Dickie Posted 6 September , 2007 Share Posted 6 September , 2007 Crutchley's Machine Gunner 1914-1918 is my current dip-in-dip-out book. An excellent read with some fascinating insights that never occurred to me before e.g "during the attack (on High Wood) on 24/8/16 250 rounds short of one million were fired by 10 guns. There were at least 4 petrol tins of water plus all the water bottles of the Company and the urine tins from the neighbourhood were emptied into the guns for cooling. Two men maintained a belt-filling machine in action continuously for 12 hours." Ingenious recycling of waste products...necessity being the mother of invention and all that...BTW was that common? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 6 September , 2007 Share Posted 6 September , 2007 War Diaries of the 7th Earl of Stanhope. Very interesting, with insights into Corps level staffwork, and commentaries on various notables (Plumer, Allenby, Smith-Dorrien, etc). Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Johnson Posted 7 September , 2007 Share Posted 7 September , 2007 "Tough as Nails" a very interesting examination of two members of the 14th Bn. CEF, with lots of then and now photographs. One is Sergeant John Foley DCM and bar, MM, CdeG (Belg), the other the author's great uncle Zotique, a MSA conscript. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tafski Posted 7 September , 2007 Share Posted 7 September , 2007 Nobody else read "Ainsdale War Memorial"? Bruce er i did tafski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David T. Spurr Posted 8 October , 2007 Share Posted 8 October , 2007 I have just finished "The German High Command at War - Hindenburg and Ludendorf Conduct World War I" by Robert B. Aeprey. It gave me much better understanding not only of the military operations but also about the economic and political climate that existed in Germany. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Bennitt Posted 8 October , 2007 Share Posted 8 October , 2007 I just read 'Bullets and Billets' by Bruce Bairnsfather on the Internet, thanks to another forum member for supplying the link. I got the impression that the horrors were toned down for contemporary readers, and his view of the Hun is also typical of his era. But a well written and interesting read. It seems there are more of his memoirs to come. cheers Martin B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanCurragh Posted 8 October , 2007 Share Posted 8 October , 2007 Recently finished Robert Goddard's "In Pale Battalions" - his books are historical-based thrillers, and this one has a Great War background. Very enjoyable indeed... Now Will Bird's "13 Years After" and Tom Burke's pamphlet "The Tragedy of Mousetrap Farm" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
armourersergeant Posted 8 October , 2007 Share Posted 8 October , 2007 Rat, I have read most of Goddards books, though I found 'In pale Battn's' a little under par, 'full circle' is the first and best in my opinion, but all have an endearing quality to them. At the moment I am reading Ian Gale's book 'Man of Honour'. A book covering the battle of Blenheim. I had a feeling it would be very much a Sharpe type book, yet I do not find my self saying "Sharpe would have done tha" etc etc. I feel a good series coming on. As well as this I am looking at 'Hooge and Sanctuary Wood' and 'Ploygon Wood' from the Battleground series, in preperation for my trip to Ypres at the end of the month. I have also due any day Peter Simkins re-print on Kitcheners army, which I have been dying to read for some time. regards Arm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Marshall Posted 8 October , 2007 Share Posted 8 October , 2007 The Somme by Peter Hart. Me too. Recently read Tommy and Sahib, by Richard Holmes, and The Unknown Soldier , by Neil Hanson. Next up will be A Private in the Guards by Stephen Graham. Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoW1988 Posted 8 October , 2007 Share Posted 8 October , 2007 I am reading "Gallipoli 1915" by Tim Travers. This is my second time. I am highlighting passages and making notes like a good little student this time Lynz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Pegram Posted 9 October , 2007 Share Posted 9 October , 2007 Paddy Griffin's Battle Tactics on the Western Front: The British Army's Art of Attack. A riveting read, if you can get past Griffin's excentricities and sometime wordiness. Cheers, Aaron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoW1988 Posted 9 October , 2007 Share Posted 9 October , 2007 I liked Griffiths book! Usually I am suspicious of things I pick up cheap but it was brilliant! Gave a great insight. Lynz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Pegram Posted 9 October , 2007 Share Posted 9 October , 2007 I liked Griffiths book! I like it too, don't get me wrong. But see Griffin's diatribe against 'War and Society' historians in the introduction and appendix 1 for a case in point. Cheers, Aaron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthergw Posted 9 October , 2007 Share Posted 9 October , 2007 " Haunting Years". W. L. Andrews. A N&M Press reprint. A very new departure for me. A first person memoir. The author, an English journalist working in Dundee, joined up at the outbreak of war. He found himself in the 4th Black Watch, a Territorial battalion. He spent most of the war as an NCO, latterly in 4/5th Black Watch when the two batts. were combined having suffered heavy casualties. He reached CQMS before finally being sent to school as an officer cadet. He was demobbed as 2nd Lt. A very different account of the war from a man who was proud to be a soldier and especially proud of his battalion. Vivid description of a lance corporal's view of Neuve Chapelle. Not a book for facts and figures but a reporters eye for detail gives a good account of how the ORs saw the war. