Coming Soon to a Bookshelf Near You

Demobbed: Coming Home After World War Two: Amazon.co.uk: Alan Allport: Books

Demobbed: Coming Home After World War Two


Craig,
Following the excellent comments on the forum I have this book currently winging its way to me.

Many thanks for pointing it out.

Regards
Tom

 

Craig,
Following the excellent comments on the forum I have this book currently winging its way to me.

Many thanks for pointing it out.

Regards
Tom

No problem, Tom.

 

Had to laugh at the title and thought it worthy of a post:

In November 1942, two nights after the Battle of El Alamein, a young British army officer was captured. As the Nazis deliberated about what to do with him, Richard Carver had particular reason to be afraid: unknown to anyone, he was the stepson of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, the Allied Commander who had just inflicted the first serious defeat on the Third Reich...


This gripping story tells of Richard's internment in a POW camp in northern Italy - the same camp made famous by Eric Newby - and of his subsequent escape. Having decided to risk making his way back to Allied HQ in the south, he embarked on a gruelling 500-mile journey through German-occupied territory, evading capture again and again and ultimately being saved by a family of brave Italian peasants who jeopardised not just their own lives but those of an entire village to hide him.

In the winter of 1943, a year after he disappeared, he staggered back into Army HQ, to be greeted by his now famous stepfather with the words, `Where the hell have you been?'
This is a great adventure story - a reminder of a lost age when, in the face of terrifying challenges, a generation rose to extraordinary feats of valour in the service of a cause greater than themselves.


Where the Hell Have You Been?: Monty, Italy and One Man's Incredible Escape: Amazon.co.uk: Tom Carver: Books

 

Nest of Eagles: Messerschmitt Production and Flight-testing at Regensburg 1936-1945

 

The Retreat: Hitler's First Defeat: Amazon.co.uk: Michael Jones: Books

The Retreat: Hitler's First Defeat (Hardcover)

 

"The Storm of War" now analyzes how Axis strategy evolved. Examining the Second World War on every front, Roberts asks whether, with a different decision-making process and a different strategy, the Axis might even have won. Were those German generals who blamed everything on Hitler after the war correct, or were they merely scapegoating their former Fuhrer once he was safely beyond defending himself? The book is full of illuminating sidelights on the principle actors that bring their characters and the ways in which they reached decisions into fresh focus.

The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War: Amazon.co.uk: Andrew Roberts: Books

 

How to fly the legendary fighter plane in combat using the manuals and instructions supplied by the RAF during the Second World War. An amazing array of leaflets, books and manuals were issued by the War Office during the Second World War to aid pilots in flying the Supermarine Spitfire, here for the first time and using the original 1940s setting, they are collated into a single book. An introduction is supplied by expert aviation historian Dilip Sarkar. Other sections include aircraft recognition, how to act as an RAF officer, bailing out etc.

 

Stormbird: One of the Luftwaffe's Highest Scoring Me262 Aces: Amazon.co.uk: Hermann Buchner: Books


Messerschmitt Me 262 is a well known aircraft, being the first operational jet fighter. However, when asked to name the pilots who flew the type, few could name more than a handful, and the author of this book likely would not be one of those named. Hermann Buchner began his flying career as a bomber pilot who then transferred into fighters, not a common scenario. His ending the war in the Me 262 after that varied career is even more rare, making this book a very fascinating read.

 

Oooh I missed this thread. I've been doing reviews for Osprey, Pen and Sword, History Press and Casemate for a few months now.

Pen and Sword have got some interesting books coming out in the next few months, not sure which ones I'll be getting until they land on my doormat:

72 Squadron RAF in action, Bomber Command: Kept in the Dark, RAF Coastal Command, 62 Squadron RAF, Air War over the Nore, Sunderland's in the Far East, Bombs Away: accounts of Commonwealth Bomber aircrew in WW2, Awards of the George Cross, Stalingrad, Wingate's Lost Brigade, The Irish in the Second World War, Memoirs of a Sniper on the Eastern Front, The origins and development of units of the British Army... to name a few.

 

Oooh I missed this thread. I've been doing reviews for Osprey, Pen and Sword, History Press and Casemate for a few months now.


Cool, how did you get that job?

 

Cool, how did you get that job?

Its not so much a job really, they send me review copies, and I review them on my blog. But advance copies of new military books is fine by me. All good for the CV too.

