The Lisbon plane soared away from the dense, swirling fog of Casablanca, up and into the night. Below, the airport was plunged deep into the North Aftircan darkness, its only illumination the revolving beacon that perched atop the conning tower. The sirens of the French colonial police cars had faded into the night. Everything was quiet but the wind.

Almost lost in the mist, two men were walking together, away from the airport, away from the city, and into an uncertain future.

"... of a beautiful friendship," said Richard Blaine, tugging on a cigarette as he walked. His hat was pulled down low on his forehead, and his trench coat was cinched tightly against the damp.

And so goes the opening paragraph of ''As Time Goes By", by Michael Walsh. It starts where 'Casablanca' left off, and everyone is there.... Rick, Louie, Ilsa and Victor, Sam...heck, even Sacha and Carl make a showing. It's great escapist fare, and I highly recomend it to any other fans of the greatest film to ever light up the screen.

I'm enjoying the ride.

-whatever

-Lou

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5 out of 4 people have difficulty with fractions.

Florian Berger: The face of courage

"The 98 men who received both the Knight´s Cross and the Close Combat Clasp in Gold"

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800 Days on the Eastern Front: A Russian Soldier Remembers World War II Nikolai Litvin, ed Stuart Britton

The author and soldier, Litvin, wrote his memoirs in the early 60s but kept them hidden, because such manuscripts were forbidden during communist rule. He was a parachutist who never made a parachute drop and fought mostly as an artilleryman (mortar and anti-tank) and truck driver.

I'll give a recommendation on it after I have read more, as I am only in the first chapter. So far readability is good and the editor, Britton, adds much explanatory information, such as defining Russian words, customs and military slang. The author is still living in Russia at the time of publication and the editor talked to him via email and phone, with an interpreter available. Looks like he makes good use of maps and although the maps are mostly crude, but they are better than nothing.

Amazon.com: 800 Days on the Eastern Front: A Russian Soldier Remembers World War II (Modern War Studies): Books: Nikolai Litvin,Stuart Britton

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Best Regards,
JW

Excellent Slip! Tell me how that book is after your finished.

I finished Red Partisan several days ago. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in resistance fighters on the Eastern Front.

A full description ( by the author who is also the main character ) of life for Russian POW's in German camps followed by his escape and a life as a partisan is trully remarkable.

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The war against Russia will be such that it cannot be conducted in a knightly fashion. This struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness. -Adolf Hitler

Yes please keep us posted Slip! I am anxious to read something on that! I was going to start "War on the Eastern Front" but picked up "A Sapper at Arnehm - The memoirs of Henry Faulkner Brown", just finished it! Great book!

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Members of the Dutch Resistance with 101st AB, Eindhoven. Operation Market Garden.

Scott

I have just finished The White Rabbit: Wing Commander F.F.E. Yeo Thomas by Bruce Marshall, Tigers in the Mud by Otto Carius, Few Returned, A Diary of 28 days on the Russian Front Winter 1942-43 by Eugenio Corti. They are all really good books.

I am currently reading Foley the spy who saved 10,000 lives by Michael Smith.

Just finished "The German Defeat in the East[1944-1945]" from Stackpole books. Can't say
I enjoyed it.

Started "Grenadiers...The story of Waffen SS General Kurt Meyer." This book is right interesting so far.

Regarding 800 Days on the Eastern Front: A Russian Soldier RemembersWorld War II Nikolai Litvin, ed Stuart Britton

Well, I finished it. I was an easy read, being only 143 pages. It was long on general history and short on specifics. The book gives a fair overview of what generally goes on the rear areas of a regimental HQ, but provides little on the daily life of the combat soldier. Litivn spent most of his time as a chaffeur (in the US, he would be called a driver) for a the Regimental commander. He really spoke little of the day to day activities of a front-line soldier.

He was a machine gunner in a penal battalion for a few weeks saw heavy action here, but spoke little of it in the book. He seemed to have strings to pull to get him out of dangerous spots, which he used several times. I don't blame him, he survived the war.

He spoke highly of US made trucks and jeeps and spent most of his time driving a Willys.

He talked about the murder of prisoners and of his participation in them. He did not like being involved and decried that type of action several times in the book. He said that while it was not officially sanctioned, it occured quite often.

