The book arrived yesterday. Looks absolutely great; text, maps and printing quality! After also having read your book "No Triumphant Procession", I have no doubt content will of similar quality. Also nice to see Noel Bell (8RB!) quoted in preface (to see more, have a look at D-Day to VE-Day - 8th Rifle Brigade ). Looking forward very much to reading it, over the Christmas holiday!!!
The initial print run has very nearly sold out and I believe the book is no longer available through Amazon and Waterstones. The publisher, Helion & Co, has a few copies left so if you want one you need to hurry. The intention is to re-publish the book as a paperback sometime in the first half of next year. While I am delighted with the way sales have gone, I'm sorry for those who may be disappointed. Best wishes - and keep well. John
I should reassure forum members on the left handside of the pond that a load of copies are on their way to you by ship. If the book sells as well in the States and Canada as it has here you would be advised to get an order placed earlier rather than later. Happy Christmas! John
I have rather belatedly realised that while I have posted pages on other military history fora, I have overlooked doing the same for ww2talk, my 'home' site. Doh! So here, to give those interested in getting a feel for the book, are: the Preface, two maps, a page of text and an organisational chart.
With Theirs the Strife selling out on Amazon’s and Waterstones’ sites, I'm sorry that you may not have been able to buy the book. However, the good news is that it is due to be reprinted in January 2021 and will hopefully be available by the end of that month. This will be a soft cover version and will retail at approximately £25. As it takes time for books to get into booksellers' supply chains, initially it will only be available through the Helion website, so best to register your interest for a copy there. Have as good a Christmas as is possible and all the best for 2021.
My copy arrived today. Phew, it's not a light book! Might be good for home self-defence. I'm sure this will be an interesting read. I very much support the author's motivation to shed light on these overlooked battles.
Chris C - You're right, it's not a lightweight! Helion gave me the choice of ordinary paper or one with a slight gloss, which is better for printing high quality images. Given the number of maps and photographs I went for the gloss paper, which is heavier. Perhaps I should have warned prospective buyers to get in some upper-body gym time! I hope you enjoy the book nonetheless and that you like the various references to that gallant group, the CANLOAN officers.
Thank you John! The gloss paper is lovely too. I had a look at the war diary of 53 Division's anti tank regiment and it provides next to no detail of what was going on in those 2 weeks.
I checked 71st ATk Regt's war diary when I was researching the book and seem to remember being disappointed/puzzled to find that there was nothing of any interest, especially during the battle for Rethem. One can't help but feel that in particular the Archers could have helped 1/5 Welch's attacks, assuming they had been issued HE rounds for their 17pdrs.
Although it's possible they were short on HE ammunition (there are shortages reported at the time of Op Plunder, anyway) that is certainly what I would have expected them to be doing.
Pleased to be able to let the forum’s membership know that my publisher, Helion & Co, have moved fast and the soft cover version of the book will be available towards the end of this month (January). As I mentioned in my post #26, the book will initially be purchasable only through the publisher. To register interest, please use this link: https://www.helion.co.uk/military-history-books/theirs-the-strife-the-forgotten-battles-of-british-second-army-and-armeegruppe-blumentritt-april-1945.php Best wishes and keep well.
Phew! Really thought I'd missed it... As of this morning, Mr Meekins still had two left at £25 each + p&p
...and you will find it was well worth the wait. The more I dig into my copy, the more I'm amazed at the level of detail and the sheer quality of the physical book (it's heavy partly due to the very high quality paper used that really brings out the detail in the photos and maps - which is why, I understand, John Russell chose such paper, and it's superbly bound etc etc etc). Happy reading!
STOP PRESS - Soft cover version available now through Helion website: Theirs the Strife | Military History Book | Helion & Company. Discount until Sun 31 Jan.
Hi all I see John has two books. 'Thiers the strife' and 'No triumphant procession' which both appear to cover the same time period. If I buy 'Thiers the strife' is there any reason to buy the other book please? Regards
Hi slipper and thank you for showing interest in both my books. If you buy TTS there is absolutely no need to buy NTP, except for the charm of its hand-drawn maps and some photographs which don't appear in TTS. I wrote NTP when I was largely serving abroad and so research was far from easy and sources such as the internet yet to be invented! Although I took some of NTP - mainly the operations of 53rd Welsh Division and 4th Armoured Brigade - into TTS the new book is hugely expanded in an array of areas. The book's description on Amazon (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Theirs-Str...oks&sprefix=theirs+the+,stripbooks,156&sr=1-1) will give you a reasonable overview. Hope you enjoy it. Best. John