Who's written a book?

Discussion in 'Books, Films, TV, Radio' started by von Poop, Sep 10, 2015.

  1. Shiny 9th

    Shiny 9th Member

    Well,my one and only book was not written by me but published after I tracked down some personal war diaries written during the Burma Campaign by a Sgt from the 9th Battalion Royal Sussex Rgt.I did it because curiosity initially drove me to seek out the diaries, but having found,then read them, I felt compelled to share them.I did it in memory of my late father and his friend who served together.
     
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  2. zahonado

    zahonado Well-Known Member

    Sylvia, I think the compulsion to share stories is a a big push to get it out there..I really identify with this and others that have done it in the way they wanted to do it. It feel satisfying however few we sell...the point is that the stories are there for those who look, and the events and people are not forgotten.
     
  3. Shiny 9th

    Shiny 9th Member

    Thank you,I think it is part of a desire that certain people and events are not forgotten. Perhaps acknowledging that we might be the last generation to have been brought up in the shadow of experiences that were both awful but somehow compelling and probably shaped us in ways we may not fully understand.
     
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  4. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    XRayX

    I sent the information on your book "De Weg naar Valkenswaard" to my friend who lives in Valkenswaard. He has bought your book - after a problem as there were apparently many orders :biggrin: - and he said it was difficult to put down, and he asked me to pass on his congratulations to you. I think he may also be ordering the other book soon as well - maybe you can get together and sign his books for him.

    Well done

    TD
     
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  5. Danny Creasy

    Danny Creasy Member

    A slide show of the pics from my book entitled Jim & Nancy: Two Paths Merged by War:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53fFJbTrnWQ
     
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  6. Staffsyeoman

    Staffsyeoman Member

    No full length books ... yet ... I have a yen to write a biography of a senior WW2 British General who has not been subject to a full-length one...

    But i do have a chapter in the forthcoming "Operation Market Garden" Edited by John Buckley and Peter Preston-Hough, the proceedings of a conferece in Wolverhampton in 2014. Published by Helion. Was due in November, now likely to be March..
     
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  7. John(txic)

    John(txic) Junior Member

    Sailing too close to the Black Country Society, I have been persuaded to write a book on Dudley's 1914-18 War Memorial and the men commemorated thereon. Yes, another one...
     
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  8. Kuno

    Kuno Very Senior Member

    Nine books and booklets published so far by me (and co-authors).

    Amongst them the following were WWII related: "Incident at Jebel Sherif - the first Clash of the Special Forces", "The Bagnold Sun Compass", "operation Salam - Almasy's most daring Mission in the Desert War" and "L-Birds over Switzerland".

    I am currently assisting a Friend on an LRDG-book, working with two other Friends on "E Force - the Attack on Jalo" and have started to research another project regarding supply convoy to Kufra during the Desert Campaign of WWII...
     
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  9. hutchie

    hutchie Dont tell him Pike!!

    Im currently researching with the plan of creating a book about my grandfather
     
  10. dryan67

    dryan67 Senior Member

    I co-authored the fourteen volume series entitled "The British Armies in World War Two: An Organizational History" published by Nafziger. There were eleven volumes covering various aspects of the British and Commonwealth Armies including three volumes that covered the Indian Army. There were also three orders of battle supplements.

    In a strange case of deja vu, I answered a question on the Indian Artillery today by looking it up in my own book, having forgotten it was there!
     
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  11. HAARA

    HAARA Well-Known Member

    I came into possession of the war time letters and diaries of my father (who eventually became R.S.M. John Kemp, 76th H.A.A. Regt R.A.) following his death some years ago, these covering the period from him joining the T.A. in 1938, the Battle of Britain, North Africa, and concluding in Italy in 1945. I quickly realised on reading just one or two of these that there was a vivid story to be told in his own words about defending one’s country and of the pain of being forced apart from loved ones. I also quickly realised how little I knew about his war record: whilst he had recounted a few stories during his life of his wartime service, the occasion when he was machine gunned whilst in Italy, about a lucky near miss from a bursting German shell, he in fact gave away little that would allow those who had not been with him to realise the reality, sometimes grim, of what he had experienced. Looking further into his letters and diaries, my curiosity was raised to know more about where he had been, and the engagements in which he had taken part, especially so as much of his writing deliberately omitted such detail to prevent ‘idle talk’ that could potentially compromise wartime security. On visiting the National Archives and trawling War Diaries it became evident that there was a context in which to place his letters and diaries to give them relevance and substance, and to explain some of the more, deliberately, obscure entries. He was, for example, present at the infamous Bari raid, and whilst he gives a brief account of events, research has shown that a lot of the popularly held beliefs about this raid are inaccurate.
    So began a four year project, initially undertaken for the benefit of the family as a private manuscript, to put these into a readable format, but that has now led to self publication as three books, being respectively about Britain, the western North Africa campaign, and Sicily and Italy, as can be seen on the link below (if you register for the site they have regular discount days!).
    My reason for going public with these is, hopefully, to provide an understanding and recognition of the sacrifice of the time and lives of those that served in the forces and of their families at home, and that this was not in vain for the very great freedom that we all have today. In doing so, also a big thank you to those on WW2 talk who have responded to the various queries I’ve raised over the time I’ve been a member, helping to short circuit hours of personal research!

    http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/nickkempbooks
     
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  12. vitellino

    vitellino Senior Member

    I've wrtten a few, all but two self-published. My recent ones are all about prisoners of war, all available from Lulu.com.
    View attachment 149127
    The Bridge at Allerona
    (The USAAF bombed the a railway bridge near Orvieto in central Italy on 28 January 1944. There was a POW train on the bridge at at the time. The book is a collection of eye witness accounts and official documents, including the cover up telegram whcih passed between Churchill and Roosevelt)

    Twixt the Devil and hte Deep Blue Sea - the story of the crew of HM Submarine Saracen.
    (Written with co-author Anne Corke, daughter of one of the crew. The survivors were brought to Italy, and whilst the officers ended up in Germany the ratings were left wandering around Italy following their escape from Campo Marina no. 1 Manziana. Some were killed or died, some were recaptured and sent to Marlag und Milag Nord, five were on the bombed train (see above) and some remained in hiding until the Allied troops arrived.)

