What Are You Reading?

[danfrodo]

thanks for that tip, warrenpeace.  I've got that on my wishlist and wasn't sure whether it added much to my knowledge but if it's excellent and just first two years there might be some stuff I don't know in detail

[landser]

Atkinson's a good writer. His WW2 trilogy is a good one.

Haven't read through this thread and it's likely been mentioned already.

My latest is re-reading Two Sides of the Beach by Edmund Blandford. I have hundreds of books on WW2, and of all sorts. Tactical. operational, strategic, memoirs, technical and on and on. But the stuff I like the most are the first hand accounts like this book.

It focuses on the experiences of Commonwealth and German soldiers on D-Day through Totalise.  These first hand accounts are always interesting, a view from the foxhole as it were. I can't get enough of this stuff really. If I were to identify a common theme, it's how almost every account begins with a comment on the noise. The terrific din of battle. Well, of course. But it struck me how many of these men mentioned it, and usually right off.

[danfrodo]

Hey Landser, I think I read Two Sides looooong ago.  I think I gotta go back & read that again.  

[Michael Emrys]

3 hours ago, landser said:

I can't get enough of this stuff really.

Then you might like a book I am just now finishing: Anatomy of a Battle by Kenneth Macksey. If you are not already familiar with it, it is a fictionalized account of the opening day of OPERATION BLUECOAT, and is probably one of his best. It focuses on the personnel on both sides of a battalion-sized engagement in hedgerow country. The thing that fascinated me was how he shows how personality traits of individual soldiers played out in the fighting. They definitely have an effect, but there are so many of them that they kind of balance out, so you don't get a phony situation where one soldier or commander causes the battle to swing one way or the other. They all have their effects, which grow out of a brew of strengths and/or weaknesses. The book truly lives up to its title.

Michael

[landser]

Thanks Michael, that's one I haven't read and I appreciate the recommendation.

[StieliAlpha]

On 8/9/2019 at 11:44 PM, Sgt.Squarehead said:

Skaffen-Amtiskaw & the Knife Missiles?  

PS - If you are enjoying the general picture I'd strongly recommend reading 'Excession' while you are on a Banks roll.....It's kind of the icing on the cake, where the Culture is concerned and it has the best hostile alien species ever (IMHO), 'The Affront'. 

 

I finally finished „Use of Weapons“. It took my quite a long time. Probably three „Culture Wars“ in a row are enough for the time being.

I liked it least of the three. Whenever I got into it, it was good reading, but in general I found it too confusing.

One thing I wondered about: Though Banks describes long space journeys here, he is not losing a single word about time dilation.

Anyway, next it „Third Reich“ by Romero Bolano. Starts strange. It seems to describe I German wargamer scene, set in the nineties. But as described, it has very little resemblance to the wargaming scene as I experienced it back then.

Edited October 12, 2019 by StieliAlpha

[SimpleSimon]

  The Hapsburg Empire, Pieter M. Judson. 

This is the best single volume history of Austria-Hungary (in spite of the name, it is not about the Austrian Hapsburgs) written in the west, and it should deflate a lot of the notions we have about the Austro-Hungarian state. Much of its history has been colored by the politics of the World Wars and later by Communist rule and the author is really highlighting how much English historians have again done a major disservice to audiences in the west by sticking with the tired and hypocritical "Sick man of Europe" line to describe the Austrian state. 

Potential readers should be advised. It's a huge book (500+ pages) and a lot of the subject matter is extremely dense sociology and anthropology. 

[John Kettler]

Am slogging through The Soviet Air Force in World War II:The Official Translation. Slogging because the information density is enormous, there are no maps, scarcely a table, let a lone a pie chart, histogram or anything else. On top of that is the whole Communist Party side of things and how it affects information presentation. There is so much information presented on what's done to the enemy and effects therefrom and hardly any comparative data on casualties inflicted by the Luftwaffe in the air or on the ground. Some of the claims are nothing short of astounding--air strikes hitting some part of the Tractor Works in Stalingrad every two to three minutes all night long. Luftwaffe losses, in air and on the ground, seem astronomic, to the point where I wonder how any air force could sustain them and have any ability to fight at all. Further, knowing what I know of the effectiveness of IX TAF in Europe vs armor, I view with great suspicion Russian claims, though admittedly generally against lighter armor than was the case in the run up to D-Day and beyond. Am in the period of the the Stalingrad counterattack. This is a most interesting book, but for me, it's exhausting to read it and makes the submarine and sub retrieval books I recently finished light reading by comparison. What I'd love to see, and likely never will, is a comprehensive analysis of this book, using the best information now available to separate facts from confusion, ignorance, willful thinking, embellishment or outright propaganda lies. 

