Featured battle : Crossing the Medway

Part of Roman Occupation of Britain

Date : 43

The Britons had taken up a defensive position north of the river Medway. They expected the natural barrier to stop the Romans for a time while British reinforcements came up. The river was crossed, swum. by mounted auxillaries almost as soon as they reached it. The Britons were taken by surprise and reacted by swinging their whole force towards the threat. A legion then crossed the river at a different point, established a bridgehead which they were able to hold long enough for the whole of the Roman force to cross. Once the Romans were established in significant numbers the Britons fled.

Allied Coastal Forces of World War 11. Volume 1

John Lambert & Al Ross
Having read Volume 2 first I came to Volume 1 with high expectations I was not disappointed. One could not help but be impressed with the massive research which must have been undertaken to produce such a wealth of detail. But more than that the information is presented in an easily accessible form.
The story of the Fairmile designs begins in the first World War and finishes with those which survive today. The same is true of the US submarine chaser except that none are still around. It seems wrong to select any particular parts of the book it is all worth reading but what I found surprising was the variety and quantity of the weapons fit. In type this ranged from the rather simple, primitive Holman projector to the top quality Rolls Royce 40mm gun. In quantity as much as two 4.5 inch, twin 20mm Oerlikon plus mines and depth charges all on a displacement of around 100 tons. All of this propelled at over 30 knots.
As I wrote in the review of Volume 2 [see elsewhere on this site] this is not a book just to be read but to be owned. A quality publication in a large format, 290mm by 240mm, with over 250 pages packed with technical drawings, photographs and engaging text. Some publicity blurb says it would help anyone wishing to build a model but for some of the boats little more would be needed to build to full size craft such is the detail given.
Along with Volume 2 we cannot recommend this book too highly.

Seaforth Publishing, 2018