Just acquired a revised copy of Jim Storr's King Arthur's Wars - the Anglo Saxon conquest of England. The main points of offence/defence where I live were much the same as during the Claudian conquest more than four centuries earlier and were reflected in the stop line built in 1940/41
Had about given up on finding a copy of this, having really wanted it since seeing a reference in the notes of Philip Williams's excellent 'War on Wheels'. Accidentally opened all my 'book hunt' links last week, and there it was from an Amazon seller. Only six quid, so one of those slightly desperate 'grab it' purchases. Distributed free by Vauxhall for WD Bedford users. Illustrated by Douglas of Punch. It wasn't just the Germans that made these cartoonish manuals, though I suppose they might have called it 'Für Dumkopfs', rather than the 'Bloody Fools' acronym. May scan it all in later. Somebody may find useful.
A couple of other official manuals that are a bit cartoonish (well the covers at least - cant recall the contents)
Horrible feeling I might now have started collecting them... That first Panzeknacker facsimile triggering a very slow slippery slope.
A few that came up cheap that I couldn't resist. The Sea Harrier one is a first edition in good nick for £11 plus postage, and the Malaya one is a bit scarce and came it at a princely £2.83 including postage. And now we throw them into the sacrificial pit and pray to the capricious gods of the Royal Mail that they might reach me by Christmas. The last is brand new and was mentioned by me elsewhere--should be a good companion (antidote!) to Sharkey's book.
The first of those could be very interesting, but I have to say that there's a limit to the amount of 'rise of the Nazis' material I like to consume--some of it just makes you shake your head and despair.
Agreed. I'm more interested in the information on the Freikorps and the KPD's Roter Frontkämpferbund. The RFB is little covered in English literature but was very active in 1920's Germany.
Have you been following/watching these? https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrG5J-K5AYAU1R-HeWSfY2D1jy_sEssNG It's not depth analysis, but as narrative it's most enjoyable--I recall a section on the composition and activities of the Freikorps. Think it was this one, but I could be wrong.
What was the difference between the Volunteer Reserve and the Auxiliary Air Force? They seem to be the same thing.
Haven't even got this home yet! Kind of an impulse buy as I don't have anything on inter-war vehicles. Maybe I should have gotten Fletcher's inter war "British Battle Tanks" but this has carriers and armoured cars too.
vP's BF brought to mind my new acquisition: Just got to get that sodding label off somehow sometime...
I've looked at that dozens of times and thought I'd like a copy. It's quite short, isn't it? Edit--details: The Defence of Duffer's Drift - Wikipedia I swear there's a similar Second World War title for the home guard, but I can't recall the title. Some place name with Blood or Bloxstowe or something.
The Defence of Bloodford Village (I have got that somewhere) but there's also The Defence of Bowler Bridge (which I'm lacking). Duffer's Drift is a quick read but certainly does the job. The later ones inevitably get more complex as the variety of weapons increases.
That's the badger. Duffer's Drift was online somewhere and I remember enjoying the mix of sound tactics and wry observation.
Two American variants: The Battle of Booby's Bluffs (from the 1920s) The Defense of Hill 781 (1980s) For a real fake war, there's also Bolger's Dragons at War that details a battle group's doing of the Army's version of Top Gun.
Turned up today to my great delight. I learned from another thread on here this week that one of the authors, Captain Richard Austin, served in the same Battery as my grandad. My interest duly stoked, I checked the unit war diary for 1940 (thanks to Drew for providing me with copies from the NA) and there, indeed, was his name in the “Nominal Roll of Officers on Strength”. I understand the accounts are fictionalised but also that they are based on his and the Battery’s actual experiences so I could not resist the chance to read these. They’re not badly priced at all on Abe either, which was a pleasant surprise. I believe there are five books by Gun Buster but, of course, these two appeal to me particularly because of the family connection to this Regiment and Battery, but I may well try to acquire the other three in the future.
As initially set up the voluntary squadrons comprised of two types of squadrons: the Special Reserve (SR) and the AAF (Auxiliary Air Force). In 1936 these two organizations merged and another type of organization was added: the RAFVR (this was not tied to squadrons and was intended to be more egalitarian). The two orginal reserve organizations can be differentiated as follows: SR were akin to militia units so tied to a geographic land area, AAF units were akin to yeomanry units (volunteer cavalry units connected to a landowner). At the start of WW2, the reserve organizations in the RAF were the AAF (typically squadron based and more higher class) and the RAFVR (not squadron based and middle class with even some working class types thrown in. This organization provided the bulk of sergeant pilots who also provided the bulk of pilots in the BoB). It's a complex tale and the book goes into some detail on the twists and turns of the process. And we haven't even touched on the University Air Squadrons which eventually became part of the RAFVR.