One thing I learned from the book was how little motorization the infantry units had. In his regiment, there were 4 vehicles, all captured, except for the jeep. All artillery was horse-drawn, except early in the war when the crew themselves did the pulling. There were several instances of him stopping to help artillery crews who were man-handling their tubes.

As I read in earlier books on the WWII era Red Army, food procurement was a constant issue, although he did not go into great detail.

Litvin was very fond of his regimental commander, Col V. N. Dzhandzhgava, later general and the general was protective of Litvin.

After the war, Litvin was sentenced to 4 years hard labor in Siberia for possessing a pistol at the time of his discharge. He said it was a souvenir he was keeping for an officer friend (who could possess them) but they could not get together to get it to him.

The book is okay if have nothing else to read. If you want to read a good book on the average Red Army soldier, you will be better off to read Tank Rider by Evgeni Bessonov. It is a much superior book.

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Best Regards,
JW

143 pages??

Looks like he squeezed in 4-5 days in a page

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The war against Russia will be such that it cannot be conducted in a knightly fashion. This struggle is one of ideologies and racial differences and will have to be conducted with unprecedented, unmerciful and unrelenting harshness. -Adolf Hitler

Yeah, it was a weak book, Slava. Not sure I am even going to keep it and that says a lot, I never give away or sell books.

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Best Regards,
JW

Currently reading 'The Germans in Normandy' by Richard Hargreaves
Amazon.co.uk: The Germans in Normandy: Books: Richard Hargreaves
Only 20 minutes into it and looks like it will be interesting.

Very good book - and the author is an occasional contributor here.....

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

Just finished reading Crno Seme (Black Seed) by Tasko Georgievski. It's a partly fictional novel about the aftermath of the Greek civil war (1946-1949).
Both Greek and Macedonian soldiers serving the Greek royalists are detained and then sent to an island prison camp under the accusation of being communists. Then they are tortured and forced to sign a paper which says that they are resigning from the communist party and are no longer communists.
A very interesting book though...

Next:

Red Storm over the Balkans: The Failed Soviet Invasion of Romania, Spring 1944

by David M. Glantz

Amazon.com: Red Storm over the Balkans: The Failed Soviet Invasion of Romania, Spring 1944 (Modern War Studies): Books: David M. Glantz

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Currently reading Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the US Navy by Ian Toll

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Anyone who clings to the historically untrue--and thoroughly immoral--doctrine that 'violence never solves anything'... Violence, naked force, has settled more disputes in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms." Robert Heinlein

I have read 3 Antony Beevor books,
Stalingrad
The Fall of Berlin 1945
and Crete
All 3 of them are very well written and I highly recommend them.

Finished reading "The Last Battle" by Cornielius Ryan again LOL Now Im reading "The Atlantic Wall,Rommel's plan to stop the Allied Invasion!" by Alan F. Wilt. Along with my various military history magazines like World War II,Military Heritage,Military History,Strategy&Tactics,Ect LOL.

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For the first time I have seen "History" at close quarters,and I know that its actual process is very different from what is presented to Posterity. - WWI General Max Hoffman

Just finished The Forsaken Army by Heinrich Gerlach it's about the 6th army after Stalingrad being surrounded by the Russians
You're stepping on my cloak and dagger by Roger Hall it's his account of being an army officer assisgned to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during WWII, quite a witty book.

Hell's Highway by Georde Koskimaki. Liked his other books, and this so far is a good read as well!

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Members of the Dutch Resistance with 101st AB, Eindhoven. Operation Market Garden.

Scott

Finished 'The Germans in Normandy' by Richard Hargreaves; nice to see how grim things were from that side of the fence. A good read IMHO.

Otherwise been working my way through the (almost) compulsory Normandy stuff such as D'este, Hastings, Buckley etc.

Having a wee break from Normandy now and reading 'The death of the Wermacht' by Robert Citino which so far is looking like a bit of light relief by comparison before I start on Terry Copp and his Cinderella Army.

So many books so little time.................

Couple I finished and both were good.

EICHMANN
His Life and Crimes
By David Cesarani



BELORUSSIA 1944
The Soviet General Staff Study
Translated and edited by David M. Glantz & Harold S. Orenstein

Love to get more of these books but the price of them is a disgrace, far to high.

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Regards, Richard

There back this Xmas 2008