What Are You Reading?

Thanx for the info guys, although not at all a happy incident, but I had never heard of it before...

Some photos:

Sinking of the Torrey Canyon

Still in headlines:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jun/24/torrey-canyon-oil-spill-deepwater-bp

 

Continuing with the early disasters of the Pacific War. Every Day a Nightmare by William Bartsch. Just opened it, but if it's as good as Doomed From the Start, I'll be very happy.

View attachment 15799

 

Epic battle of Cholm - Circle of fire, Warfield Books 1997

Impact! The dive bomber pilots speak by Peter C Smith, William Kimber 1981

 

Remy Schrijnen and his SS-Legion "Flandern"
By Allen Brandt
Schiffer Military History 1998

Focke-Wulf Condor - Scourge of the Atlantic
By Kenneth Poolman
Redwood Burn Ltd 1978

 

currently reading "A Frozen Hell" by Trotter (Amazon.com: A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940 (9781565122499): William Trotter: Books). Man. I knew the Russians weren't really big on tactics, and got their assets handed to them repeatedly by the very outnumbered and under-equipped Finns, but reading details about the conflict....all I can say is....damn!

 

Saturday afternoon while killing time in a bookstore at the Denver International Airport I picked up Citizen Soldiers by Stephen E. Ambrose for the flight to New Orleans. I am still in the first chapter (sort of dozed off for a good bit of the flight), but from what I've read so far, I am very satisfied with my purchase.

 

They used my favourite aircraft to bomb the thing....I remember it well..On news here daily as it happened...Good reak Kai.

 

I'm reading "SS Charlemange", by Tony Le Tissier. His style is to my liking. We don't fart around with the background a lot about the ancestors of the division, namely the LVF, but we get down to the fighting right away. It's February of '45 and we're in Pomerania fighting the Russians and Polish.

Also, do any Brits on this site know if this fellow is related to Matt Le Tissier the footballer?

 

I enjoyed that book too. I loved when Hitler and Mannerheim met in 1942 and Hitler bowed to Mannerheim. I finally saw a clip of that on Nazi Collaberators the other night.

 

Got into Reaper Leader by Steve Ewing. The story of Jimmy Flatley. So far so good. More of a bio than a wartime narrative, but worth it so far.

(And I just finished the Hunger Games trilogy. Good read)

 

Just finished "A Frozen Hell" by Trotter. Good book, easy to read, informative. It skips around the front lines a bit, but as the author states after describing a typical battle, he states that the rest of that particular section of the front was pretty much a carbon copy. Makes the book less tedious, but he doesn't make it seem like he's just ignoring the sacrifices of the guys he's not concentrating on. Learned a LOT about what is, unfortunately, a "side" war that most folks don't even know happened. A good bit of luck on the part of the Finns, intimate knowledge of the terrain, acclimation to the climate (Finland in winter isn't a very forgiving place, apparently), home-court advantage, and a commander who had trained and fought with/for the Russians for 30-ish years. On the Russians' side, LACK of all of the above, coupled with uncertain and timid commanders who were afraid to do anything outside the book, inability of lower-ranks/NCO's to take initiative on-scene, and having to have every move approved by a commissar before it happened royally screwed them over. Were the situation reversed, I have no doubt that the Finns would have steamrolled over the Mannerheim line within a week and been shopping in Helsinki within a month of the opening shot. I was actually surprised to find how Finland finished the war (which side they were on), but all things considered, I really can't blame them. Neither did the Allies.

 

Finished Reaper Leader, and picked up Thach Weave, same author.

 

I have extended my reading to this theatre - having just finished Max Hasting's superb 'Nemesis' - I've picked up Barrett Tillman's 'Whirlwind', although he doesn't write as well as Hastings on the B-29s of the 509th Composite Wing and uses a load of American colloquialisms that I've never heard before ( .." it all went to hash ..." ). Also started Hugh Ambrose's 'The Pacific' - in his Foreword he states that his book is about the 'D-Days of the Pacific' so wondering how it compares with Miller's?. Didn't watch the mini-series either...

 

David Edgerton " Britain's war machine". A very different approach it seems. " ..revealing Britain as a wealthy colossus, sitting at the heart of a vast global production system, building arms and material in huge factories all over the world, and inventing ever-more ingenious weapons..." Wow!

 

A great read Kai. And one that like Sealion and imminent invasion....tells a different side of things.

Hope you don't mind the review...its what made me buy it.

Britain's War Machine by David Edgerton

 

Yes, Urqh, I do understand,

then again we'll see how other people understand these comments:

"The outbreak of war did force global Britain to reorient its trading patterns: "near supplies" such as Danish bacon had to be replaced from outside Europe..."

Maybe we have to change our view from "German near victory" to "certain loss already in March 1933"...