Zeebrugge

[John_Hartley]

Picked this up for a couple of quid as remaindered stock.

Perhaps it's the nature of naval books or, perhaps just when the book was written but the story centres very much on the exploits of the officers and there's very little by way of personal account from the "other ranks".

That said, it's a pretty good read about what must be one of the finest "Boy's Own" exploits of the war. It'd make a cracking film.

[simonharley]

Cracking film of daftness, perhaps, if von Schroder's official tally of 8 Germans killed and 16 wounded is reliable (versus five hundred British casualties). Paul Kendall's account is infinitely better than Pitt's.

What other naval books focus more on naval officers than on ratings?

Simon

[paulgranger]

Simon

Bit hard on poor old Barrie. After all, his book is 50 years old. I think most books written around then were based on the memoirs of officers, as ORs hadn't been interviewed in large numbers, or published their stories.

[John_Hartley]

Paul Kendall's account is infinitely better than Pitt's.

In what way, please?

[simonharley]

Sorry, been away. Off the top of my head, Pitt placed too much reliance on Keyes' memoirs, his understanding of monitor operations before Keyes took over was very apparent. It is not a scholarly book, and it's a crying shame that he didn't feel the urge to go out to interview as many Zeebrugge veterans as possible. Fifty years later that's impossible.

All in all, Kendall's book and Lake's book on Zeebrugge and Ostende make far better reading.

Simon

[John_Hartley]

Thanks. Perhaps I'll search out the other books, although I certainly enjoyed the read of the Pitt one.

John