Coming Soon to a Bookshelf Near You

Avonmore Publishing continues to produce superlative aviation history for the war in the SWPA.
Two new titles are pending:


and a new series is beginning:


Must haves if you have any interest in the subject.

 

I watched this interview on WW2TV this morning about Julia Jones new book 'Uncommon Courage- The Yachtsman Volunteers of WW2'. A good interview and an interesting read by the sound of it.
Best part of the interview is the numerous slides she used, some of which show the memoirs and novels written by some of the men she writes about. A few more older books to search out




Scott

 

Some interesting naval titles:
This is the first in a three part series. Looks very promising.


More coming in the Italian naval series. On from battleships to cruisers now.


And three new upcoming titles in the Casemate translation series:

 

pen and sword in august. Nice to see a newer history of the Luftwaffe's transport wings

 

The vast majority of my latest purchases are Pen and Sword books.

 

April 15 Publication date.



Potentially very interesting:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ham-Jam-Ge...=1649297872&sprefix=ham+and+j,aps,1086&sr=8-2

 

Just arrived today. I ordered it without bothering to look at any details, and was very surprised by its size and its 447 pages. Before tearing open the packaging I thought it must have been some other book that I had forgotten I ordered!

 

A Thousand Battles: An Intelligence Officer's Battle Behind Enemy Lines in Wartime Burma Paperback – 31 July 2021



Born in Canada in 1905 to a British father and a Swiss mother, Cecil Gerald Merton studied forestry at Cambridge before starting work as an Assistant Forestry Manager in 1930. He was to spend the next decade living in the jungles of Burma with his wife and two small daughters.

War came to his corner of South East Asia in early 1942; he joined the 2 Burma Rifles and walked out of Burma in the Retreat to India, finally arriving in Imphal in May 1942. Not knowing if his wife and children were alive or dead, he became one of the first officers of The Johnnies, part of Z Force, an intelligence gathering group behind enemy lines in the jungles and highlands of Burma. Volunteering for every mission over the next three years, he battled illness, monsoon rains, mile-wide rivers, leeches, wild animals, disease, thirst and hunger; all the while fighting against the cruellest of enemies and his own personal demons; fearing for the lives of his loved ones.

Awarded the MC and bar for his bravery as ‘one of the finest Patrol Leaders in Z Force’, he survived the war to be reunited with his wife and children.

 

Coming soon-ish.

There will be an announcement when it is available, which will only be on Lulu.

 

Merton was discussed on the forum a couple of years ago:

Special Forces in Burma

 

Peter Hart has a new book called Burning Steel: A Tank Regiment at War which is a history of the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry in WW2, based on a lot of veteran interviews he conducted - sounds like about 30 years ago.

He is part of a podcast/youtube series called Pete and Gary's Military History and I am listening to them talk about it, but, I haven't read anything by Hart before. Opinions on him as a writer?

I have to say he is repeating a lot of negative opinions of the Shermans... hm.

 

I enjoyed his book on the Somme (bought because people like Gary Sheffield and Richard Holmes gave it good reviews . . .).

As to the Sherman opinions, is he merely reflecting what the interviewees said - or is he exaggerating them with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight?

 

No idea, Jeremy!

To be honest I will probably get the book...

 

He wrote three books in the same vein in the late 90s: At the Sharp End (2 R NORFOLK), In the Heat of Battle (16 DLI) and To the Last Round (South Notts Hussars). As the Oral Historian of the IWM he was well placed to... I think they've also recently been reissued under different titles.
With two infantry and one artillery covering the BEF, Burma, the desert and Italy under his belt, a NWE tankie one is a logical follow-up.

 

If so, this might be of interest: