buckled and named Hugh Drum as Army Chief of Staff in 1939?
B) What if Jonathan Wainwright had *not* been assigned to the Philippines ?
C) What if Marshall had decided to have one of his original choices for US Army European Command(Patton, Stillwell, Eichelberger)sent over to England after Eisenhower had ‘cleared the way’ for him?
D) What if Roosevelt had decided in 1939 to pick a new Army Chief of Staff from a ’secondary list’ of younger Generals, which was provided to him by the outgoing Chief of Staff, Malin Craig(Grunert, Benedict, Ridley, and Chaffee?)
E) What if Chaffee, who was one time considered to be sent to the Philippines(but Wainwright went instead) had instead been named Army Chief of Staff in 1939; and thus not the Chief of the US Armored Forces?
F) *If* Chaffee had been named Army C.O.S. in 1939, what might have happened when he died of cancer in November, 1941?
Sincerely,
Charles Ward
Summerville, SC
By Charles Ward on Aug 16, 2009 at 9:48 am