Macksey, Kenneth J. 1923–2005

(Kenneth John Macksey, Major K.J. Macksey)

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born July 1, 1923, in Epsom, Surrey, England; died November 30, 2005. Soldier and author. Macksey was a decorated officer in the British Royal Tank Regiment who later became known for his many books about the history of armored warfare. After serving in the British Home Guard and working at an aircraft factory while still a teenager, he enlisted in the Royal Armoured Corps in 1941. He saw action in Europe, including in the Battle of Normandy, where he was wounded and earned the Military Cross. Remaining in the military after the end of World War II, Macksey was in the Royal Tank Regiment until he retired in 1968 with the rank of major. He then focused on a career as a writer, producing about fifty books, most of which concern tank and other forms of warfare history and biography. Among his many works are Afrika Korps (1968), Tank Warfare: A History of Tanks in Battle (1971), Kesselring: The Making of the Luftwaffe (1978), Military Errors of World War Two (1987), Why the Germans Lose at War (2000), They Never Looked Back (2002), and The Searchers (2003; 2nd edition, 2004). He also was deputy editor of Purnell's History of the Second World War and History of the First World War, 1968–70, as well as a consultant to the Canadian Armed Forces from 1981 to 1991, and to the Discovery Channel in 1993.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Times (London, England), December 20, 2005, p. 54.