Just arrived: a copy of No Triumphant Procession; very impressive read John! I know there will be a new edition soon. Has it changed much?
Pre-ordered this one: A good read for the oncoming X-mas holidays; will also have to dust off Dupuy's 'St.Vith Lion in the Way' the story of the luckless 106 US Inf Div. which is somewhere down in one of the dark, cobwebbed niches of my book catacombs.
Three stagglers showed up in yesterday's post ... Francois Vauvillier is a noted writer on French armour and the French army of 1940. This is a new series being put out by Histoires and Collections in PB, densely illustrated format. Out all ready are Laffly, Renault and Berliet. To come are Panhard, Latil, Delahaye, White armoured cars, Somua and Citroen-kegresse halftracks. Dense with material and the French isn't too hard to translate. Worth it for anyone interested in the 1940 campaign. Been trying to find a cheap copy of this book for years with copies been sold for crazy prices. Then this popped up for $20 CDN so it was a must buy Finally purchased this....and the new cruiser one is on the way too!
I had rather a non-event. I went to a book sale on Thursday, had to wait 40 minutes to get in (!) and found nothing to my interest. But a friend sent me a copy of Warriors for the Working Day by Pete Elstob. I will have to read that after my Swordfish book.
Very tempting. Everything on French gear seems to rocket in price & never get reprinted. Only French language though?
Peter Elstob was my late fathers Tank Commander in 3RTR. The book is actually semi autobiographical. Although the characters are conflations, I recognise several of my fathers characteristics in the Driver (Taffy) and many of the incidents in the book are based on real events albeit with some gung ho thrown in as well. Enjoy!
SDP, do you have any idea about the fictional or non-fictional nature of Take These Men? That was 3RTR as I recall, but in the desert.
I've uploaded a sample page for you to look at. It is only in French but very picture/chart heavy and I found it easy enough to work my way through with my basic French. As you say, these books tend to skyrocket in price, the recent H&C French tank encyclopedia being a good case in point. I'd say if you're even remotely thinking about it, snag them while you can. You can always resell them for a huge markup later
Unfortunately I have no idea. Dad only joined 3RTR in August 1944 after his original Regiment (24th Lancers - ref my avatar) was disbanded due to heavy casualties. Dad's tank (3 Troop C Squadron 3RTR) was knocked out just after the Seine crossing and that was when he was moved to become Driver in Peter Elstobs tank (1 Troop A Squadron 3RTR). That means that he was Driver to Elstob during the Battle of the Bulge and then all the way up into Germany: Elstob also wrote a book called 'Hitler's last offensive' and also includes some detail about his own tank at that time. All very good family history stuff: needless to say dad said nothing about any of this - I've found out the hard way by dogged research over many years!
It's a novel, but one written by one who saw the elephant, based on his own experiences. It's also superb, & not unlike Ken Tout's 'Tank!', its technically fictional nature doesn't make me hesitate for an instant to say that this is an accurate portrait of men fighting in that arena & period.
Jonathan - That's a good one ... hope it wasn't too expensive? ... now you can start saving for the other one: Price on Amazon is $ 200,- which is ridiculous. .... I have both of Didden's books for some time - and suddenly realize that it was a good investment. The price almost tripled; don't tell the Missus!!
Unexpected as pre-ordered months back & forgot. By the chap behind Tank Archives. Quite small & slender but looks promising.
it’s €65 in Overloon. I’ve had that book a couple of years and it’s that good that a day of the Battlefield Netherlands Tour I devised and guide is based around it.
This one arrived today ... something completely different: Already red Chandler's "The Campaigns of Napoleon". This one is much about Dutch & English armies fighting together against Louis XIV ...
That series: X as Military Commander has some good titles. From the Second World War there are Montgomery, Slim, Alexander, Hitler, Rommel, Eisenhower, Stalin and MacArthur (haven't read, could focus on Korea).