What Books Are You Reading?

[redleg]

That's a big book! Sounds like a very interesting topic though! You don't hear too much about that part of the war, or at least I don't.

[BurtWolf]

Just got Jason Mark’s Panzerkrieg - it’s about three independent panzer battalions during the epic Stalingrad battle. The text and photos are insanely detailed - it’s been a great read so far.

[foxbat]

I don't know if there is an English translation, but here in France we have an author who is really renewing the field of studies on military history of the USSR and the Eastern Front : Jean Lopez. He's written multiple books on the conflict, you'll find tomes on Barbarossa, Kharkov 42, Stalingrad, Kursl, Bagration. He just penned a book about "Managing War", a fascinating study about the inception - and application - of the Soviet Operational art, especially around a trio of soviet generals - Svietchin, Toukatchevsky, Triandofilov - who were at its roots.

[Mortis57]

Just ordered this.

[redleg]

Looks like an interesting book Gazza! Was the whole regiment equipped with the flamethrower tanks? For some reason I was thinking the flamethrowers were assigned individually or in small numbers, but then I have never done any kind of research on the topic.

[Mortis57]

Was the whole regiment equipped with the flamethrower tanks?

Hi Mike,

Yes, but you're right they weren't employed en masse but attached as individual troops to other units depending on their objectives.

They, and the 1st Fife and Forfar Yeomanry (who also had Crocodiles) were part of 79th Armoured. I expect you may have heard of the 79th (also known as Hobart's Funnies), but just in case you haven't it was a (armoured) division that collected together all of the more unusual vehicles in the British Army - Crocodiles, DD tanks, Churchill AVREs, flail tanks, LVTs, Kangaroos, etc. As with the Crocodiles, these units were split up between the other Allied forces in Normandy/NW Europe on a mission by mission basis.

[traveller]

It's not a book that I'm reading( that's the new Strike by Robert Galbraith the nom de plume for J.K.Rowling, a great dective series ) but is a book that I go to all the time. War at Sea, a naval atlas 1939-1945 by Marcus Faulkner published by Seaforth. I find it invaluable for knowing what happened where and who was there. As far as I can tell It's pretty comprehensive covering all theatres of the war. I highly recommended it

[redleg]

I just started reading this recently. Strategia is by Charles Oliviero, the same guy that wrote Praxis Tacticum, which I really enjoyed. This book promises to take a similar theoretical approach, but at the strategic level of warfare.

[foxbat]

Old but good... Just finished Samuel E. Morrison's volume on the battle for Leyte.

[panzergator]

The Old Army, (Memories, 1872 - 1918), by James Parker. REALLY GREAT DETAILS and insights of service during the period. Started in 4th Cavalry at Ft. Sill. Goats MY boat. Also, U.S. Army Heavy Armored Division 1942 - 1945, Vol 3, by Yves Belanger. Make some allowance for the fact he is French and English is his second language - translation is not always exact, but extremely useful if TOE is what you're interested in. Bear in mind that both the light and heavy armored division underwent continuous modification throughout the war and after. Volume 1 covers the light armored division. There is also a volume on US Infantry divisions 1943 - 1945, if you want to go with that. Details are voluminous, considering I only collect vehicles...

[Donald M Scheef]

Right now, fiction. I got a bunch of books by P. T. Deutermann, including 'Pacific Glory.'
Don S.