What are you reading at the moment?

Hi Scott,

The Sword of Honour trilogy is a great read, far superior to Brideshead for me (much less religion). If you like his style my favourites are Black Mischief and Put out More Flags which are much punchier and more comical.

 

We Remember Dunkirk- Shaw. A large format book with over 100 personal accounts mainly from soldiers but also sailors, train drivers, nurses and Joe public. Compiled for the 50th anniversary, the vast majority have pics of the people in a then and now fashion and also their addresses strangely. Part of the Dunkirk haul I got a while back, which I’m happy to pass on if anybody wants it.

 

I am reading/re-reading
1. Books and articles about the Dust Bowl for a class on the subject which I will be teaching in January. There is a huge amount of literature on the event and the more I read about it the less I feel I know.
2. Lincoln's Lieutenants by Stephen Sears, which is about command in the Army of the Potomac. It is well written and is full of staff gossip and intrigue, but it says less about the actual mechanics of Civil War command than such a book needs to say.
3. Tolkien, The Two Towers. I am usually re-reading something of his. And no, I have not seen the current TV series and do not intend to. From all I have heard it is a trash fire of epic proportions.
4. Bill James, The 1982 Baseball Digest. Old, but I like the way James writes and thinks about the sport.

 

I recently read ‘Dowding and the Battle of Britain’ by Robert Wright, an older book that was first published in 1969. Should you be interested in Hugh Dowding’s life and the Big Wing controversy that surrounded him during the Battle of Britain then I would recommend putting this book on your reading list. The principal reason I say that being that this book is pretty close to Dowding’s own voice. The author, Robert Wright, was Dowding’s personal assistant during the battle and a firm friend after the war. Wright was in the enviable position of working up close not only with Dowding, but also Keith Park and Sholto Douglas during the war.

So Wright, who states within the book that he was actively gathering information about all three individuals at the time, is well placed to comment on the subject matter. Now in saying that the author doesn’t hold back his thoughts of what occurred and his ongoing support for Dowding and Park’s actions during the battle. As a reader I found this refreshing as I believe that both men were poorly treated after the battle and the author doesn’t shy away from that point of view.

The miscreants are obviously Leigh Mallory and Douglas Bader and Dowding does seem to confess that he gave Park and Mallory too much freedom in the operational aspects of 11 and 12 Groups. He believed that he should have kept a closer eye on both of them as they developed their own tactics. He believes he should have intervened earlier to bring them into line to work better co-operatively, particularly Mallory, whom he knew was scheming against him. Of Bader, you get the sense that Dowding was far too shy and reserved to personally attack Bader, but reading between the lines, his opinion was that Bader should have been pulled into line by Mallory before it got to the point of a Wing Commander actively dictating tactics that weren’t endorsed by those higher up the chain.

Dowding and Wright don’t actively criticise Bader as I guess it would it have looked terrible criticising a man whose bravery was not in question. The criticism is more of Bader’s ability to operate as an effective team member. Dowding’s system did not allow for the forming up of Big Wings, he thought Bader was going directly against his orders. The more I read about Bader the more I get the feeling it was all about the tally count for him. In retrospect it might have been wise move for Dowding during the battle to transfer Bader to 11 Group. Hindsight!

I also read a collection of short stories by John Wyndham titled ‘Consider Her Ways’. This book was published in 1961 when, I guess, short stories were more popular than they are today and many good writers cut their teeth upon them. Most of these have to do with time travel and I could sense a bit of H.G Wells in some of them, perhaps, not surprisingly.

There are also a lot of second world war and cold war references within the stories, which probably stemmed from Wyndham’s own experiences serving with Signals Corps in North West Europe during the latter part of the war. He mentions Dresden and some of his characters are ex-army among other things. The stories are perhaps dated in their setting but overall I have to say that I found his writing to be very good. There was only one story I found a bit naff. I plan to read some more of Wyndham's books.

Scott

 

SAS Italian Job - Damian Lewis - Just finished this and enjoyed it. The author was on WW2 talk on YouTube and I took a punt when a couple of his titles appeared in a charity shop the following day. Centred around one operation behind the Italian lines right at the end of the war, the book focuses on the main people taking part. Quite slow paced for the casual reader with lots of build up but it’s a style I liked as it really goes into detail about the war experiences of each person involved.

