What Are You Reading?

Omar Bradley's A Soldier's Story.

 

Hello Riter:

Kharkov 1942: Anatomy of a Military Disater - David M. Glantz (Sarpedon Press: 1998).

A Fine Night for Tanks - Ken Tout: The Road to Falaise (Suttoon Publishing: 1998).

Cheers and be well.
Evilroddy.

 

Tried to read Voycess of Snay-pers but couldn't. Turns out most of the things I read already from the sources cited in the bibliography. It has merit if you haven't done much reading in sni-pers.

Reading Battle Babies which is the divisional history of the American 99th Infantry Div. in WW 2.

 

I read Tout's book. Haven't read Glantz's Kharkov 1942.

Battle Babies was a good read. I have particular interest in it b/c a sniper I wrote about was in that division.
James Goultry's The Second World War Through Soldiers' Eyes: British Army Life 1939-1945. If you enjoy Bell Irvin Wiley's Life of Billy Yank or Life of Johnny Reb, Goultry's work is similar.

 

Currently reading Hard as nails; the Home Guard in Falkirk District by Geoff Bailey, Falkirk Council archaeologist. Packed full of information on the units as well as all the military installations/defences locally..

 

Holy sh*t or surely you jest. An original OpanaPointer?

 

Let's see... ATM...

German Guided Missiles Roland F. Pocock. Good detail on the guidance systems
The Origins of Surface-to-Air guided missile technology James Mills. Good research, crap conclusions that demolish his own thesis
US Aerial Armament in World War II 3 vols, William Wolf
Development of the Guided Missile Kenneth Gatland
The Rockets and Missiles of White Sands Proving Ground 1945-1958 Gregory Kennedy

 

I just bought two books which should keep me busy for the rest of the winter:

Checkertail Clan: The 325th Fighter Group in North Africa and Italy by Ernest McDowell and William Ness
The Long Campaign: The History of the 15th Fighter Group in World War II by John Lambert

Col. Gordon Austin was the 47th Squadron commander in the 15th Fighter Group during Pearl Harbor and was the 325th Fighter Group commander in North Africa.

 

Riter:

They sound like interesting reads. I'll give James Goultry a look when next at the library. Tout's books are good light reads but the Glantz book is tough going. Data rich but narrative poor. Excellent information but as dry as the Nefud Desert. Superb footnotes packed with more interesting material.

Have you read the two Robert Forcyzk books about tank warfare on the Eastern Front? These are outstanding books which balance good narrative writing with excellent information and analysis. I strongly recommend them. The first book is better than the second IMHO.

Cheers and be well.
Evilroddy.

 

I have the second book but not the first. Haven't had time to read it as I'm concentrating on first hand accounts. The first book is stupid crazy pricewise if you want a hardback.

 

Riter.

Yeah, hear you about book prices, I have been looking to buy Glantz's Barbarossa Derailed series for quite a few years now, but I would need to take out a small mortgage on the house to pay for it. So I loiter around a couple of local second-hand bookstores and hope that a volume or two will magically appear for me to snap up at bargain basement prices. I'm clearly delusional.

Next book will be outside of the WWII era. I am getting ready to restart painting a 15mm miniature Polybian Roman Army which I had to stop working on when I moved a few years ago and that means reading Roman military history! Then some Gaullic military history to spur me on finish and rebase the Gauls! But then I have a company of ten Soviet T-60 light tanks and a platoon of German Kradschütsen to paint up and so WWII will be back en vogue in a month or two!

Regarding firsthand accounts, I love reading regimental histories and war diaries of units in the field. Great stuff to read and then to try to reconcile the local key-hole perspectives in units' war diaries with the bigger pictures from secondary sources. Great fun!

Cheers and be well.
Evilroddy.

 

After our conversation, I found a used copy of Tank Warfare Vol. 1 at a decent price. Right now I need some light reading so it's Andy Rooney's My War. Rooney was the commentator on 60 Minutes and during the war was an inkslinger (Audie Murphy's description of Bill Mauldin) for The Stars and Stripes. Unlike Ernie Pyle's books, Rooney wrote My War in 1995.

 

Riter:

I'm glad you found Vol. 1 - Schwerpunkt at a reasonable price. Yes I remember Andy Rooney well, his good humour, his wit, his gift for gab and his cherub-like face. He and his monologue were a great way to end each show. I remember when his book came out too, but I never read it. I was too busy back in the day.

Cheers and be well.
Evilroddy.

 

British Interrogation Techniques in WW 2