Fighting in woods and forests is a very special form of war. Avoided bymilitary commanders unless such terrain is to their advantage, for soldiers forestbattles are a chaotic mix of dread, determination, and, all too often, death.Adversaries remain in constant fear of concealed ambush, casualties usually must beabandoned, and prisoners who cannot be guarded are killed. Heightened fear can leadto excesses. Too often, armies have been badly prepared and trained for such warfareand have suffered severely for it. In Warfare in Woods and Forests, noted militaryhistorian Anthony Clayton describes major events in woods and forest warfare fromthe first century CE to the 21st. These events involve Roman soldiers in Germany2, 000 years ago, North Americans in 18th- and 19th-century conflicts, invaders ofRussia in 1812 and 1941, British, French, and Americans in France in 1916 and 1918, Americans in the H rtgen Forest in 1944, and modern-day Russian soldiers inChechnya.