https://www.amazon.com/Soviet-Air-Force-World-War/dp/0385047681

Regards,

John Kettler

Edited November 2, 2019 by John Kettler

[danfrodo]

oh my Mr Kettler, that sounds like a quite a slog though informative I am sure.

I am reading The Gothic Line, part of the Canadians in WW2 series.  Quite good like the others in this series.  On audio I am listening to new Stalin book by Simon Sebag Montifore.  Very interesting, what a complex person, what a monster.

[Michael Emrys]

I am currently reading The Tanks of Operation Barbarossa: Soviet versus German Armour on the Eastern Front by Boris Kavalerchik. I was going to wait until I finished the book (I am about two-thirds the way through it now) before mentioning it here, but what the heck?

This is a very, very good book, and you don't hear me say that very often about anything. It has a wealth of information, especially about the Soviet tanks, including histories of how they came to be built and used. It even has tables on what kind were used in the major formations and how many going back to the invasion of France the year before. Yet for all the staggering amount of information it contains, the book is so well written that one can simply breeze right through it.

Most of the information on the Germans has been available for decades now, but getting comparable information out of the former Soviet Union has been a slow process. I count this book as a major step forward. Especially, getting even-handed criticism of Soviet designs without an ideological burden has been hard. As far as I can tell this book delivers the goods.

Michael

[StieliAlpha]

Just finished „Third Reich“. A good read, indeed. Not great, but worthwhile. One of the few books about playing wargames...

No crime story as I thought. More about somebody playing „Third Reich“ and crumbling away. Anyway, I don‘t want to spoil it.

A bit like „Player of Games“, with the opposite attitude.

Next is a diary of a monk from the Andechs convent in Bavaria. Covering the 1630‘sh years of the 30 Years War. Pretty heavy stuff. Written totally cool and distanced, but brings the horrible point across.

Hm, looks like I have to play GMT‘s „Won by the Sword“ finally.

Edited November 13, 2019 by StieliAlpha

[Michael Emrys]

I've started reading The Roman Empire and the Silk Routes: The Ancient World Economy & the Empires of Parthia, Central Asia & Han China by Raoul McLaughlin, and I find it quite an eye opener. Previously I have had only a pretty vague idea of the history of this region prior to the invasion of the Mongols, and knew nothing at all about Rome's involvement.

Michael

[danfrodo]

Thanks for the tip Michael, I just picked it up on kindle for $2.  

[Michael Emrys]

Let us know what you think of it.

Michael

[Erwin]

For a very readable history of the US and UK involvement in the ME and rivalry as to who would end up as the dominant power, LORDS OF THE DESERT by James Barr is very entertaining and highly recommended.

https://www.google.com/books/edition/Lords_of_the_Desert/vzNGDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover

[Michael Emrys]

I read Barr's earlier book, A Line in the Sand, a few years ago and found it quite interesting. I look forward to reading this new one now.

Michael

[danfrodo]

Just finished Stalin by Montifiore.  I knew he was a murderous evil genius lunatic but he was so much worse than I thought.  Using info from the opened russian archives in the 1990s he puts together a very compelling and well documented story of Stalin rising to power and exercising power.

[danfrodo]

David Stahel's new eastern front book comes out Tuesday.  This one on winter 41-42.  I was just listening to new interview w him on Ray Harris' WW2 podcast.  Stahel's books are must reading IMO for operational understanding of Barbarossa through November, now through February w his new book.  For example, in Barbarossa, germans have 6 weeks worth of spare tires for their trucks (fortunately captured lots of russian trucks), also weren't sending new tank production east (were sending west).  Clearly not thinking or preparing for a longer battle. 

[Erwin]

Highly recommend "The Imperial Cruise" by James Bradley.  "A Secret History of Empire and War."

