What Are You Reading?

Just picked up British Armour in the Normandy Campaign by ohn Buckley. Although i haven't read it yet i know most of the arguements involved as the author is my chief lecturer. Should be interesting.

Red Baron will be pleased to know that he has got an acknowledgement in it too

 

Just got Gallipoli 1915, Frontal Assault on Turkey by Philip J. Haythornwaite, Osprey, Oxford, 2000.

Any comments about it? Has someone read it?

 

I just finished Alan Schom's "The Eagle and the Rising Sun: The Japanese-American War 1941-1943".
This book was initially recommended to me as offering a stinging criticism of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's actions both leading up to and just after the US entry into the war. In that the author does a fantastic job, especially by detailing his excellant performance during WWI and contrasting that with his actions just before the war until he was ordered out of the Philippines by Roosevelt. The author also throws other American admirals under the bus most notably for their performances in the naval actions off Guadalcanal. While the authors book is fairly well documented he seems to rely very very heavily on secondary sources as opposed to primary sources. While not entirely bad, it does leave the author open to drawing conclusions that may not be entirely accurate. For instance, Mr. Schom lionizes Adm. Richmond Kelly Turner as an officer who could do no wrong since before the war while overlooking his shortcomings leading up to the war. Mr Schom also seems to have it in for Adm. Raymond Spruance who would from Midway on, be a huge factor in the US drive through the central Pacific Ocean in the time frame after the authors book concludes as he does for any other American admiral who was a "black shoe" (Surface officer) as opposed to a "brown shoe" (Aviation officer). Schom obviously has a bias toward naval avaition and rarely has a good thing to say about a surface officer except as stated before concerning Adm. Turner. Despite the the author's bias the book is a good read and provides some insights from newly released sources. I would not recommend this as a good first introduction to the Pacific Theater but is good for the reader who has some working knowledge into the events that had transpired during this period.

 

Forgot to mention that next on my list is Combined Fleet Decoded: The Secret History of American Intelligence and the Japanese Navy in World War II by John Prados. Should be a very interesting read as a quick look at the bibliography seems to be chock-full of primary sources from the National Archives and Records Administration, the Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman libraries, the US Navy Historical Center, Oral Histories and Interviews, Wartime and Postwar Interrogation along with published Official Histories and Documents from both the United States and Japan.

 

In a 'weak' moment I bought some books from a on-line bookstore (who is NOT on bookfinder, etc.), which arrived today. next on my reading list are:

We Flew The Rocket Firing Typhoon published by the Royal Dutch Air Force Historical Section. OOP and on my wanted list for a long time! About 124 Wing.

Venturer Courageous the biography of Group Captain Leonard Trent , DFC, RNZAF.

London Calls Amsterdam, A OOP book which I have been looking for for a long time, about the actions of two Dutch SOE agents in Amsterdam.

And then some studies and memoires of the battle in Holland, May 1940.

I am a happy chap! (especially when you consider what I paid! )

Oh and did I mention I received Ian Piper's book on 605 Sqn and a video with an interview with Able seaman Stone of MTB 666?

 

re-reading the excellent Sturmjäger volume 2 on JG 4 by Eric Mombeek. making little corrected notations here and there. Luv this book due to 9 pilot signatures within.

tottles

E ♪

 

I just finished reading Forrsyth's 'Battle Over Bavaria' - I liked this book so much, I was sorry to finish it !

The story of JV44 is really quite fascinating - in places reading almost like a 'Biggles' adventure - and I found the description of the confused last days of the air war to be quite gripping. The 'pocket biographies' of the pilots reproduced throughout are also effective.

Highly recommended - this one is not just for the experten !

 

side note Martin, did this book include pics of the NSGr 1 birds...Ju 87D-5's amongst the dark green JV 44 jets ? they have been included in abundance in the huge OOP JV 44 volume.

was just curious

E `

 

No, it doesn't have those, Erich. I've missed out on the JV44 book and it now sells for around a zillion pounds.....

Nice photos in the BoverB book, though - including the famous sequence of Steinhoff and others grouped around the impromptu 'operations table'in April '45 with telephone and flare pistols at the ready.

I love looking at those pics - very atmospheric.

 

Martin does it list the pilots around the table by chance ? If not I maybe able to help

E ~

 

Yes it does Erich - thanks anyway. One of them is Gutowski who was then adjutant of JV44.....

 

good !

funny how there were quite a few prop job pilots that came over to JV 44 and JG 7 and never once set foot in one of the jets neither flew any missions in them. It was almost like a slow retirement from the war.

E

 

Right now I'm going through Emily (hope it's the right sister) Brontë's Wuthering Heights… I gave it a try in English but I failed… had to get a Spanish copy…

But I'm also reading David Lomas' First Ypres 1914. Amazingly detailed and very good!

 

"Planes of the LUFTWAFFE FIGHTER ACES Vol 1 and Vol 2"

 

good for you Kai ! 2 old calssics, although some of the pic captions are a little off.... text is about a 0 but that is not why a person would wnat these 2 volumes. Note who the artist is of the lined drawing profiles. None other than one of the authors of the new JG 300 books to come out. Richard will be supplying artistic renderings along with noted artist Tom Tullis in both works

cheers

E

 

I've just finished reading Eva Kolinsky's After The Holocaust - Jewish survivors in Germany after 1945. And I've just started my well thumbed Escape from Sobibor, by Richard Rashke, again, while I wait for Waterstones to take delivery of several books on a similar subject.
So Ill probably have a whole list of books to comment on here soon...

 

Well, I finished reading Adrian Goldsworthy's "The Punic Wars" a while back, an abolutely terrific book about a period which I did not know a whole lot. Very interesting to learn some more about the workings of the early Roman state and the genius of Hannibal.

So right now I'm only reading "The Shadow Rising" (in a completely different genre!), while trying to decide which history-related book to start on next. I'm thinking either Bergströms's "Black Cross/Red Star Vol.2" or another volume of Clay Blair's treatment of the submarine war...

 

I'd go for Black Star / Red Cross....Haven't got Vol.II, only Vol.I, and although the eastern front is not my main erea of interest, I thought it was a good read.

I am about to finish 'De Vuurproef van een Grensbataljon' (The Baptism of Fire for a Border Battalion) By Major Weber, about the experiences of the Dutch Army's 1st Bn, 26 Infantry Regiment on May 10 1940 and the days after. They were stationed on the MAAS - WAAL canal and managed to hold out against a SS unit for a whole day. Which is quite a feat if you realize with what equipment the Dutch had to fight. Written in 1941 and published in 1945. Great book about the May war. Very detailed too. Glad I bought this.

 

"Arnhem 1944" Martin Middlebrook, and
"Beyond Valor" Partick O´Donnell

 

'Arnhem 1944' - great book ! It's also the one that Arnhem veterans recommend.