Great looking book Chris! Some of the older books have a craftsmanship that sometines surpasses the contents. Though this one sounds like a keeper.
Just been given this cracking set of books,1st edition, in great condition,9 volumes over 4000 pages. (printed I believe around 1947) The Second Great War, Hammerton, Waverley. Graham.
Have just started Red Sky In The Morning by Michael Pearson which covers the Battle of the Barents Sea in December 1942 where a Royal Navy force of destroyers and 2 cruisers held off a large German naval force from attacking convoy JW51B. Not the thickest of books but it doesn't dwell on any preamble so before you know it you are in to the narrative concerning the forces and battle.
Re-reading a book called Safer Than a Known Way, by Ian MacHorton. This is my third read of this book, having met the family of one of the main participants in the narrative.
Finally arrived! So I'll be stuck in tonight. Flipped through and noticed it has two pages on the the Hectors of 613 Squadron over Calais so that's a nice bonus.
I just finished Ken Tout's Bloody Battle for Tilly from the library and also read the slim Juno Beach by Tim Saunders. Will have to go back to my Lord Strathconas when I am on holiday starting this weekend
Well, what had to happen, finally happened: My reading ordeal finally reached Burma! Here's the first set, covering the 1942 retreat: Burma Invaded, 1942, by Major C.M Enriquez. The Retreat from Burma 1941-42, by Bisheshwar Prasad, D.Litt (Indian Army Official History) Flight by Elephant, by Andrew Martin No Surrender in Burma, by Fred C. Goode Flying Tigers, by Daniel Ford
I know, mate, and it's just the beginning: I have a couple more sets, one covering 1944-45, while the other deals exclusively with the Arakan (me kind of front, ye know...). Unfortunately, there's still a big gap when it comes to First Arakan and late '42- all of '43 events all over the front (apart from Longcloth, that is), but one day someone will finally publish the books I dream of (hopefully).
OK do actually I'm not back with my Lord Strathconas but am reading Tank Tracks, about 9RTR. I was very pleased to find it in a local shop! Going on vacation to my parents' and the cottage this week so I expect to get a lot of reading done.
I finished Marine Commando by Raymond Mitchell last night - I've read his other two - this one had me enthralled, too. He was with 41 RM Commando and this one's about Sicily and Salerno. I wanted to read about Salerno from another Unit's point of view as dad volunteered to fight with No.2. It had me gripped from the start and his description of the Pimple and the fighting that took place there was so vivid. Dad had told me about 41 coming under 'friendly fire' and how devastating that was - here, Mitch was in the thick of it - also the 'Mutiny' ... I was also told about that when I was young. I now have to go and read the last chapter again as I never knew how dad got back in time for D-Day until recently. Mitch writes about re-joining his Unit and travelling to Algiers to board ... the Otranto ... the ship my dad sailed home on! He must have joined 41, travelled with Mitch, been at the 'ghost football match' ... If only I could ask him about it. Thanks to Mitch, I now know so much more. Great book!
Talk of elephants always brings to mind Elephant Bill by J H Williams (1950). I once taught a textbook that used a long extract from the book as an example of descriptive writing and I mentally marked it as something to return to but somehow forgot. Teak was "as important a munition of war as steel" so timber extraction was an essential industry. Williams was based at Maymyo. When Japan entered the war, it was expected that they would be held in Malaya and Singapore. Despite criticism, the Bombay Burma Corporation arranged evacuation of European women and children, though the government had no such plans. In 1942, elephants were used for evacuation rather than timber extraction from February till the end of April. The retreat from Burma was to Assam via Imphal. The road to Assam went up the Chindwin to Kalewa, then up the Kabaw Valley to Tamu, and across five thousand foot mountains into Manipur and the Imphal Plain. Williams was attached to one evacuation party, which included his wife and children. The Kabaw Valley was nicknamed "The Valley of Death" because of the hundreds of refugees who died there from exhaustion, starvation, cholera, dysentery and smallpox. Williams was then employed in timber surveys in Bengal and Assam, and raising a labour corps. But in October 1942 he joined the staff of the Eastern Army (later the Fourteenth Army) as Elephant Advisor to the Elephant Company of the Royal Indian Engineers. He was a Burmese speaker with knowledge of Burma, including the Irrawaddy River area and jungle tracks. He was initially posted to 4th Corps Headquarters at Jorhat in Assam. While elephants were used as "sappers" i.e. as part of the Royal Engineers for use in bridge building in places where heavy equipment could otherwise not be brought in, the Royal Indian Army Service Corps wanted them to be regarded simply as a branch of transport, an under-utilization of the real benefit of elephants Williams believed. Many elephants were captured by the Japanese, and some recaptured elephants had to be cured after being attacked by Allied fighters, or from acid burns from wireless batteries carried on their backs in straw-lined boxes. Williams was known as Sabu, then Elephant Bill. Sir William Slim, commander of the XIVth Army, wrote about elephants in his introduction to the book Elephant Bill: "They built hundreds of bridges for us, they helped to build and launch more ships for us than Helen ever did for Greece. Without them our retreat from Burma would have been even more arduous and our advance to its liberation slower and more difficult." James Howard Williams - Wikipedia Has anybody here read it?
Hi CF, This is what I posted on the forum back in September 2011 in regards Elephant Bill: I'm on a re-reading session at the moment and have been able to piece together information and add to my Longcloth personnel listing. The books involved were 'Wingate's Raiders' by Charles Rolo and 'Elephant Bill', by JH Williams. Elephant wasn't an inspiring read when I first looked through it 4 years ago, but with new knowledge the book has really opened up for me. JH Williams provided some animals for Chindit 1, but was not pleased to have to do so. His book is an interesting account of his life managing these animals and their handlers, it has to be worth a read if you have an interest in all things Burma.
Currently reading Decisive Factor: 75 and 76 Squadrons - Port Moresby and Milne Bay, 1942 by David Wilson https://www.amazon.com/Decisive-Factor-Squadrons-Moresby-Milne/dp/1875593012/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8