 

The Battle for Norway April - June 1940


The Battle for Norway April - June 1940: Amazon.co.uk: Geirr H. Haarr: Books

 

The Cockleshell Raid - Bordeaux 1942: Amazon.co.uk: Ken Ford, Howard Gerrard: Books


The Cockleshell Raid - Bordeaux 1942

 

A new biography of Erich von Manstein, titled Manstein: Germany's Greatest General, has just published. According to Allen Mallinson's review of it in The Times:

'There has been no proper study of him until now. But in Manstein: Hitler’s Greatest General, he has at last an apt biographer. The author Mungo Melvin is a serving British major-general steeped in German military culture. As an officer of the Royal Engineers Melvin spent much of his early service in BAOR. He commanded Britain’s support organisation in Germany. His ability to read military German and to understand its strategic and operational import is without parallel and his access to official records and the Manstein family archives has been singular.
It is no hagiography. Melvin is well attuned to the moral compromise of the Wehrmacht’s senior officers and his biography is markedly nuanced. On the charge of waging aggressive war against the Soviet Union, he concludes, as did the courts, that Manstein was guilty and even that he had few regrets.'

I saw a copy in Waterstone's today, and Mallinson's view looks fair.

The link below may not work next month as The Times website is soon to go pay.

German lessons for the British Army - Times Online

 

Don't Panic: Britain Prepares for Invasion 1940



Don't Panic: Britain Prepares for Invasion 1940: Amazon.co.uk: Mark Rowe: Books

 

Berlin at War: Life and Death in Hitler's Capital, 1939-45


Berlin was the nerve-centre of Hitler's Germany. It was the backdrop for the most lavish of Nazi ceremonies, the venue for Albert Speer's grandiose plans to forge a new 'world metropolis', and the scene of the final climactic battle to defeat Nazism. Berlin was the stage upon which the rise and fall of the Third Reich was most visibly played out. Yet while our understanding of the Holocaust is well developed, we know little about the wider challenges posed to the German people by living under a dictatorship in wartime, the compromises demanded and the hardships endured.

Berlin at War: Life and Death in Hitler's Capital, 1939-45: Amazon.co.uk: Roger Moorhouse: Books
Published 5 Aug 2010

 

Hearts of Oak: The Human Tragedy of HMS Royal Oak

The story of the sinking of the HMS Royal Oak by German submarine which cost the lives of 833 Royal Navy sailors. HMS Royal Oak was a Revenge-class battleship of the British Royal Navy, infamously torpedoed at anchor by the German submarine U-47 on 14 October 1939. Royal Oak was anchored at Scapa Flow in Orkney, Scotland when she became the first of the five Royal Navy battleships and battle cruisers sunk in the Second World War.

Hearts of Oak: The Human Tragedy of HMS Royal Oak: Amazon.co.uk: Dilip Sarkar: Books

 

For what its worth - Dilip Sarkar wrote the excellent Guards VC.

 

For what its worth - Dilip Sarkar wrote the excellent Guards VC.


Also some excellent Battle of Britain books.

 

I was about to post a review on a book when I did the sensible thing and did a search to see whether or not it had been previously reviewed.

I now see that Andy drew your attention to it earlier and so I've blatently copied his blurb and re-show it here:

'Where the hell have you been?'
Had to laugh at the title and thought it worthy of a post:

In November 1942, two nights after the Battle of El Alamein, a young British army officer was captured. As the Nazis deliberated about what to do with him, Richard Carver had particular reason to be afraid: unknown to anyone, he was the stepson of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, the Allied Commander who had just inflicted the first serious defeat on the Third Reich...


This gripping story tells of Richard's internment in a POW camp in northern Italy - the same camp made famous by Eric Newby - and of his subsequent escape. Having decided to risk making his way back to Allied HQ in the south, he embarked on a gruelling 500-mile journey through German-occupied territory, evading capture again and again and ultimately being saved by a family of brave Italian peasants who jeopardised not just their own lives but those of an entire village to hide him.

In the winter of 1943, a year after he disappeared, he staggered back into Army HQ, to be greeted by his now famous stepfather with the words, `Where the hell have you been?'
This is a great adventure story - a reminder of a lost age when, in the face of terrifying challenges, a generation rose to extraordinary feats of valour in the service of a cause greater than themselves.


As for my own comments I found this a super book, easy to read and , for me at least, full of interest.

Do yourself a favour and get yourself a copy.

Ron