What Are You Reading?

I hope to start withing the next week or so Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire by Richard Frank

 

Bought these interesting books:

Raffael Scheck: Hitler´s African victims ( The German Army massacres of Black French soldiers in 1940 )

MacGregor Knox: Hitler´s Italian Allies ( Royal Armed Forces, Fascist regime, and the war of 1940-43 )

 

I'm reading PMH Bell's "The Origins of the Second World War in Europe". It does an excellent of summarizing the seeds of the war as well as offering info about the states of the belligerents leading up to the conflict. It is a bit dated--1986--but most of what I read jives with what I have read.

 

Now I am reading my December 2008 issue of Civil War Times Illustrated. I had misplaced it obviously, and found it the other day when cleaning up. I moved the recliner while vacuming and voila! There it was!

 

Made a bigger order with a friend of mine...

The Tank Battle at Praga by Bacyk ( Warsaw 1944 )

For Europe by Forbes ( French waffen-ss volunteers )

Glantz: Stalingrad trilogy Pt 1

 

Just started Germany Calling, a biography of William Joyce the infamous Lord Haw Haw written by Mary Kenny.

 

Sounds like a very interesting book,actually....

 

Kai,having done a general skip through pre reading and having now read the preface and first chapter, it is indeed looking to be a very intresting read it would seem there was more to William Joyce, than just what has been generally portrayed over the years. I will post my verdict when I have read the book.

 

I have recently finished a book and I am looking to buy a new one..I have a question to anyone who has read Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor , is it worth buying for 16$ at Barnes and Noble...This would also be my 1st eastern front book , is it a good place to start off? If not , can anyone recommend any other book?


Thanks alot!

 

I have a new cookbook titled "New Orleans Cookin' in the Big Easy." Looking forward to reading it and trying out some new recipes. RTF.

 

You probably should start with a overview of the theater first. Alan Clark's Operation Barbarossa is a good one. I read it for a class when I was in college.

 

at the moment i'm reading
guy sajer's the forgotten soldier
and stalingrad
for the second time

 

Reading the following:

Spitfire II: The Canadians - Robert Bracken
Wings of The Luftwaffe - Eric Brown & G. William Green

 

..interesting 320-page softback on 9th AF fighter bomber ops in and over Normandy, June-July 44 which I picked up cheaply on Ebay. Plenty of personal accounts & pics from private albums. There is an English translation out there somewhere (Stormy sky over Normandy)

 

Did you know that in 1920 when just 15 and living in Galway, the IRA where set to kill the still to become 'Lord Haw Haw' but the sniper that lay in wait for him coming home from school was tharwted as he took another route, as he had moved house.Why did they want to kill him.........that would be telling buy the book

 

Currently I am reading a recently published book about the City of Nijmegen in the Netherlands during 1944. The title of the book is: "Nijmegen '44; Verwoesting, verdriet en verwerking" (N. 44; destruction, sadness and assimulation), written by Joost Rosendaal.

As a youngster I lived less than 10 miles from that city, and I remember many incidents mentioned in the book, including the erroneous bombing of the city by Allied bombers, that destroyed a great part of the downtown area (and also bombed several other cities). Personally I was lucky to escape that attack. On the day of the raid, 2/22/44, I was in the city for a doctor visit. Luckily the office was closed for some reason and my mom and I went back right away on an early train and were home by 11:30 that morning. At noon the raid had started and many houses/businesses were destroyed...including the doctor's office and he and his whole family got killed that day. Ironicaly, one of the few buildings that remained standing there was the Gestapo HQ. A fact that was mentioned by Adolf Hitler in one of his speeches, condemning the Allies for attacking civilians! Although different than my family visiting ideas, my mother insisted that we go home immediately, because it was a school day. My Mother's insistance for me to miss as little school as possible, saved both our lives. (A neighborhood girl with us on the train going to N. in the morning, came back in a coffin several days later.)

Other facts addressed in the book cover the liberation and occupation of the city by Allied troops starting during Market Garden, and the constant German attacks to regain control of the city and most of all the major bridge over the river Waal.
A very interesting book, for those who read Dutch.

 

Currently reading Churchill And The Norway Campaign by Graham Rhys-Jones - not for those seeking a big in-depth account of the campaign but not a bad read really.

 

I am reading "Flyboys: A True Story of Courage" by James Bradley. This will be the second time around in this book for me. Unreal the way the Japanese commander's treated, killed and even ate parts of American flyers that were shot down. I also enjoy the story of George Bush Sr. and the downing of his plane. He is a true hero and living legend!

 

The Bedford Boys by Alex Kershaw. So far it lives up to all the hype.