 

Currently reading The Last Battle by Charles Whiting.

I am really turned off now that I have learned that Whiting wrote SS fiction under a pseudonym. I don't know how well his nonfiction is regarded? It was already clear to me that he was at least conservative but... ughhhhhhhhh.

 

Thank you for that.

I didn't realise it was written by Dowding's assistant--it's now on my list to get.

Similarly, I've been pondering this release from last year:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dowdings-D...NDcifQ==&sprefix=dowding's+des,aps,302&sr=8-1

 

The chronology and history is interesting for me but the added value in this book ae the summary chapters describing actions and procedures in more detail. Amongst them are Shore Bombardment, Cruiser as a Fighter Directing Ship, Anti-Invasion Duties, Anti-Aircraft tactics, British Breaking of German and Italian Codes, German and Italian Breaking of British Codes, DFing, Use of Intelligence in Naval Encounters. Much more that just a book on Cruiser warfare, it examines the doctrine the Royal Navy fought with and how it evolved in the early war years. Highly recommended for those interested in the Royal Navy, particularly in the Med.

 

Too many books to be quality; too many pseudonyms to trust!

Poor Bloody Infantry by Charles Whiting

 

I always keep away from his books

 

Captain Corelli's Mandolin. A bit tenuous from a WW2 perspective I know!!

 

Just finished Men, Ideas and Tanks by J P Harris. I can forgive it for stating the A10 had a maximum top speed of 12-14 mph, because almost everyone gets it wrong, but to state that Germans had no tanks for their infantry? They actually had a specialised afv for them, the StuG. Not technically a tank, but the implication was that the PBI had no armour. It made me doubt the rest of the book.

 

Yes that does look good. The despatch is mentioned in Wright's book. Dowding was asked to write it in June 1941, however, due to pressure from the Air Ministry, it was held back and not published till September 1946.

Think I will add that book to my Christmas list. I had intended to start on Vincent Orange's biography of Keith Park but it seems my father has wandered off with that one. The joys of a common reading interest

Scott

 

Huh I completely forgot about that. Thanks Charley!

 

Gunners in Normandy by Will Townend and Frank Baldwin.
Only just started, with over 600 pages I see trouble ahead, as I am not a marathon runner so like to get through the preliminaries quickly.
I know all about the Normandy Campaign having read and seen The Longest Day and A Bridge Too far so don't know what more I can learn from any other book!
However, these authors are very knowledgeable on Artillery so I will persevere. I might learn a thing or two about writing books about WW2.

It was a completely different war to that in Italy (which Iam familiar with).
The intro tells us that this campaign was largely fought by inexperienced soldiers well trained in the UK only some of whom were battle hardened. Tanks and Artillery were Armed with the latest and often untried equipment, learning new tactics and techniques as they progressed.
An altogether more technical war fought by armies with large numbers of equipment and men.

As my favourite Artillery Officer in WW2 Lt Bill Beadle wrote:
"Our mild exploits seem very out moded and moth eaten compared with the mighty events in France".

It should make an interesting read. I hope to return later with an update.

 

You Are Not Sparrows - SJ Carr - Torn through this one, so here’s the review as requested Scott! Nice interwar memoir starting in 1929, taking in service in Iraq (including a rare DFC for a bombing attack and forced landing), seaplane fighters back in the UK and a brief touch on his training/fighter development in Australia and the UK during the war. Nice and descriptive especially regarding the various characters he encountered, most of whom died in the early stages of the war, so it’s great to put a bit of flesh on the bones of people like John Dewar for example. It falls a bit short for me in never putting the reader inside the cockpit as such, most flying is brushed over quite quickly while various wild fowl hunts get far more lines! A nice curio nonetheless.

 

Does the young lady on the bottom left of the cover art feature much?

 

Only when talking about the nearby French squadron and their ‘entertainment’ offerings..

 

I'm reading my copy of Malta Strikes Back (1943?). What a remarkable little book! I'm around p95 now discussing the fighting at Agira on Sicily. The text, especially the quotations from the IO's diary, paint the scene quite vividly.

 

A fun little pastiche--very easy read.