Air & Space Power Journal

Fight or Flight: An Inspiring History of Courage under Fire-True Battlefield Stories of Extraordinary Acts at the Moment of Truth by Geoffrey Regan. Avon Books, 1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York 10019, 1996, 277 pages, $12.50.

In Fight or Flight, Geoffrey Regan examines the concept of courage in combat. He looks at the psychological aspects of why certain people crumple under the pressure of combat while others, despite injuries, withering enemy fire, or insurmountable odds, step up and often do the impossible. Perhaps most telling, however, are the case studies of people actually in combat, from medieval times up until the Battle of Huertgen Forest in 1944. These riveting, compelling studies allow us to enter regiments, battalions, and armies to try to understand what soldiers faced during their trial by fire and how they coped with the situation and performed their duties.

The author's thesis is that all people, not just some, eventually break under combat stress. He identifies four types of individuals who have always existed in combat: those who do not feel fear; those who feel it but don't show it; those who feel it and show it but continue fighting; and those who feel fear, succumb to terror, shirk their responsibilities, and flee. Rather than offering a formula for predicting when soldiers will break, Fight or Flight explores factors that cause this behavior, as well as the ones that hold people in place, thus preventing wild and chaotic-not to mention embarrassing-mass retreats.

In his attempts to quantify courage and fear as manifestations of combat prowess, Regan discusses certain endearing qualities that lead to success in combat. These include a soldier's fighting spirit, cause, morale, health, food, leadership, medical treatment, training, and loyalty. Regan shows us how the presence or absence of these variables often determines the outcome of a battle.

One distinctive quality of this book is that the author, perhaps with a bit too much enthusiasm, disputes long-standing ideas about soldiers in combat. He deflates the image of "superior" Confederate soldiers by showing the incredibly high rate of desertion within the Confederate army and by revealing the limited fighting spirit of Southern soldiers, compared to their Northern counterparts. Pointing to thorough routs like Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga in 1863, Regan notes key factors that tended to limit "Johnny Reb's" fighting spirit in the later stages of the Civil War. He also explores fear's paralyzing effects on American combat soldiers at Kasserine Pass in Tunisia in 1942 as well as on the Spanish army in Morocco in 1921, when fear and undisciplined behavior resulted in the Spanish losing 19,000 soldiers in just a few days to only 3,000 Moroccan tribesmen.

In other cases, fear did not dominate the participants: Texans at the Alamo, the US marines at Tarawa, and the British at Fontenoy in 1745. The author also takes a close look at the 20th Maine's charge down Little Round Top against the 15th Alabama during the battle of Gettysburg, where courage and supreme self-sacrifice led to heroic acts of bravery and victory.

Fight or Flight is readable, well organized, and extremely accessible. It would have been helpful, however, had the author included maps of each of the battles cited so that readers could have a complete picture of the events that took place. The book, by all accounts, is an excellent addition to the field of military history. With an increasing number of military books dealing with technology, information war, precision guided munitions, and the like, it is refreshing to find a book that emphasizes the one element found in all combat-people. Weapons, strategy, and tactics may change, but as long as people occupy the central position in combat, we need to know about factors that can cause a weaker opponent to overwhelm a vastly superior force.

Maj Robert Tate, USAF
Maxwell AFB, Alabama