Osprey Battles of WW2

I have put a hold on buying any more books/magazines etc for two reasons-
1) Current lack of funds
2) got too many books anyway (according to Mrs ABE)(which I am still trying to be rid of) ( and no Tomtas you cannot have my Airborne collection!)
and 3 (well I am numerically challenged) I am still trying to move house!

regards

Andy

 

2) got too many books anyway (according to Mrs ABE)(which I am still trying to be rid of)

There is a delicious ambiguity in that statement... and I bet we're all thinking exactly the same... which is a bit unfair as it was my better half that found them, bought them and still hasn't called in the loan.

Back on-topic, I'm not sure that I will commit to the whole series as I think the 2' of shelf space and £400 could be better utilised

I have briefly compared the France 1940 with the old paperback Campaign-series edition: the text, photos and graphics seem the same but the layout and titling have changed. The big omission are the notes on wargaming the campaign that were in the older title.

 

2) got too many books anyway (according to Mrs ABE)

If you're the Mr ABE of Abebooks then I reckon you do have too many !

AbeBooks Official Site - New & Secondhand Books, New &Used Textbooks, Rare & Out of Print Books

 

I just bought the first 2 issues (i.e. 3 books), which were good value, but I'm another who lacks the shelf space for 52. For those otherwise minded, subscribers pay £6.99 per issue and receive the DVDs of the films Battle of Britain, The Longest Day and Tora! Tora! Tora! free.

 

Apart from whsmith, where else can I get this?

The advert says available in newsagents but I can't find it in any of the newsagents I've been in.

Do you know if any popular supermarkets stock it? My local large Tesco didn't have it.

 

I've only seen it in WH Smiths. You can subscribe online.

 

I actually managed to find one. It was in a tiny, unkept newsagent owned by a old white woman. I've been to practically every shop I could find, I went in, had a look around, decided to ask the woman behind the till and she went out the back and brought me the first issue. Funniest thing is it's the 2nd nearest newsagent to where I live. A little surreal but I was happy

 

Paul,

Indian Army covered well in them?

Sushil

 

Hi Sushil - in the current volumes no, because they don't cover battles in which the Indian Army fought. However, the Osprey volumes these are based on are usually pretty good and from memory the Desert and Far East volumes obviously cover the actions of Indian units. I can't remember if there are any specific Osprey volumes on the IA?

 

I had tried the WH Smiths at the main Edinburgh railway station, a large Tescos, 2 smaller supermarkets, a petrol station and a couple of small newsagents before I found it in another newsagents. It had only one copy of each of the first and second issues.

 

People might be interested in the following split of battles covered by the 52 issues:

Europe 1939-40: 4
Middle East: 7 (6 on North Africa, 1 on Iraq).
Italy: 2
Raids on Western Europe: 2 (St Nazaire and Dieppe).
D-Day to the end of the war: 16 (there are 4 on D-Day itself and 4 more on the campaign up to the liberation of Paris).
Eastern Front: 8
Germany 1944: 1 (I can't tell from just the title if this covers West, East, air or all 3).
Far East: 12 (the only one specifically on Burma/Malaya one is Meiktila 1945).

The only ones on specifically naval battles are Pearl Harbor, Midway and Leyte Gulf.

There are editions titled Britain 1940, Japan 1942 and Japan 1945 but it's impossible to tell if these cover just air warfare or have a wider scope i.e. does Britain 1940 cover Dunkirk, is Japan 1942 about the Japanese offensive or just the Doolittle Raid?

Please note that this is based on just the titles. I've bought the first 3: Poland 1939, Norway 1940 and France 1940 and already own Anzio and Cassino but don't know what's inside the other 47.

 

PS; I've jsust found that the short magazine that came with issue 1 gives a little more information on the books:
Britain 1940 is the Battle of Britain
Japan 1942 is the Doolittle Raid
Japan 1945 is Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Germany 1945 is breaking the Siegfried Line so that makes it 17 on the Western Front 1944-45 v. 8 for the Eastern Front 1941-45.

 

Anyone notice in the Denmark & Norway 1940 book that the maps on pages 38/39 & 62/63 are identical.
Seaborne Assaults in Oslofjord 9 April 1940
Has anyone got the original edition & tell me what map is missing?

On pages 62/63 is map of The Battles around Lillehammer 20-24 April 1940

 

I signed up online and got the first 3 editions delivered well packaged.

I believe they come out every fortnight... delivered straight to my house. Actually appear good value if you consider the price of individual Osprey paperbacks.

 

Finding the France 1940 one very poor.
Too many bad illustrations and it should be re-titled 'How Rommel & Guderian won the battle of France'.


There are some mistakes in almost every book from Campaign series. For example in Crete 1941 they put The Royal Welch Fusiliers instead of Welch Regiment.

 

Yeah I agree. Too much emphasis on the Sedan Actions. I know they were important but it wasnt the end of it by a long shot.