What are you reading at the moment?

Books to be found in all sorts of places eh Owen! Drove past there yesterday, is there an actual secondhand bookshop or was it a temp charity sort of thing?

 

Mapping the Second World War: The history of the war through maps from 1939 to 1945: Peter Chasseaud, The Imperial War Museum: 9780008136581: Books - Amazon.ca

Found a remaindered copy of this so snapped it up. Some great maps and interesting commentary. The snippets of history on mapping and how it was done by the different powers were worth the price alone.

 

I've been attempting to improve my knowledge of WW1 this past year and was lucky enough to win a book on Fromelle.

Australians are brought up on Vegemite and the ANZAC legend at Gallipoli, sadly this battle has been left in the corner, despite it being the most deadly for the ANZACs, with 2000 killed in just one night.



I hope to one day visit these battlefields and remember the ultimate sacrifice made by all involved.

 

Going back to finish A34 Comet: A Technical History. This is at times an extremely technical book (I am not a gearhead and I couldn't tell you what a reciprocating anything looks like) but it also includes a chapter about the Comet-equipped units in Germany plus reports about the technical failures and casualties sustained.

Despite being self-published through Lulu, I'm pretty happy with the printed copy I ordered, and I also think it's pretty well written - it is clearly the result of very detailed research.

 

There is nothing like reading first hand experiences. I wonder if interest in WWII has peaked?

 

Picked these 2 up for a £1,each from a garden centre of all places.
Graham.

 

Just finished reading-
Scurry, the man who got them safely off Gallipoli by A J McAleer
Great story of not just Bill, but the family who came before him and afterwards.
Enjoyed reading his letters spread through what he was involved with during the war.
Very well researched and written.
If you don't know his story, well worth the read.

regards

Robert

 

I do not know his story, Bofors, but it sounds like something I would enjoy reading. I did not know the withdrawl was carried out so well, or how it was done.

I'm plowing through some WW2 armour books low on text and high on pictures. I got the old Squadron-Signal book on the M3 (Lee + Grant) tank - finished that - and I have "British Armour in Sicily and Italy" by Dennis Oliver, and "British Cruiser Tanks A9 & A10" by Peter Brown up next.

 

Aaand the rain has messed up my reading plans. So my read during my transit trip to work will be G Patrol by Crichton-Stuart which I just picked up for $2.

 

Currently reading Barbarossa Derailed Vol 1 by David Glantz. This is Volume 1 in a series of 4 books that cover the Battle of Smolensk in 1941, a battle that usually garners little more than a line in narratives of the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Volume 1 & 2 covers the narrative of the battle, Volume 3 contains all the operational orders and directives and Volume 4 is a colourised map book.
Usually due to his writing style, which can be a little dry, whenever I read Glantz's work I struggle to get through the first 100 pages but once through them I find it hard to put down but with this work I have had no such issue at all.

 

Reading The Battle of Britain - Richard Hough & Denis Richards

 

Fairey IIIF: Interwar Military Workhorse: Philip J. Jarrett: 9780946958726: Books - Amazon.ca

Great look at the RAF between the wars contained in this study of Fairey's unnamed multi-role plane that served on land and sea, with the RAF and the RN and all around the world.

 

I'm reading this now.



Currently I am about 30 pages into it, and it has become quite the read. The story line in the book does not follow the movie currently (where I am in the book), but I do understand how difficult it is to compress a book down to a hour and a half or so movie and to tell the story properly.

The fighting at Ia Drang was intense and close. Several veterans of that battle who saw action in WW2 and Korea were stunned at the amount of firepower concentrated in that small area. The movie can't do the book justice, but they do try.

 

Well, tactical narratives (provided they do include personal accounts) are usually very gripping and fast-paced. Good read!

 

Well, I'm reading a fantasy novel but also this. I know nothing about the air war in early North Africa or Greece so I'm looking forward to learning a bit.

 

A Group Photograph - Before, Now & In-Between - Home Just started this and it seems really good elements of then and now but also before, I have picked up a few really good ww1 books of late I know I should really stay on subject... but they talk to me!