What are you reading at the moment?

https://www.allenandunwin.com/brows...istory/Ghost-Riders-Mark-Felton-9781785784026

Ghost Riders
Operation Cowboy, the World War Two Mission to Save the World's Finest Horses


GIs and Germans join forces in a thrilling true adventure story from the last days of the Second World War.

April 1945. As Allied bombs rain down on Europe, a 400-year-old institution looks set to be wiped off the face of the Earth. The famous white Lipizzaner stallions of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, unique and precious animals representing centuries of careful breeding, are scattered across rural Austria and Czechoslovakia in areas soon to be swallowed up by Soviet forces - there, doubtless, to become rations for the Red Army.

Their only hope lies with the Americans: what if a small, highly mobile US task force could be sent deep behind German lines, through fanatical SS troops, to rescue the horses before the Soviets arrive. Just five light tanks, a handful of armoured cars and jeeps, and 300 battle-weary GIs must plunge headlong into the unknown on a rescue mission that could change the course of European history.

So begins Operation Cowboy, the greatest Second World War story that has never been fully told. GIs will join forces with surrendered German soldiers and liberated
prisoners of war to save the world's finest horses from fanatical SS and the ruthless Red Army in an extraordinary battle during the last few days of the war in Europe.

 

Interesting looking book. Are there any Australians or New Zealanders mentioned in it who served with the AEF?

Scott

 

Just finished reading Convoy! Drama in Arctic Waters by Paul Kemp. Have to give this one five stars! I admit that my eyes glazed over a bit at the exhaustive list of escorts with each convoy but it was an extemely informative and good read.

 

This.

 

This book arrived today much to my delight. ' The Story Of The RASC 1939-1945. It's 720 pages with lots of photo's/maps etc.The dust cover is a bit tired but the book as a whole in good condition.
Note the price on the inside of the book cover, 48s not cheap in 1955.(click on the images to enlarge)
Graham.

 

Assume it doesn't cover the RIASC?

 

A walk around the various ABMC WW1 cemeteries in Western Europe confirms this.The other immigrants not mentioned here but are evident in these cemeteries are the Hispanics

 

Hi Charley,
ref, RIASC, (Royal Indian Army Service Corps)
Will have a look for you later.If I find anything I will drop you a PM.
I do know some units (RIASC) were made up using mules with the BEF AT Dunkirk.

cheers. Graham.

 

I finished reading a book awhile back titled "Pershing's Crusaders". It was mentioned many times the large amount of the numerous ethnicities that made up the AEF. Many of those men's first language was non-English, and that their English was little more than a working knowledge of it. Companies, battalions and regiments raised in big cities were more like a "foreign legion" of sorts. Midwestern regiments had a high percentage of Scandinavian and Germanic types. Southwestern and Texan units of course had a high percentage of Hispanics. Companies and battalions raised here in Louisiana spoke only French. Remember, just about everyone here is from someplace else originally.

 

BECAUSE WE ARE CANADIANS: A BATTLEFIELD MEMOIR
Charles Kipp
2009 - Douglas And McIntyre Ltd.

An unvarnished and raw glimpse into the life of an infantryman. I found it to be a disturbing and often depressing account of the hopelessness of the long service soldier. However, it also increased my admiration for their dogged determination and commitment.

Charles Kipp served with the Lincoln and Welland Regiment during WWII. During ten months of fighting at the front, he was wounded nine times. After three months of intense fighting without a break, he suffered a heart attack in the heat of battle yet continued to fight, serving in the Battle of Bergen-op-Zoom. After the war, he farmed briefly before being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome and suffering a second heart attack. He soon became well-known locally as a fine craftsman of beautiful cabinetry and as the banjo player in a popular local country band, the Cornhuskers. In 1984 and 1986, he returned to Holland as a war veteran where he was reunited with the Dutch people who offered him shelter and the Germans against whom he had fought. He passed away in January 2000.

Kipp was a platoon sergeant to Major Lambert (The Mad Major).

Review:
Because We Are Canadians: A Battlefield Memoir by Sergeant Charles D. Kipp - Canadian Military Journal

 

Just finished "The Armoured Campaign in Normandy" by Stephen Napier.