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Bennitt Posted 1 March , 2008 Share Posted 1 March , 2008 No one seems to have read anything for months, so thought I'd revive this thread. I've just finished 'To the Last Ridge' by Walter Downing, excellent descriptive writing of the bloodiest Australian engagements of the Western Front by one who was there. Found this in the American library in Paris which I have just joined and which contains a fair collection of Great War books old and new. I am going on to Alan Palmer's 'The Gardeners of Salonika' and 'At Belleau Wood' by Robert B. Asprey. cheers Martin B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Connolly Posted 1 March , 2008 Share Posted 1 March , 2008 I'm perusing "Goodbye To All That". I have a dim memory of reading it in the early 80's but remembered nothing at all about it. I'm also plodding through "A History of the Canadian Machine Gun Corps", which seems guilty of repeating some of DLG's canards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 1 March , 2008 Admin Share Posted 1 March , 2008 Under Fire by Henri Barbusse, picked it up in Oxfam for £3, brand new. Michelle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
armourersergeant Posted 1 March , 2008 Share Posted 1 March , 2008 Just finished Grumpy's version of 'Old Soldiers Never die' by Richards. First time read in any version and can't help thinking that I am lucky for that. The annoted bits really added to it for me and a good slap of congrats they should get. As for the content of the original book, brilliant, down to earth. regards Arm Ps now want to get a copy of 'Old Soldier Sahib' (?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthergw Posted 1 March , 2008 Share Posted 1 March , 2008 I'm well into Robert Doughty's " Pyrrhic Victory". A history of the French army on the western front, with a few little excursions to the other fronts. A good solid coverage, little or no fireworks but plenty of references and he seems to cover most of the area very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 1 March , 2008 Share Posted 1 March , 2008 the desert column made up of the diary of an australian trooper(Ion L. Idriess ) in gallipoli,sinai,and palestine william Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1st east yorks Posted 1 March , 2008 Share Posted 1 March , 2008 Just finishing 'Goodbye to all that' with 'The hell they called HIgh Wood' next on the agenda. Anthony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ulsterlad Posted 2 March , 2008 Share Posted 2 March , 2008 Currently have a "Dip into" / "Flick open and read" book at the bedside table. Paroles de Poilus: Lettres et carnets du front 1914 - 1918. The soldiers letters, I'm sure you'll appreciate, range from the mundane to the heart breaking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shred Posted 2 March , 2008 Share Posted 2 March , 2008 Just finished The Last Fighting Tommy and The Unknown Soldier. Nearly finished reading To The Last Man and dispite reading the bad reviews from this site I am rather enjoying it. Next in line is The Greatest Day In History which I have had for a few weeks but not got round to yet. Regards, Garry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShirlD Posted 3 March , 2008 Share Posted 3 March , 2008 I am re-reading "No Insignificant Part" by Timothy Stapleton, The Rhodesian Native Regiment and the East African Campaign of the First World War, and have ordered "A Distant Grief" by Bart Zino, looking forward to reading that. I find the best way for me to get to grips with the detailed war history books is to read through once quite quickly to fix the whole picture in my mind, and then to re-read slowly. Cheers Shirley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Pegram Posted 3 March , 2008 Share Posted 3 March , 2008 John Williams,Corporal Hitler and the Great War 1914 -1918: The List Regiment, Frank Cass: London, 2005. I'm reading the book more to get an idea what the ideas, opinions and motivations of some of Germany's front line troops were at the time and introduce a narrative from the opposite side of No Mans Land to my study. The 6th Bavarian Reserve Regiment (List Regiment, named after its first commander) was defending the Sugar Loaf salient before the village of Fromelles when it was attacked by the 5th Australian Division and the 61st Division in July 1916. The attackers were severely mauled (over 5,000 Australian casualties in one attack), and 400 Australians were taken prisoner. For my research into Australian prisoners captured on the Western Front, Fromelles is an important battle to study. This book allows me to get an idea of what the German troops' concerns were, their ideas, motivations, opinions etc, and how that influences the way in which that is married up against those of the AIF. Hitler served in the List regiment and was at Fromelles, but his presence in the book is pedestrian for my purpose. Just as well: Williams repeatedly makes the point that not much on Hitler's First World War service can be taken as gospel, and turns to other sources to tell his and his regiment's story. A. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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