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I listened to 1776 on CD a few years ago and I really liked it.

I finished Dune and I'm on to Steel Wind before I start the next Dune book. I'm going to alternate between fiction and non-fiction this year to keep myself from getting into a rut!

Nonfiction. Steeds of Steel by Harry Yeide. Inch thick book on cavalry squadrons and divisional troops in WW2. Some on organization and equipment, but mainly in action stories. He also did similar books on tank destroyers and separate tank battalions.
Fiction. Barbara by Wayne Robinson. The title character is a Duplex Drive sherman starting from Omaha Beach to VE day. Couple of technical errors, but good read. Was recommended to me by a veteran WW 2 tanker.

I have never heard of Barbara, but I just looked it up and it sounds pretty awesome. That may end up on my reading list!

Audiobook CD.
Finished the Longest Day.
Now on the 4th of 4 CD of The Hitler Youth.
My Godmother was a Hitler Youth, Ursula, she married my uncle.

Barbara was published in paperback under the title " Hell Has No Heros ". Would be interested in what others think of it.

Just finished John Keegan’s Six Armies in Normandy which was an excellent read and took a deep dive on the background of the various allied and German armies. Switching gears, picked up a copy of LTC Garland’s “Infantry in Vietnam: small Unit Actions in the Early Days 1965-66”…

I just finished the second Dune book (Dune Messiah) so now back to some non-fiction! I don't know much about this book other than it was listed as a reference in one of the other military books I recently read. But with a title like that it must be good!

Thrilling reading in my next of the woods! Working on my masters and this has been the cornerstone text so far.

What are you getting your masters degree in Splod? I feel like I'm in the wrong business!

redleg wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 26, 2023 4:19 am

What are you getting your masters degree in Splod? I feel like I'm in the wrong business!

The secret is in the title!

Intel ** CENSORED **. It's basically reading lots of journals and wondering how people reached the conclusion they did based on the information available.

That's awesome! I feel like I need to go back to school!

Some recent books completed:

The Cruel Sea Retold: The Truth Behind Monsarrat's Epic Convoy Drama by Bernard Edwards. Provides a very detailed, and harrowing account of two of the convoys that likely were the basis for many of the events in the novel. A sad tale of ineffective escorts, inadequate equipment and appalling sacrifice. To end on a better note, the book concludes with a description of "Johnny" Walker's first major success in hunting U-Boats.

Foundations of Russian Military Flight 1885-1925 by James K. Libbey. A rather rambling account of initial Russian efforts at manned flight, the importation of (mainly) French aircraft, the development of large indigenous Russian aircraft, some notable exploits during the Great War, and fates of many of the flyers and designers in the maelstrom of the Russian Revolution. No real technical detail.

The Dawn of the Drone: From the Backroom Boys in World War One by Steve Mills. A book for which there were about 4 pages of actual material and two or three photographs, so the rest of the book is fleshed out with the genealogy and careers of all the people vaguely associated with the project, their relatives and neighbors, and a brief description of all the major land and sea battles of the Great War. NOT RECOMMENDED!

Pershing's Lieutenants: American Military Leadership in World War I (collection of essays). Nice to see a book, written and produced in the U.S., that accurately describes Pershing as a closed minded and borderline incompetent leader. A very interesting selection of essays delving into some key generals and colonels under Pershing, some well known (like Patton and MacArthur) and some virtually unknown. Overall you get a clear view of the incestuous and back-biting nature of the U.S. senior officer corps at the start of American participation in the Great War.

Bloody Verrieres: The I SS Panzerkorps Defence of the Verrieres-Bourgebus Ridges (2 volumes) by Arthur w. Gullachsen. Highly detailed account of some critical battles in Normandy (Operations Goodwood, Atlantic and Spring) showing the strength levels of Commonwealth and German formations, the key message traffic and orders, and the successes and failures of the attacks, and the losses incurred by each side. Highly Recommended.