Haven't made my mind up about it though. Very detailed and a lot of research has obviously gone into it, but felt I was getting bogged down with trying to keep track of the plethora of divisions, brigades and regiments been thrown at me. It's not helped by the poor quality of the very few maps provided. It's frustrating to spend five minutes searching for a village named in the text only to find it's not on the only map. Plus the fact they are B&W reproductions of colour originals - one shows German forces in red and Allied in blue - yeah, have fun with that. Analysis is on the short-side with pretty much all the Generals, allied and German, being fairly incompetent and all allied tanks being useless.

That said, a good overview of the operations but can be hard work to follow.

(Dont quote me - all opinions are my own!)

Am now looking forward to my other Xmas book - John Buckley's "British Armour in the Normandy Campaign 1944"

 

I will be interested to read your review of Buckley's book!

I have been frustrated by many books with regards to maps. Ideally every place mentioned would be located on a map included in the book.

 

I recently finished reading Grand Barrage by Gun Buster. On the plus side, a rather large plus, it does vividly illustrate what being an AA gunner on Malta must have been like. On the minus, the one actually personal story in it ends in predictable tragedy.

 

We rave about finding books in charity shops, but I found this sitting on a shelf amongst some biblical books at an Abbey not to far from where I live.
On every other page there are pouches containing letters,maps, soldiers personal accounts of D-day and much more.(copy's)
The owner told me it was brought over to the UK from Normandy and is written in English.
Graham.

 

Hi Ozzy, I used to have one of those D-Day packs, they've done a few similar ones on other campaigns I believe as well. Definitely a bit different from staring at plain text!

 

Next on my reading list is “Shalom, Jack” by Michael Goldstein.

A celebration of the life of Sergent Jacob “Jack” Goldstein, RAFVR. Jack was the brother of our dear friend Ron Goldstein, killed in action in a Lancaster bomber over Nurnberg in March 1945.

Written by Jack’s son Michael, I’m really looking forward to reading the story of the Goldstein family origins in Poland, their settlement in London and their sacrifice and efforts towards our eventual victory in WW2.

 

Have been researching some 1st AIF soldiers who later served with the 8th Division, 2nd AIF and went into captivity during the fall of Singapore. Not knowing a lot about the fighting that occurred there I have just finished reading ‘Against the Sun, The AIF in Malaya, 1941-42’ by Janet Uhr. The book is part of the Australian Army Military History series and was printed in 1998.

The book is a little odd in that the author claims it to be the first ‘direct study of the AIF in Malaya’. Fine. The author claims that the Official History is incomplete in that it mainly draws upon the War diaries and not of the words and accounts of the men who were there and subsequently there is a ‘gap’ in the real story and the official history. She then sets out to document the real story through interviews, newspaper stories, letters and memoirs.

I suspect that she is right in saying that there are gaps in the official history, just as you would expect with any retreat, such as Dunkirk. However I don’t think you can blindly rely on memoirs and letters from men, some written years after and serving in different parts of Malaya to create a clearer large scale picture of events. It all gets a bit messy and difficult to follow the actions she writes about and in the end just seems to add to the confusion. The writing style is also difficult to read in places, sometimes going into present tense in imagined scenes, which does not help.

Chapter three is titled ‘A corporal’s war of small detachments’ and that is exactly how I understand the actions that took place there. Probably the reason why there are gaps in the history. The author, however, doesn’t link them very well.

The book covers the actions only up to the arrival of the British forces on Singapore Island. Saying that I did enjoy reading snatches of accounts and the book does provide a good reading list of some of the units I wish to follow in depth.

Scott

 

I bought the Kobo version and there is a quote missing which they cannot rectify. It's in the second last chapter if anyone has a hard copy and willing to share. Apparently a post war assessment of Canadian soldiers by a former Fallschirmjager officer.

 

Purchased Falaise: The Flawed Victory by Anthony Tucker-Jones and tried valiantly to read it while on vacation.
Possibly the most pointless book I've read in a decade. It should be called Counting the Panzers and he could have saved me a few hours by simply constructing some charts with the tank strength of the various German formations in Normandy and forgot trying to write a book. Plodding, contradictory and very thin on any rationale or context for his assertions.