    The Long Trail Home - Allied Prisoners of War in Umbria 1943-4
    (This book covers the life in three camps - PG 77, PG 115 and PG 115/3 and the military hospital at Perugia - escape at the Armistice, involvement with the partisans, the fate of the crews of fourteen USAAF bombers which came down in the region, Operation Pomegranate, the help given to the escapers and evaders by the local population, and four war crimes for which no German and only one Italian was ever brought to trial.)

    Vitellino

    the long trail home for website.jpg
     
  13. Mori

    Mori Active Member

    I have just published my 3rd book, on the end of North-West Europe campaign in 1945.

    It's a comprehensive perspective on the campaign, actually the first ever written. Among others, it includes an in-depth analysis of the Canadian and British operations in February-March 1945 (operation Veritable). It took quite a lot of research in primary sources and you will find a lot of original data there.

    The book has one big limit: it's in French...

    Previously, I published two analytical biographies, one of Montgomery and another of Rommel.

    Here are the links:

    The Rhine campaign
    [​IMG]

    Montgomery

    Rommel
     
  14. rac1944

    rac1944 Junior Member

    This is the book I published about 18 months ago: British Armoured Formations 1939 – 1945, A Bibliography – the only single-volume reference for tank related histories and memoirs. I have listed all 140 regiments of the Royal Armoured Corps plus the Household Cavalry, armoured Engineers, Foot Guards, and Royal Marines.

    Devoted to British armoured units of WWII this bibliography includes not only the standard histories but also the private regimental publications, the memoirs and biographies of veterans plus a summary of each unit's journals/newspapers/etc.; a colour illustration section shows some of the rarer titles. Each book entry has a Notes section which provides useful commentary on the content including the presence of rolls of honour, awards lists, extent of relevant WWII content, print runs in certain cases, etc.

    There are 3 appendices: a quick reference chart of all the regiments and the theatres in which they served; a list of regiments which operated Funnies; and, a list of the cavalry regiments chronologically recording their changes of title; plus an index of authors.

    I'm naturally delighted with the reviews the book has received, Britain at War said "comprehensive and painstakingly constructed work...colour plates and standard of production is truly superb...most useful addition to the bookshelves of military historians, researchers and writers." Brig. C. Elderton, C.B.E wrote “comprehensive, well produced and attractive.. . a ground breaking bibliography. Most highly recommended and a must…”.

    The book is available direct from me at the following web site - www.tankfactory.co.uk, thanks for looking.
     
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  15. I did, after almost 20 years of research: 541 pages about SS-Sturmbannführer Gustav Knittel and his SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 1 "LSSAH" focusing on all aspects of his childhood and schooldays, entry in the SS, officer training, wartime career, his crimes and trial, personal life and postwar years, as well as biographical data on those who served with him...

    http://www.boekenbestellen.nl/boek/gustav-knittel/17352?lang=en
     
  16. vitellino

    vitellino Senior Member

    Operation Pomegranate, just out.

    Lulu

    Vitellino
     
    Last edited: Sep 17, 2021
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  17. 8RB

    8RB Well-Known Member

    In 2019, I published the autobiography of 8th Rifle Brigade (11th Armoured Division) veteran Don Gillate, 20 years after first meeting him in Normandy. The book is based on 12 hours of audio tape which Don recorded, about his experiences from landing in Normandy on 13 June 1944 until reaching the Baltic in May 1945. If interested: the book can be previewed and bought at the publisers, Tredition.co.uk , or at Amazon.co.uk.

    19-02-18_Rifle Brigade_Cover_EB_tred.jpg
     
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  18. CornwallPhil

    CornwallPhil Senior Member

    I have written and self-published two historical novels set in Cornwall during the war. They are available in paperback. I have also published some factual eBooks on aspects of the war in Cornwall ranging from a full length eBook on RAF Portreath to short eBooks on the Bombing of Bodmin in 1942 and the Cornwall Railways War Diary. I have also published a fictional feel-good Christmas evacuee story as an eBook. A selection of the covers are below. It's fun. I thoroughly enjoy the research and the writing. As the wartime generation fast disappear from amongst us it is essential to get the stories out there whether through fact or fiction, but it's taken several years just to cover the costs of the first paperback.

    Full details can be found at https://www.philhadleypublications.com/

    No Small Stir Cover.jpg A Place and a Name Cover.jpg Cover for web.jpg Cover for web.jpg Railways war Diary.jpg Vacuees Cover.jpg
     
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  19. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    I don't have a book in me, I could not even produce a pamphlet.

    All power to your elbow
     
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  20. Sheldrake

    Sheldrake All over the place....

    About ten years ago, at the memorial service for Will Townend I was nobbled to finish the book he had started on the Gunners in Normandy - envisaged as a volume in the Blue Book histories of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. I had written articles and chapters of books before, but nothing onn the same scale. Nine years later, and with help from some members of this forum, Gunners in Normandy appeared.
    The History Press | Gunners in Normandy

    I now have a second book with Pen and Sword, part history part travel guide on the artillery on the D Day beaches, which allows me to write more about detail about D Day itself.

    I need to write a further volume on artillery on the US Beaches and landing grounds.

    I am about half way through writing a book for the Battleground Europe series on the artillery on the first day of the Somme.
     
    Last edited: Feb 8, 2023

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