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| WWII Books and Publications Discuss and review WWII literature. |
August 27th, 2003, 06:26 AM
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I do read everything in my collection - eventually - although visitors to my house never believe me.... 
UK dealers seem to think that they'll only put the book on Bookfinder, ABE, or whatever if it's an expensive one, or it 'isn't worth the bother' otherwise ! So you can find much cheaper books in the shops over here. I have bought from some very good US dealers and Australian ones, too - maybe they can help with 'Waltzing Matildas'.
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August 27th, 2003, 09:06 AM
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Recently bought a few ospreys off ebay to top up my collection. Just finished peter kilduff book on the red baron. an excellent book. Just started Herwig Holgers 'Luxury Fleet: the Imperial German Navy 1888 - 1918'. So far so good.
I also recently catalogued the books i have up here at uni. It worries me because i got more at my parents  |
August 27th, 2003, 09:59 AM
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I still have problems with Osprey; I have only two titles myself which are ok, but early on in my ww2 book reading career these titles were really badmouthed by a lot of people and that kinda turned me off of them. There is a bookshop in Leiden which stocks, I think, all osprey titles; hundreds of them.
I have some really good experiences with Australian booksellers; got some titles very, very cheap and very good service too. Agree that on line UK sellers can be expensive, but so can US dealers!! It remains a matter of shopping around. Like I wrote; I got Gale's With the 6th A/B in Normandy from a UK dealer for GBP 10!! There is one dealer in Germany which stuctually overprices his books by at least 30%. 
Sorry I keep butting in...I love to talk books....I read them too, I promise!  
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August 27th, 2003, 10:03 AM
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Stevin i wouldn't knock osprey. for a very basic potted history i find them very good. especially if it is an era your not to sure you interested in. it just give a taste. the main problem can be its artwork, though this only really effects the medieval and ancient range. here the criticism is that they are a combination of archealogical finds from different periods and therefore, don't really represent anything. the main culprut of this is unfortuanatly Angus McBride, who while an excellent artist combine lot of the details and unfirtuantly there is no real basis to them sometimes.
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August 27th, 2003, 10:13 AM
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I guess I have to agree with you; I have only read some WW2 titles. I thought the pics were interesting and for someone with little or no knowledge on a subject I guess they are a decent introduction. I speak for the volumes that I have (read). However, I did find some really irritating mistakes/errors in them. Captions that are obviously wrong, etc. But I guess these books are not really meant for the more initiated.
Still, I have a rather long Want-list, so the Osprey titles will have to wait...
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August 29th, 2003, 08:32 PM
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At the moment I'm reading "Midway - the Japanese story - The decisive battle of the Pacific War" by Mitsuo Fuchida & Masatake Okumiya.
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September 4th, 2003, 12:16 PM
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Ha haaa...
Found Günther Prien´s book "The way to Scapa Flow" in Finnish in a second hand store....Excellent!!!! Book Year 1941!
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September 4th, 2003, 03:08 PM
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Although a predominantly Lufwaffe enthusiast -
I recently found a book entitled "Soldat" by Siegfried Knappe depicting his military career as a German general staff officer serving on the Eastern Front at war's end, and of his time in captivity by the Soviets. Only half way through, but so far, a good read.
Bill
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September 4th, 2003, 04:50 PM
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wise choice Bill ! I believe my good friend Helmuth Reichert who is still recovering from his almost disastrous colon surgery, exclaimed that he thought it was one of the better books printed on a Deutsche soldat !
just going through hundreds of files at the moment and continual research for my books. does that count ?
~E
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September 5th, 2003, 09:34 AM
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OH, YES!
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September 5th, 2003, 11:02 AM
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I've just purchased the following so i shall be reaing them soon.
Ronald Lewin - Slim: the Standardbearer
Field Marshal Viscount Slim - Defeat into victory
John Keegan - Six Armies in Normandy
Battlefield Detectives - this accompanies the recent series that was on channel 5 here in the UK
I also managed to pig a little book called Britains Naval Air Arm. This was published by pengiun back in 1944!
So all in some interesting stuff to read over the next few weeks.
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September 5th, 2003, 01:37 PM
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Mahross,
That last title - does it mention naval air station HMS KESTREL at all? I believe they trained 'telegraphists air gunners' there for duty on planes. I haven't got that verified though.
Looking into an incident on july 2, 1940 when a Leading Airman was KIA. He's buried in, you guessed it, Amsterdam.
As HMS KESTREL had a Telegraphist Air Gunners
(TAG's) training unit, I ponder over the circumstances of the demise of LA Burt.
This was during the Battle of Britain when the British flew intruder missions to the low countries (amongst others). The type of plane that Burt would have been in was a 'Nimrod' or an 'Osprey'. Maybe even a 'Fulmar', but only if he was stationed with 808 sqn at the time, which I think he wasn't. All three planes are unknow to me.
Anyway, if anything is mentioned about KESTREL... 
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September 5th, 2003, 03:45 PM
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Stevin - I'll have a look. It was quite a good find. Got it for 59p in Oxfam yesterday. |
September 5th, 2003, 07:47 PM
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Ahh! The Oxfam shops!
Good memories....Liberated a lot of books from British charity shops over the years. Definately a good find, Mahross!
Now, back to my garden programs!
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September 6th, 2003, 02:19 PM
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at the time i am reading D-Day by Stephen Ambrose, which i would recommend to anyone who is interested in WW2 lit. Ambrose is a brilliant author not only but also a very learned historian. any good suggestions on what i should read next
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September 6th, 2003, 03:10 PM
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Onthefield - if your interested in normandy read John Keegans six armies in normandy. Ambrose is good but like many american author scathing of the british which recent revisionism has shown to be a little unfair.
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September 6th, 2003, 03:33 PM
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Mahross is right - John Keegan's book is excellent and easy to find. Another one that I like ( I've read it three times now ) is Carlo D'Este's ' Decision In Normandy ' which, again, has been reprinted several times including in paperback.
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September 6th, 2003, 05:18 PM
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thanx for ur suggestions mahross and martin bull, ill definetely look up on those.
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September 8th, 2003, 04:28 AM
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Man, those guys are very polite. I would have rather advised you to read anything by anybody other than Ambrose. But you'll get there too if you read some of those other authors then go back to one of Ambrose's little stories.
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September 9th, 2003, 07:26 PM
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This looks like the perfect thread for my first post on this forum. [img]smile.gif[/img]
At the moment I'm re-reading Tieke's Tragedy of the Faithful. Next on the list is another one of Tieke's books, In the Firestorm of the Last Year of the War followed by Will Fey's Armour Battles of the Waffen-SS.
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September 9th, 2003, 07:52 PM
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Hello daft - a very warm welcome to the Forums ; always good to hear from another 'military bookworm' !
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September 9th, 2003, 07:52 PM
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Welcome Daft!
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I started yesterday on Chuikov´s memoirs on his joining the war in 1942 and the book ends in 1944. I earlier read the book he wrote on 1944 onwards.
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