Recently finished Richard Holmes' Firing Line and Tail End Charlies by John Nichol and Tony Rennel, now reading Frederick Taylor's Dresden.

How did you like 'Tail End Charlies' , Greenjacket ?

I'm half-way through and enjoying it very much. I had thought that it was 'just another Bomber Command book' and only bought it because it was half-price.

But it focusses on certain aspects of the Bomber war ( eg fear, morale, leadership etc ) and discusses 'taboo' areas ( LMF, suicides, etc ). The two authors are not BC experts, and it's not a reference book. But - sensibly - they have selected from a wide range of veterans reminiscences.

I like the result so far ( I'm also a bit biased because Reg Davey - the Mosquito Museum's 'resident veteran' - had a big input ).

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

I enjoyed Tail End Charlies - aerial combat, and the bomber war in particular, can sometimes seem like an impersonal business; machine against machine (or the faceless 'bomber versus city'), aviators never seeing the whites of the enemies' eyes and so on. I think TECs provides a very useful human perspective, focussing as it does on the experiences of the Allied airmen of both combat and life in wartime Britain. Incidentally, I found the recollections of schoolboy David Hastings fascinating - you may have already read them if you're halfway through, and having been introduced to 'LMF' in Terraine's The Right of the Line, I think TECs does a good job of giving an impression of just how harsh this policy was, and how punishing on BC aircrew.

Like you say, it's not an exhaustive study or particularly ground-breaking, but as a broad illustration of the experience of the latter stages of the bomber war it's a useful book, and compliments work that focuses on more operational or technical aspects like Middlebrook's on Hamburg or Nuremburg.

Gents doesn't the mentioned book cover some German SturmFw actions ? if not it should !

let me know please ...........

time to take a walk with my babe' in the snow, the twon is basically almost shut down. I luv this time of year

Erich

It does indeed mention the Focke-Wulf Sturmgruppen, and gives a fairly dramatic and graphic account of the havoc they wreaked on an 8th AF raid on Kassel.

I also remember an anecdote reproduced in which a US propaganda poster on a wall at a US 8AF base in England asking 'Who's afraid of the new Focke-Wulf?' beneath which some humourous airman had chalked 'Sign here'. Before long every flying man on the base had added his signature, including the group commander!

ah yes the bog battle over Kassel when all 3 SturmFw gruppen attacked what a mess for the 445th bg, losing over 30 B-24's and hundreds killed and captured. The bomb group would have ceased to exist if the Yellowjackets had not come to the rescue and pursue SturmFw' and Bf 109G-6's of JG 4 and JG 300. IV.Sturm/JG 3 attacked first and got clean away and shot down 17 of the B-24's confirmed..........I am supplying the German acct's for a book being produced through the 445th bg.

Remember Oskar Romm's account quite vividly when he described his shootdowns of 3 B-24's......arg it was terrible what the Minengeschoos rounds could do.

thanks Green-Jacket

Went to the Mosquito Museum today ( a New Year resolution - must help out there more ! ) and Reg Davey kindly signed my copy of 'Tail End Charlies' - 'Reg Davey F/L Nav : 218, 514, 139, 627 PFF'

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Go ahead...rub it in...

Sounds like an interesting read, Martin. Especially the taboo- issues... Have agrowing interest in this; the psychological effects of war...

See that Mr. Davey was with 514 Sqn. Would you mind asking him, next time you see him, if the names of Sgt Ivor Rich, F/S Sgt Wilbur Chapman, Sgt Richard Day, Sgt Howell John, Sgt Albert Johnson, F/S John Underwood say anything to him. F/O Ivor Rich was the Navigator of that crew, so if he remembers any, it might be him.

They (execpt Chapman) were KIA on 22 March 1944 and I can't find didly squat on them or the squadron. Wilbur Chapman was KIA 22 January 1944.

[img]graemlins/vc.gif[/img]

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Don't want to totally hijack the thread Stevin, so I've sent you a pm ! [img]smile.gif[/img]

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

ok I have to ask, is the tail end Charlie book covering more of RAF bomber command participation at night than US heavy day ?

E ♪♪

Ok, I see...I am reading The Hunter and the Hunted, a great self published book by Bennett Palmer, Squad leader, B Company, 143rd Inf regt, 36th Inf Div. about his time in Italy, France and Germany. I have finished Not Ready To Die the story of Nacho Vasquez, 517 Parachute Infantry Regiment and am going to read Ordeal in the Vosges by Pence and Petersen, the story of the 275th Inf Regt, 70 Inf Div in the Vosges (Nordwind). All self published.

