Audax Posted 4 February , 2007 Share Posted 4 February , 2007 David Biltons' Trench is a good book. I'm reading Dan Todman's 'The Great War : Myth and Memory' First Class ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Bapaume Posted 5 February , 2007 Share Posted 5 February , 2007 Reading "The History of the 14th battalion A.I.F." by Newton Wanliss (again). Speaks for itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Michelle Young Posted 5 February , 2007 Admin Share Posted 5 February , 2007 Stand To by F C Hitchcock- a great book. Re-reading it after a very long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 5 February , 2007 Share Posted 5 February , 2007 "The German Secret Service" in WW1, by Colonel Nicolai. Very interesting perspective. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevew Posted 5 February , 2007 Share Posted 5 February , 2007 Last of The Tommies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spike10764 Posted 5 February , 2007 Share Posted 5 February , 2007 To tie in with another thread about Great War fiction, I'm reading some Henry Williamson I've just finished How Dear is Life, but due to the constraints of the local library, have jumped to A Test To Destruction ( not exactly the Great War order of the Chronicle of Ancient Sunlight books- but there you go). I'm quite enjoying the writers style. I'm also re-reading Brothers in War by Michael Walsh.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IanA Posted 14 February , 2007 Share Posted 14 February , 2007 Just finished 'Quartered Safe Out Here' by George MacDonald Fraser. A glorious read about the 'forgotten' army fighting the Japs in Burma. Serious, hilarious, passionate, wonderfully descriptive, touching and informative, I recommend this book to anyone. I assume that anyone with an interest in the Border Regiment or fighting in Burma has already read it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomtuer Posted 16 February , 2007 Share Posted 16 February , 2007 I highly recommend "The War Memoirs of Earl Stanhope", recently published by Tom Donovan Editions. There is no better insight story on the doings of the Vth; IInd Corps and 2nd Army staff. Enjoyed this one a lot. Superb production, but not cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staffsyeoman Posted 16 February , 2007 Share Posted 16 February , 2007 Given that I have book reviewing duties... I should add at this point some books are read more quickly than others, so with a sharp intake of breath: "Recently. Oi 'ave been mostly reedin..." 1. The Michael Palin Diaries 1969-79 (My post-Xmas non-history!) 2. Directing Operations by Andy Simpson - Superb 3. Encyclopaedia of Regiments of the Modern British Army - Avoid.. 4. Memoirs of Sir Stuart Blacker - Real 'Boy's Own' stuff 5. Home Guard Manual 1941 - Read it before they ban it, like "The Anarchists' Cookbook"! 6. Cheshire Bantams - A real labour of love and great addition to the literature, but felt it lost the wood for the trees in places which stopped it being a great book 7. British Armour in Normandy by John Buckley. Hard to find, expensive (I got one cheaply via a friend..) but an utter page turner, even for an academic thesis Achtung Schweinehund is next... and my next review is 'Tip and Run'.. On the pile then is 'Colossal Cracks: Montgomery & the 21st Army Group' by Stephen Hart; it's his PhD, I know him, but quailed at the £75 demanded of it, but then - boof! Stackpole bring it out as a ten quid paperback. Result! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthergw Posted 16 February , 2007 Share Posted 16 February , 2007 Because of delays in publishing, I am left with a gap of about 1 month before my next planned book will be available. I remembered that a book which strongly impressed Haig at the start of his career was " Stonewall Jackson". Written by Col. G.F.R. Henderson, who lectured, at Staff College. Sourced second hand. It arrived a couple of days ago. It is a very different book from the kind we read nowadays. This was in a time when literary ability was a prerequisite for an author. A meaty tome, it required extra postage costs. The early part gave a very strange experience. The unconscious expression of what we would call racism is breathtaking. It takes a determined effort to set it to one side. This was a cultured, educated man writing in the last decade of the 19th Century. He gives a considered treatment of the moral, cultural, economic situation on both sides of the Mason-Dixon line in the run up to the War of Secession. Fair and even handed, he struggles against a preference for the South. I am now into the ACW and with Jackson at 1st Bull Run. A marvellous book and I am enjoying every page. There's a week in this one yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roxy Posted 16 February , 2007 Share Posted 16 February , 2007 I read GMF's 'Quartered Safe Out Here' a while ago (Mrs Roxy is from Carlisle and I think that his 'The Pyrates' is the funniest book ever written). I agree with IanA entirely - an excellent read. Roxy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audax Posted 18 February , 2007 Share Posted 18 February , 2007 Reading: 'The Great Push' by Patrick MacGill. (Jenkins, 1916) MacGill was stretcher-bearer with the 2/ London Irish Rifles; 47th Division at Loos 1915. This book deserves to more widely known. It gets 1 * from Cyril Falls in his 'War Books' (Peter Davies; 1930). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len Trim Posted 18 February , 2007 Share Posted 18 February , 2007 Have just finished reading The Somme by Peter Hart which was absolutely excellent if a little heavy going at times because of the detail of the text and the inevitable repetitiveness of the battles---artillery barrage failed, enfilade machine gun fire, unbroken wire etc. Good maps. It has certainly built beautifully on top of Martin Middlebrooks 'The First Day On The Somme'which was my first read on the subject. Now I am reading a much more light weight book, 'A War in Words' by Svetlana Palmer & Sarah Wallis. This uses extracts from peoples diaries; soldiers and civilians to paint a picture of life during WW1, both on the western and eastern front. Len Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 18 February , 2007 Share Posted 18 February , 2007 Achtung Schweinehund is next Not as good as it could/should have been. I enjoyed it, bt I felt it was almost as if the author was trying too hard to go for self-deprecation. Some of the insights were interesting - certainly the bits about people such as Charles Stadden were fun, but overall, I was disappointed. Maybe the blurb on the back referring to "Sergeant Hurricane" was a bad start Maybe it was just that my memories of the same things are precious and I resent someone else sharing them and appearing to try and be ashamed of them.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodge Dowson Posted 18 February , 2007 Share Posted 18 February , 2007 Her Privates We - Manning Excursion to Hell, Green Eyed boys, 3 Para in the Falklands, and about 25 SAS related books. Falklands mostly at the moment and 3 Para. I can feel a project coming on.......Must lie down.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejcmartin Posted 19 February , 2007 Share Posted 19 February , 2007 I just finished Wyrall's "History of the Somerset Light Infantry 1914-1919". Very dry read, but I was kept interested as it was my Grandfather's and Great Uncle's Regiment. Just started Pierre Berton's "Vimy". I read it many years ago. I am already wondering about the accuracy when the cover photo is of Tommy Ricketts, VC, who fought with the Newfoundland Regiment and nowhere near Vimy, April 9, 1917. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albuera1 Posted 19 February , 2007 Share Posted 19 February , 2007 not original but true. first day on the somme - by martin middlebrook. dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthergw Posted 19 February , 2007 Share Posted 19 February , 2007 not original but true. first day on the somme - by martin middlebrook. dave That and " British Batallions on the Somme", Ray Westlake, will answer most common questions about this campaign." Prelude to Victory ", E.L. Spears for a high level commentary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkes Lamb Posted 21 February , 2007 Share Posted 21 February , 2007 War Walks from Agincourt to Normandy (Richard Holmes) an accompaniment to TV Series BBC '96 (PLUS maps) Public Records Office Readers Guide for Army Service Records WW1 The Western Front (Richard Holmes again for BBC) 1999 A very useful book, I must say. The only book I didnt like of Richard Holmes was Sahib-it could have been better (says I - a lowly layman). Dustry Warriors about the PWRR in Iraq is good and I have just finished that and now about to start The Khyber Rifles from Suttons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Hartley Posted 21 February , 2007 Share Posted 21 February , 2007 A very useful book, I must say. Which one? You quote three. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PBI Posted 21 February , 2007 Share Posted 21 February , 2007 Charleys War III Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joan and Terry Posted 21 February , 2007 Share Posted 21 February , 2007 Just finished reading Pioneer Battalions in the Great War,found the book very interesting,perhaps because my Grandfather served with a Pioneer Battalion and there were quite a few references to the actions he was involved with, made it even more interesting Joan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkes Lamb Posted 21 February , 2007 Share Posted 21 February , 2007 Charleys War III Irrelevant I know but say your Windsor Davies picture-my dad served with him in the East Surreys in Libya in around 1950. Windsor was the Education Sgt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PBI Posted 21 February , 2007 Share Posted 21 February , 2007 What did Your Dad think of Him..was He as formidable as Sgt Major Shut Up ?... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirkes Lamb Posted 22 February , 2007 Share Posted 22 February , 2007 What did Your Dad think of Him..was He as formidable as Sgt Major Shut Up ?... He got on with him OK. Windsor however based his character on an actual Sgt Maj in the regiment at that time, so even if Windsor wasnt, the other would have been. My Dad met up with Windsor when he was in a show at Morecambe some 30 years later and Windsor still recognised him! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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