Eye opening historical account largely about the lives and careers of Teddy Roosevelt and Taft making the case that their decisions/actions (based on 18th century Aryan superiority theories that sound very much like v1.0 of the Nazi/Adolf Hitler philosophies) were directly responsible for de facto "ethic cleansing" atrocities in Cuba, Hawaii and the Philippines, and made the Pacific War with Japan inevitable.  

A fascinating and easy to read book that outlines how much the official bio of Teddy R. was complete fabrication and PR.

[John Kettler]

Fresh on the heels of having read over a dozen technothrillers, whodunits and spy novels (the last in two great 300 + page gulps), have begun again with nonfiction. Being unready to resume  Island of Fire by Jason Marks, I instead plunged into the excellent but not easy to read (awkward type, insufficient contrast and text in the gutter, the part nearest the binding) The Brassey's Book of Military Blunders by Geoffrey Regan. It's categorized by types of blunder, covers a vast span of history, some outright unknown to me, and has quite a few, also low contrast, illustrations. Love the book, but man, could it benefit from more attention to user friendliness!  No complaints about the price, though, since I got it in Clearance at Half Price Books for a mere $3! 4.7 of 5 on Amazon and richly deserves the plaudits. Unlike the body text and the illos, the telling quotes are handled expertly: well chosen, big and bold. Charles Fair's superb From the Jaws of Victory would make a  wonderful companion read after that, for it's more narrow in focus and goes into much greater depth. 

Erwin,

Saw that one in the store and nearly bought the book you named. Looked like something right up my alley, a view confirmed by what you just said.

Regards,

John Kettler

 

Edited February 2, 2020 by John Kettler

[Erwin]

2 hours ago, John Kettler said:

...nearly bought the book you named

Am delighted that I was able to almost influence you...   

[lsailer]

https://www.amazon.com/St-Vith-106th-Infantry-Division-ebook/dp/B07523K12Z/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=st+vith&qid=1580946933&s=books&sr=1-4

Just read this book.  Detailed look at St. Vith with special focus on 106th Infantry.  Based almost entirely on official After Action Reports.  Maybe a little dry if you are looking for memoirs, but I enjoyed it a lot.

[John Kettler]

Just finished reding Geoffrey Regan's wonderful, info packed, highly rated The Brassey's Book of Military Blunders. It also happens to be the last of a string of siren calls (including unexpectedly encountering a model of the first used in Stalingrad, Alkett-built sIG33b assault gun--below one is trophy at Kubinka), calling me back to my long unfinished Island of Fire by Jason Marks. Speaking of the sIG33b, the vaunted for their efficiency stepped in it when sending an Army representative back to Alkett to sort out various technical problems. At a time when Stalingrad was well and truly surrounded and the drive was on to fly out qualified combat officers, the one who got sent had ZERO combat experience at all, let alone with this specialist and scarce AFV.



Regards,

John Kettler

Edited February 14, 2020 by John Kettler

[DerKommissar]

13 hours ago, John Kettler said:

Just finished reding Geoffrey Regan's wonderful, info packed, highly rated The Brassey's Book of Military Blunders. It also happens to be the last of a string of siren calls (including unexpectedly encountering a model of the first used in Stalingrad, Alkett-built sIG33b assault gun--below one is trophy at Kubinka), calling me back to my long unfinished Island of Fire by Jason Marks. Speaking of the sIG33b, the vaunted for their efficiency stepped in it when sending an Army representative back to Alkett to sort out various technical problems. At a time when Stalingrad was well and truly surrounded and the drive was on to fly out qualified combat officers, the one who got sent had ZERO combat experience at all, let alone with this specialist and scarce AFV.

I've recently purchased Island of Fire and began reading it. I'm enjoying it a lot: lots of pictures, first-hand accounts and maps. I read a story where an officer was directing fire for an sIG33b slipped and fell -- at the exact time the self-propelled infantry gun was turning! Never considered how dangerous of a workplace Stalingrad really was.

The other head scratching moment was how the Red Baron's cousin, Ulf von Richthofen, convinced Hitler to send a bunch of pioneer battalions, instead of the infantry divisions Paulus needed. Someone must have realized that was a recipe for disaster.

[Erwin]

3 hours ago, DerKommissar said:

Someone must have realized that was a recipe for disaster.

Never underestimate the effects of arrogant overconfidence and hubris.  (See last US election.)