What Books Are You Reading?

[Cav Dog]

I read The Defense of Hill 781 by James R McDonough on the plane coming home from our recent trip to Germany. It is a story of a LTC who dies from eating MREs and is finds himself in Purgatory, which in this story is the National Training Center at Ft Irwin, CA, where he has to atone for his sins in life by successfully leading a battalion through a rotation, except that the weapons and enemy are real and for keeps. It is designed to be a training text that is a compilation of the school of hard knocks presented as the story of a his trials and errors as he fights for his salvation. Like everybody who goes through NTC, he loses a lot at first but he also learns a lot along the way. Having been through 13 rotations there myself, many of the places and missions are very familiar. I think there are a lot of scenario possibilities in there for gaming too.

Pretty good read all in all.

[chrisswim]

Some Survived: An Eyewitness Account of the Battan Death March and the Men Who Lived Through It, by Manny Lawton.
He marched and survived the Battan Death March. I met the author’s son and grandson.
If any of you are familiar with The Pacific, at least the Audiobook, USMC Capt. shifty Shofner, there is overlap.looking forward to the rest of the book.

[Brigade Commander]

Could not decide where else to post this so...

Reading through the U S Army Weapon Systems Handbook 2020 - 2021. A 432 page pdf of not only every weapon / weapon system but every system the U S Army utilizes. Gives a description, how it fits in to the Army, the timeline of where it was at the time of the document and the manufacturer(s) / software designer(s). If it is hardware or software being used by the Army, or a concept being explored, I do believe it is in there. Even wearables!

This appears to be the last version. I could not find a 2022 or a 2022 - 2023. They vary a little bit over the last thirty-four years. The archive list I saw started in 1989. Just a few years farther back and I could have seen the start of my 3AD modelling project.

One of the things the 1989 version and the 2020 - 2021 version had in common was a CH-47 modernization program. Some things really do never change!

[redleg]

That is a very cool resource, Jim! I had no idea that these were all online and downloadable! Thanks for sharing - I'm downloading the 2003 edition!

I just finished a book called On Tactics that looks at tactical level theory and it tries to tie it into strategic theory. Not a bad read.

[BurtWolf]

Just Finished Devil’s Birthday by Geoffrey Powell - good overview of operation market garden, and sone interesting strategic ** CENSORED **. But the tactical level stuff is not addressed in much detail…

[redleg]

I just finished On Infantry. It was a quick read - only 200 pages. I read On Armor and On Artillery as well and I recommend all three.

[MechCommander]

I am still searching for Praxis Tacticum by that Canadian Colonel.

[Cav Dog]

You got amazon up there? That is where I got my copy.

[MechCommander]

You got amazon up there? That is where I got my copy.

I believe so yes.

[chrisswim]

eBay has several listings. Some with free shipping from the UK. $28-$30 range

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R ... m&_sacat=0

[pmskaar]

I finished reading "The Greatest Fury" by William C. Davis about the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, It was very informative and interesting and goes into much detail on the how and why of the battle as well as the various personalities involved, both civilian and military.

I had read the Brian Kilmead book a few years ago which was a good overview of the battle but this one had a lot more detail on events both before and after as well as what happened during the actual battle itself. I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in this battle.

[redleg]

Thanks for the tip on those books Pete! Now I have Johnny Horton running through my mind singing The Battle of New Orleans! (not sure when that song came out, but pretty sure it was a looooong time ago!)

That's a battle that we don't talk about much. I may need to check that book out!

[pmskaar]

Hi Redleg!

If you have any interest in the War of 1812, it is a great book. I checked out the 1959 Johnny Horton song on The Battle of New Orleans. I had heard this song a bit as a kid. Listening to it again, you would think that the British were running for their lives all the way back to the Gulf of Mexico with the Americans hot on their heels. Although the British were repulsed, they basically just fell back and tried to figure out what to do next. They remained in their own positions for at least a few days before withdrawing. Most of the casualties on the British side were due to cannon fire, not musketry.

I remember also watching "The Buccaneer" starring Yule Brynner a long time ago. That movie also featured the Battle of New Orleans with the British coming in their nice straight rows only to be cut down to a man by the American defenders. It didn't quite happen that way either. I did learn a lot of interesting things with this book, though.

[chrisswim]

Audiobook, CD.
Tom Clancy, The Bear and the Dragon. Disc 4 of 5.

[mluther]

If you're looking for a book with some decent scenario ideas for your WWII Hungarian minis pick up Armoured Warfare in the Battle for Budapest by Norbert Szamveber 882 pages and now in paperback Peko Press has quite a few other books on East Front combat