ABDA-CBI-SEAC. Book thread.

Discussion in 'Books, Films, TV, Radio' started by wtid45, Nov 3, 2010.

  1. TijgerB

    TijgerB Member

    Bought "Horse and Foot" by Alec Harper on ebay because somebody mentioned he served in DEI as CO 3/9 GR :D
     
    sol likes this.
  2. sol

    sol Very Senior Member

    If mention of DEI is all it takes you to buy the book than I should be a more careful next time when I try to describe the book. :-P

    Yes there is a chapter in the book about his time in Surabaya during 1945-46. And it feels good to know there are more people like me who will buy the book just because there could be something that is of particular interest to him/her. For me any mention of the Sittang Bridge or Gurkhas generally will mark the book as the must buy.
     
  3. TijgerB

    TijgerB Member

    Yes there is a chapter in the book about his time in Surabaya during 1945-46. And it feels good to know there are more people like me who will buy the book just because there could be something that is of particular interest to him/her. For me any mention of the Sittang Bridge or Gurkhas generally will mark the book as the must buy.[/QUOTE]

    Well I think I have all war diaries from Java including 3/9 GR. So often if a book mention "my" area of operations I find it just made a transcript of the war diary :wacko: So all the pocket money I spend on Andy and Lee is sure one of my best investments :D Resulting in a great database on Commonwealth casualties in DEI 45/46 :D

    Next time maybe I should just ask for a copy of the chapter :-P Though the book was cheap ;)
     
  4. sol

    sol Very Senior Member

    You just need to ask I will be happy to do that for you next time.
     
  5. Warlord

    Warlord Veteran wannabe

    Did someone around this place mention the good old Dutch (Netherlands) East Indies AND a military unit/action in the same paragraph? Cold weather must have me sense of smell sharper than usual :D
     
    TijgerB likes this.
  6. Hebridean Chindit

    Hebridean Chindit Lost in review... Patron

    Ladies and Gents... "The Lone Chindit" by D H Donaldson... published 1967... anyone ever heard of this title...? 1st ed up on ebay starting at £7... no details so no idea what it is...
     
  7. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Hi HC,

    I think it is a fictional Chindit book, but am not 100% sure about that.
     
  8. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer Pearl Harbor Myth Buster

  9. Warlord

    Warlord Veteran wannabe

  10. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Someone won this title on eBay today.
     
  11. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Should have put this title up on here last week:

    roll on.jpg
     
  12. Hebridean Chindit

    Hebridean Chindit Lost in review... Patron

    Anyone I might know, me ol' B43...?
     
  13. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    I thought it might have been you HC. :)
     
  14. Hebridean Chindit

    Hebridean Chindit Lost in review... Patron

    Inocente muchacho... Being honest, I'd forgotten I'd posted it up... o_O
     
  15. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Bought this in a charity shop yesterday for £1.50.


    A Sapper in the Forgotten Army by John Henslow
     
  16. sol

    sol Very Senior Member

    Here is my short review of Pat Carmichael's "Mountain Battery" as promised. Carmichael served with 23rd Mountain Battery IMA which mostly operated under command of the 1st Burma Division during 1942. Whole book covers just author experience during 1942 invasion of Burma. It is really well written book, probably the best personal memory of the Retreat from Burma and one of the best of War in Burma during ww2 generally. It is very detailed, actions against Japanese were very described very well just like general life of the Indian Mountain Battery during the war. I highly recommend this book to anyone.
     
    Warlord and Orwell1984 like this.
  17. sol

    sol Very Senior Member

    In early days of my interest in the war in Burma during 1942-45 one of the first battles I have read was that of 3rd Carabiniers on Nunshigum during the Battle of Imphal. So when I find out about book "Nunshigum - On the Road to Manadaly" it came quite high on my list of desired books. But as I found that this book is labeled as a fiction on several sites it dropped quite significantly on that list. Recently I stumbled on a nice copy on discount and decided to buy it. It was well preserved copy and even better it was signed by author.

    It starts as a crime book - there is a murder in Yorkshire on 13th April 1982 and because of the way it was committed one of the inspectors starting to believe that there might be some connection with Burma. Soon police find out there there were other similar murders, all on the same date - 13th April. As the Battle on Nunshigum was the only significant event on that date during the war in SEA they went to interview an old member of the 3rd Carabiniers named Alan Fenner. And almost 90% of the book is Alan's memoir of his time in Assam and Burma in form of diary. Alan in the book is no other than author himself - Arthur Freer and Alan memoirs were Arthur memoirs. All other names are real names, there are several maps in the book and one sketch about action on Nunshigum, only photo in the book is a photo of Major Michael Huntley-Wright MC, who took command of B Squadron after Nunshigum and led it till he was killed in December 1944. I even compared a text to Freer's sound record which could be found on the IWM site and they are the same, well similar as there more details in the book. But basically this is a real story placed inside fictional story.

    I don't know what to think about book. As a crime book it is not great. It is not even finished. Wild guess is that "Nemesis from Burma - The Bamboo Murders" is second part of the book but I'm not sure about this. But as war memoir it is a very good book. I wish that author decided to publish the book as war memoir, it would be a really good reading, there are well written recollections of actions on Nunshigum, Tiddim Road and Burma, daily life of the tank crews of B Squadron during 1944-45. Just because of this I think it that book is worth reading.
     
  18. idler

    idler GeneralList

    Acquired a copy of 11 East African Division's Rhino Review a while back then, due to its inconveniently-large format, bound it into a hard case. Hopefully that will keep it in better shape than sticking it in a box...
    IMG_20180731_3428.jpg
     
  19. TijgerB

    TijgerB Member

    [​IMG] Just pre ordered this book from OSPREY which might be one of the most important books on the subject of the Far East and the most important battlefield in February 1942.
     
  20. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    I'm surprised the subject has not been covered by Osprey before now. I hope it has something of interest for you.
     

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