Max Hastings: 1914 Catastrophe

If I were going to recommend reading material for military officers currently serving in the Armed Forces of Great Britain, the United Kingdom or any of her Commonwealth and NATO partners, then it would have to be a collection like this (see below, Max Hastings - "Catastrophe Europe Goes to War 1914", just to remember how things can unexpectedly start!): 

Followed by a haunting tale of lost peace and complacency at all levels of government and the military (see below, Dan Dannatt's "Victory into Defeat"): 

Which turned an "Unhappy Ending" of one world war into a new nightmare of another, with opening rounds going to the vanquished. This is a "first love" book of mine (see below, Alistair Horne - "To Lose a Battle France 1940", I discovered it in teh early 1990's and it has been on my self ever since): 

Finally, while wild emotions are running around their heads, let them stop and read about Norway (mostly ignored apart from the First and Second Naval Battles of Narvik) - but look at the other Narvik, and the strange possibilities of this forgotten success in an otherwise bleak campaign .. which hailed the first successful allied amphibious operation of the war in 1940 (see below, Henrik Lunde's Hitler's Pre-Emptive War"): 

Thought provoking and a tale of swinging fortunes. Best remember from history the lessons of "things lost and things gained," as the best made plans of mice and men play out upon the stage not under their control.