The General Perspective

Discussion in 'Books, Films, TV, Radio' started by Charley Fortnum, Mar 23, 2014.

  1. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    More from the R.A.F.

    This is a second impression, but it's in good nick for the age, and the retro-dustjacket makes it much more desirable to me than the modern reprints.

    Bennett himself is entertainingly opinionated (notably on the post-war environment), but at least he has the virtue of having being as dedicated and exacting in his own conduct as he was with his men.

    There are, I think, at least two later biographies of him, but I they're much further down the list than the man's own story.

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    Last edited: Sep 21, 2020
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  2. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    Another airman, one that I didn't know a lot about. The jacket's a trifle faded, but it's an unread first edition.

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    Last edited: Sep 21, 2020
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  3. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    I've come across another biography of a famous Air Chief Marshal, in this case a recently written one.
    It's been positively reviewed, but the price is horrible:
    • RRP: £43.50
    I might pick up a copy, but it's further down on the long list. I don't feel inclined to reward those who think this is the way to garner a readership.

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    Preview Available:
    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Man-Took-H...+for+hong+kong&qid=1602253541&s=books&sr=1-21
     
    Last edited: Aug 5, 2021
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  4. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    This one has seen better days and is fairly plain in appearance, but it is somewhat hard to come across. The author died in 1946, about four years after his book was published.

    Douglas Brownrigg - Wikipedia

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    Last edited: Oct 28, 2020
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  5. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

  6. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    A mere thirty-seven pages, but a privately published rarity that I managed to track down. As far as I can see, the only other copy is in the IWM.

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  7. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    Well, the world is going to Hell in a hand-cart, but I've found a bargain: an important book, first edition, unread at a fraction of the going rate.

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  8. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    A new biography by a good author on a neglected subject.

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  9. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    Only very slight coverage of the Arab Legion's rôle in Syria, but it's a very nice first edition (albeit price-clipped) of an influential British general.

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  10. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    The jacket has valliantly suffered while doing its duty (book is in pretty good condition), but the price was low enough for an uncommon title that I couldn't resist. Dobbie also has a lot of novelty value for a read--alarmingly evangelical, even to fellow Christian soldiers.

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  11. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    A couple more RAF entries.

    Most of the RAF biographies/autobiographies I'm now after are older ones from the 50s or 60s, and they're proving elusive.

    The Leigh-Mallory book looks better than reviews had led me to believe. I can't say much about the arguments yet (and there's lots of controversy about his record), but it seems to include lengthy extracts from his diary and letters.

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  12. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

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    This took a bit of work to get it from South Africa, but it was an excellent find. His substantive rank was brigadier, but he famously commanded an ad-hoc division in the Battle of France:

    Beauman Division - Wikipedia

    A bit of loss to the jacket, a bit of mottling and browning, but a rare book from an interesting figure.
     
    Last edited: May 21, 2021
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  13. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    I haven't yet bought a copy of this (though I intend to), but I came across a copy of the contents page online and thought it might be useful.

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    I rather wanted to read something on Douglas Evill, but I see that it is almost only those who reached MRAF rank, which he did not.
     
    Last edited: May 26, 2021
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  14. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    Last edited: Dec 11, 2022
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  15. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    A couple picked up cheaply—the second a re-buy as my old edition was lost in the post!

    I have too many books on Wavell already, but Lewin's book on Slim was great.

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    Guingand's book is his gossipy tabloid version of the tale he's already told.
     
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  16. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    Has anybody got/read this?
    I've only just discovered its existence.

    The author seems to be:

    Sir Frederick Devereux Pile (1915 - 2010), son of General Sir Frederick Alfred Pile, who commanded Anti-Aircraft Command during the Second World War.

    Pile junior was a Major in the RTR and was awarded the Military Cross for his fighting in Germany in 1945 (I'll dig the citation out tonight).

    The book was only published in 1991 but seems fairly hard to come by in a presentable state (edit: found a copy).

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    Last edited: Jul 17, 2022
  17. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    As the citation suggests, he sounds like he had a cool head.

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  18. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    This is a good book: well written, varied in content and level of detail, with lots of interesting sidelights on the personalities of the day. The author was, it transpires, somewhat estranged from his high-ranking father, and the evidence suggests that the reason for this is that his father was... a bit of a bastard. His name crops up several times in the text, but the main information dump is saved for one short chapter, which I copy for you here (this being a thread about generals).

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    The short anecdotes he presents of life in tanks during wartime (1RTR in NWE) are quite good.

    Please let me know if they're likely to be of interest to any of you.
     
  19. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    I would certainly be interested in anecdotes related to 1RTR during the war!
     
  20. TTH

    TTH Senior Member

    Bastard is right. I admire young Fred's restrained way of telling the story, but the facts are damning enough.

    As regards the tank army idea I recently read an excerpt from Mark Zuehlke's book about Dieppe. According to Zuehlke, prior to JUBILEE Combined Ops produced a plan for a tank raid in France which seems very similar to the plan Pile allegedly discussed with Churchill. It makes JUBILEE seem sane by comparison.
     
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