The Battle of the Peaks and Longstop Hill Tunisia April -May 1943

Discussion in 'North Africa & the Med' started by Educator, Nov 27, 2018.

  1. Educator

    Educator Junior Member

    Well its only taken about 9 years but I have finally managed to complete my book about the 78th Infantry Division's operations in April -May 1943 with the above title. I submitted the draft to my publisher Helion at the end of October and assuming no major hiccups it will be published in May 2019.

    I doubt any military history author is completely satisfied with their work and I certainly feel it could be a better book. However somewhere along the way you have to say that is it and its time to finish. I am sure my editor will help me improve it a little during the next few months.

    I set out to try and bring attention to the operations of the units of a forgotten army - no not the 14th Army that has had its own virtuous and necessary campaign for recognition. My focus is on trying to honour the soldiers of the First Army. This is an army that has not just been ignored it has almost been airbrushed from history. If I achieve anything by finishing this book it will be to draw attention to the fact that the officers and men of the British 1st Army fought in a difficult but successful 7 month campaign from Algiers to Tunis a campaign that led to the surrender of 250,000 troops. They have never received the recognition they are due --hopefully this book may be one way that we can start the process of achieving this.

    The WW2 forum has been of assistance in getting advice and information and alerting me to various sources so thanks to everyone in the forum.

    Educator 6
     
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  2. bexley84

    bexley84 Well-Known Member

    Excellent - look forward to it.

    Now about that follow up book....

    best wishes
     
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  3. jwp59

    jwp59 Member

    Hi, very interested to see this book as my father was a 78th div veteran, did pre-order a copy early may but no joy yet, has the book been published yet ?,
    kind regards,
    John.
     
  4. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    This says JULY 2019


    The Battle of the Peaks and Long Stop Hill
     
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  5. jwp59

    jwp59 Member

  6. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    jwp59 likes this.
  7. jwp59

    jwp59 Member

  8. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    I'd email the publishers & ask what is happening.
     
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  9. Educator

    Educator Junior Member

    Thank you all for the interest in the book and to Bexley 84 for kindly notifying me of this discussion.

    I can confirm that there has been a short delay in publication for a combination of reasons which I wont go through here. The good news is that the final stages of proof reading and map design are about to be completed and assuming that there are no unexpected problems it should be published no later than mid July although it may be sooner. My apologies to all of you for the delay in publication.

    jwp59 - You may be interested to know that I do talk about the role of the RASC companies during the battle in the book it is not a long section but they are covered.

    Finally and once again many thanks for your interest in the book and my apologies for the slight delay.

    Educator 6
     
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  10. jwp59

    jwp59 Member


    Many thanks for your reply as I had no response from the publisher or the stockist I pre-ordered it from, look forward to reading about the RASC as they are not often mentioned, Dad was a driver for the 36th infantry brigade, 78th division.
    cheers,
    John.
     
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  11. jwp59

    jwp59 Member

    Also thanks to Bexley 84 for passing on the discussion,
    John.
     
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  12. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

  13. Uncle Target

    Uncle Target Mist over Dartmoor

    These postings are a lesson in the learning .
    I have spent four years up to now trying to put a book together on the 67th Field Regiment. They fought at Medjez with the British 1st Infantry Division supporting 2 Infantry Brigade. Several things caused me to stop 1. Cost of publishing. 2. Cost of photograph licences 3. Previous publication Copyrights. 4. The amount of unknown people and stories appearing as I continued to research and after I decided to stop. I don't know how much longer it would take, I have virtually given up, feeling that I am simply not clever enough or sufficiently experienced to do a good job on it. It began with 94 letters of an officer killed in 1944 and simply grew. The letters are in an unpublished book rejected by several publishers as WW2 and in particular soldiers letters are of no commercial value (they have obviously not read them) I decided to widen the narrative by further research. I now find myself following the 6th Gordons who figure greatly in my story line. The 67th Field Regiment earned several MM's and MC's both in Tunisia and Italy. It is my dream that some day someone will have the ability and will power to carry on where I left off and publish a book. If by that time books are still the medium with which to tell their story. At the moment I am being driven by the enthusiasm of others.
     
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  14. Tanky

    Tanky Junior Member

    Just finished reading Alan Moorehead's hugely enjoyable African Trliogy. Great read and worth a look, I got an almost new hardback version for just R40 (£2.50) in my local second hand book stall in South Africa!!!!
     
  15. Uncle Target

    Uncle Target Mist over Dartmoor

    Has someone censored my last posting. That would be another lesson in the learning.
    Aha! it has turned up, was that what they call a technical glitch?
     
    Last edited: Jul 7, 2019
  16. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    I certainly saw it yesterday! How odd!
     
  17. jwp59

    jwp59 Member

    Now showing as august 2019 :wacko:
     
  18. Educator

    Educator Junior Member

    Hi everyone

    I am delighted to inform everyone that I was told this afternoon my book was published today and can be bought via Helion. It is not yet available on Amazon but I expect it will be soon. I will keep the community informed of progress. I have mentioned WW2 Talk in acknowledgements and would like to thank everyone especially the founder of this site for the assistance it has provided.

    Educator 6
     
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  19. bexley84

    bexley84 Well-Known Member

    Good work...I'm in...
     
  20. bexley84

    bexley84 Well-Known Member

    Now half way through Ian's book - immaculately presented, fluently written, excellent details on the Apr '43 fighting period... brilliant maps...and some lovely photos.
    I'm learning...will properly review once I've read the second half.

    Reminds me when I was last near Longstop in March 2018..

    IMG_7883 (4).JPG
     

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