[img]smile.gif[/img]

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There a perceptible leaning on the the side of the RAF (in terms of weight of material, not judgementally, that is), and the book gives Harris more prominence than Spaatz or Eaker (although I think that's justifiable given the villification of the man since the war). I wouldn't call the book one-sided, however, there's a fair degree of balance.

I´m reading a book on Churchill´s views on Scandinavian countries and especially on Finland 1900-1955. The 1919 situation is quite interesting as it also opens up ideas why and what happened in WW2.Unfortunately for you guys (??!) by a Finnish history writer.

Also got this book on Galland with loadsa great pics!!

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Hajo Herrmann's "Eagle's Wings".

Welcome to the Forums Taka, it's good to see a new face!

I was in the mood for some alternate history, so I picked up Days Of Infamy. I'm only just started, but it's a good read, and well researched.

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"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance." Socrates

Just finished reading 'Swifter Than Eagles' , a privately-published book of research into the ( ultimately tragic )career of one Lancaster crew in 1944/5. Researched in the 1970s/80s, it gives many insights into life at 582 (PFF) Squadron, Little Staughton - including many incidents and anecdotes that one wouldn't find in the official histories.

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Incidentally, I had a lecture today given by the head of the Air Historical Branch of the MoD. Very interesting.

I recently finished reading John Birmingham's Weapons of Choice, one of the best alternate histories I have read in some time.

Weapons of Choice, the first book in what will be a three book series, was somewhat reminiscent of the film the Final Countdown. In the Final Countdown, a late 20th century US aircraft carrier was inadvertantly transported to the waters of off Hawaii one day before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In Weapons of Choice, most of a 21st century multi-national naval taskforce (American, British, Australian, Japanese, Italian, German, and Russian forces, etc.) which was conducting an anti-genocide intervention in the name of the UN, was inadvertantly transported to the waters of off Midway Island one day before the pivotal 1942 battle, an interesting idea which Birmingham executed very well.

[ 23. January 2005, 03:39 PM: Message edited by: Deep Web Diver ]

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"The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past." - William Faulkner

Another moment of madness...

The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy September 1939-March 1942
Christopher Browning

Decision In the Ukraine, Summer 1943, II. SS and III. Panzerkorps
by George M Nipe, George M., Jr. Nipe

HIMMLER'S BOSNIAN DIVISION. The Waffen-SS Handschar Division 1943-1945
by George Lepre

Joachim Dressel, Manfred Griehl: The Luftwaffe Album - Bomber and Fighter Aircraft of the German Air Force 1933-1945

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I am currently reading När Finlands Sak blev Min by Winter War and Continuation War veteran Orvar Nilsson. Unfortunately for the rest of you lot available only in Swedish!

So far it is a great read, having dealt with the short battles of the Swedish vounteers in the Winter War, the unmoving positional war in the area of the river Svir (actually along the Jandeba) up until 1944, and now being thrown into the grueling combat on the Karelian Ishtmus at Näätälä, Tali-Ihantala and such places.

"Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union I have visited all the places where we fought. At the Jandeba river settlements had appeared and the vegetation changed. In the middle of my old position a field of potatoes grew. The trenches were still there, even if only a few decimeters deep, and the barbed wire also remained. But the strangest experience was to stand above ground and look over at the enemy side. We had not been able to do that in 1944. We were always below ground level and observed through trench mirrors.

Two times I have visited the Tali-Ihantala area. I was allowed to search for the remains of those of remained on the battlefield, even though this is a protected area along the border. The growth makes it very hard recognize oneself. But where you do, the memories sort of pours in over you. It is very surreal. It is much too quiet, no firing, no shellbursts, no screaming. The only thing that is the same are - the mosquitos. So you start thinking about what you did, if we did the right thing, why things turned out the way they did. You think alot about the fallen. We never found any of those we had to leave behind.
-- Orvar Nilsson (2000)


The Swedish volunteer company, August 1944. Lieutenant Orvar Nilsson on the far right (from his personal collection)

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"Nervous wait for the whistle to blow
Rush of blood and over we go..."
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Thumbs up for the Swedish volunteers!

Although we have our "mutual" disagreements and jokes of each other and especially the ice hockey games must not be lost at any price - I salute the Swedish volunteers for they truly did their duty and more when fighting in WW2 in the Finnish army!

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I absolutely agree! Although in recent years the ice-hockey games have lost much of their old charm, with all too few classic reversals in the last minutes! Still, the Finnish Lions sometimes get a satisfyingly wobbly look when leading the game by two goals! [img]tongue.gif[/img] Of course, nowdays you guys actually win most of the games...