Italian Heavy Cruisers: From Trento to Bolzano by Maurizio Brescia and Augusto de Torro. Excellent description of the political background, design, construction and operational use of these legendary ships. Many fine illustrations.

Not completed, but underway (and should be read together):

Gunfire: British Artillery in World War II by Stig H. Moberg. A really, really, really detailed account of how the British developed their artillery techniques for WW2, the equipment they used (from surveying through radio through prime movers to the guns themselves) and the results of operational studies into the effectiveness of artillery. Absolutely everything you could every want to know about British WW2 artillery, with useful comparisons to how it was done in other armies.

Gunners in Normandy: The History of the Royal Artillery in Northwest Europe Part 1: From June to August 1944 by Frank Baldwin, Will Townsend. An official history of the Royal Regiment of Artillery was begun in the 1980's, and by 2000 eight volumes covering the Great War (all theatres), the inter-war years, and the first years of WW2 (1939-1941) had been completed in a beautiful large format with striking blue and white covers. Sadly, economics has meant this continuation volume is in a much smaller format (making the diagrams and maps harder to read) with a totally different cover design. But it is a continuation of the official history. Very detailed, with orders of battle, scale of artillery support provided to specific battles, and some highlights of these actions.

Just finished THE OUTPOST: AN UNTOLD STORY OF AMERICAN VALOR by Jake Tapper. A gripping read. Where the War started post 9/11 and where it should have stayed. Would we have had a different result if the war in Afghanistan had received the level of resources that Iraq did? The war many thought never should have been? Of course no way to know but certainly needs to be considered. Especially before ever committing troops anywhere.

Edited to add the author's name. I realized I missed it. Not intentional. I find Jake Tapper's work to be well done and I believe he has integrity. Enjoy watching shows with him on them as well.

The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a colossal disaster that ruined our country's credibility, threw away our soft power, influence, any moral high ground, ran our equipment into the ground, allowed our enemy to study our methods in detail, exposed the moral bankruptcy of our political and some of our military leaders, and disrespectfully threw away the lives of soldiers and Marines, all for the satisfaction of unworthy egos. There was not even a mission statement. It was done "on the cheap," therefore ending up costing us so much more than if we had bothered to do it right. This was a bigger offense to the American people than Vietnam because it ignored the lessons of both Vietnam and World War Two.

Afghanistan should have remained a special forces war. There was no need for ground troops to find bin Laden. "The Outpost" is a very good book. It was hard to read it, but finish it I did. I would never rely solely on a journalist's book to make an evaluation of an event, but this book has plenty of good meat. Just read other books, as well.

In April, I finished Rückzug: The German Retreat from France, 1944 by Joachim Ludewig. My one critique was that the maps should have listed the paths of units better. When the author is talking about roman numeral corp hq A or three digit division Y, moving from town B to mountain Z, it helps if the maps show how things went. With a large margin of error of course. Otherwise, it was a good book that demonstrated that the allies were caught off guard by their rapid pace (good problem to have) and didn't recognize the extent of their logistics difficulties until the German lines firmed up in Germany and the Netherlands. Anyone recommend a good book on Operation Bagration?

March was 1985 by György Dalos. A sequel of a sort to Orwell's 1984. Thought it was going to be more surreal, but sadly it wasn't. The revolution will be commonplace in a boring way (was going to be ba nal, but for the filters) and the counter revolution more so.

February was Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton. A very thick graphic novel, but a very personal story by Beaton of Hark a Vagrant notoriety.

January was 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric H. Cline. Interesting overview of the centuries before, during and after, but so much of it was "here are a bunch of reasons why this series of events occurred, but we don't definitively know and, oh by the way, we should keep this in mind because modern society has become too complex." 2000 was more complex and interrelated than 1950 and 1950 was more complex and interrelated than 1900, and 1900 ... you get the idea. Still worth while reading especially for what archeology has been able to figure out.