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Kenneth John Macksey (1 July 1923 – 30 November 2005) was a British author and historian who specialized in military history and military biography, particularly of World War II. Macksey was commissioned in the Royal Armoured Corps [1] and served in World War II (winning a Military Cross [2]) under the command of Percy Hobart, later writing the (authoritative) biography of that leader. Macksey, gaining a permanent commission in 1946 [3] and being transferred to the Royal Tank Regiment in 1947,[4] reached the rank of major in 1957,[5] retiring from the Army in 1968.[6]

Amongst many other books, Macksey wrote two volumes of alternate history, one dealing with a successful invasion of England by Germany in 1940,[7] and the other describing a NATO - Warsaw Pact clash in the late 1980s.[8] The latter book was done under contract to the Canadian Forces and focuses on the Canadian role in such a conflict. He was an editor and contributor to Greenhill's Alternate Decisions series since 1995.[9]

In Macksey's Guderian - Panzer General, he also refuted the view of historian Sir Basil Liddell-Hart regarding Hart's influence on the development of German Tank Doctrine in the years leading up to 1939.

Publications[]

Macksey's list of publications is very extensive[10] and includes the following titles:

  • Invasion - the alternate history of the German invasion of England July 1940. Ashcroft: Wren's Park Publishing. 2001 [1980]. ISBN 0-905778-79-0. 
  • Guderian - Panzer General. London: Greenhill Books. 1992. ISBN 1-85367-059-6. 
  • Kesselring : German master strategist of the Second World War. London: Greenhill Books. 2000 [1978]. ISBN 1-85367-422-2. 
  • Armoured crusader: a biography of Major-General Sir Percy Hobart. London: publisher. 1967. ISBN 0-09-084950-7. 
  • Why the Germans lose at war : the myth of German military superiority. London: Greenhill Books. 1999 [1996]. ISBN 1-85367-383-8. 
  • Military Errors of World War II. London: Arms and Armour Press. 1987. ISBN 0-85368-830-3. 
  • Rommel : battles and campaigns. London: Arms and Armour Press. 1979. ISBN 0-85368-232-1. 
  • Anatomy of a Battle. New York: Stein and Day. 1974. ISBN 0-8128-1650-1. 
  • Panzer Division, the mailed fist. New York: Ballantine Books. 1968. ISBN 0-345-24992-5. 
  • Beda Fomm: Classic Victory. New York: Ballantine Books. 1971. ISBN 0-345-02434-6. 
  • Africa Korps. New York: Ballantine Books. 1968. ISBN 0-345-21687-3. 
  • The Penguin encyclopedia of modern warfare : 1850 to the present day. London: Viking Books. 1991. ISBN 0-670-82698-7. 
  • First clash: Combat close-up in World War Three. USA: Sterling Publishing. 1985. ISBN 978-0-7737-2060-2. 

Notes[]

  1. Commissioning date 23 April 1944
  2. MC awarded 21 December 1944
  3. Dated 5 October 1946
  4. Dated 3 January 1947
  5. Promotion date 1 July 1957
  6. Retirement date 3 August 1968
  7. Invasion (1980)
  8. First Clash (1985)
  9. Schmunk, Robert B.. "Greenhill's Alternate Decisions". In Tsouras, Peter G., Kenneth Macksey, and Jonathan North (eds.).. Uchronia: The Alternate History List. http://www.uchronia.net/bib.cgi/label.html?id=greeanthol. Retrieved 20 December 2012. 
  10. A comprehensive, but not necessarily complete, listing can be found at the WorldCat website
All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at Kenneth Macksey and the edit history here.
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