What are you reading at the moment?

A day's read (a night's read for insomniacs ) 80 pages is as far as the blessed chap got (beyond "Bid the Soldiers Shoot" and some pages of "The Filibusters").

Autobiographical writing at it's best, cut short by his untimely death in an accident, what little there was published after.

It just seems so incongruous that he should get through the war, his war, at the sharp end and then depart this mortal coil as the result of a car crash (yet not the only special forces chap to suffer that fate).

Always remember the departed, never forget,

Jim.

 

Currently unravelling this.



The Blitz plays a key role, but it looks like the specifics aren't going to be made apparent until the war rolls around again in another few hundred pages.

 

I just got PoD copies of "Mechanized and Armoured Formations" (1929) and "Modern Formations (1931).
I kind of geek out on interwar mechanization, so this is cool

 

Well having re-read "The Asparagus Trench" (see post #5021 above) and having recently dug out "The Filibusters" in connection with other forum threads, it seemed only right to revisit these.

Always remember, never forget,

Jim.

 

Currently reading Volume One of the Official History of the Joint Intelligence Committee : From The Approach of teh Second World War to the Suez Crisis by Dr Michael Goodman, of Kings College London. First published in 2014 and in paperback in 2016, x471 pgs and an extensive bibliography. As an official history it draws upon a range of released and classified papers to produce the first, authoritative account of the way in which intelligence was used to inform policy. Plus, a handful of interviews.

Been on my bookshelf for ten years as I attended a release event @ KCL and the author signed it. I understand he is working on the next volume. Officialdom held up revealing a US representative sits in the JIC meetings; normally the Head of the CIA Mission (London).

There are x158 pgs covering WW2.

I added a short post on one issue on: UK planning for a post-WW2 war with the USSR: a few questions

Alas rather expensive and an abridged version has not appeared, as an Amazon reviewer and publisher remarked.

More pgs. to read, on the post-war period.

 

Let me know, David, if there's more than just footnotes on China, Hong Kong, Korea and South-East Asia in the late-40s and early-50s.

 

Charley,

There is a whole chapter! I shall update you another day.

 

Just finished Ernie Pyle's Last Chapter.

 

Has anyone read, or has a copy of, "Guardsmen of the Sky" by JNP Watson?

 

When (if!) I can find it John I will give you a shout soonest (but I confess I have no idea in which box to start - and it might mean a trip to the attic!).

Kind regards, it's in the blessed place somewhere, always,

Jim.

P.S. If any other folks have a copy readily to hand I hope they'll chime in.

 

Haven’t got a copy myself chaps, but had a look on that Internet Archive site, where I’ve found a couple of books I wanted, but couldn’t see it there, unfortunately.

 

As recommended:

....... courtesy of a local charity shop, where first browse took me to ..........'Double pay for muleteers is underpayment .......... Considering that the average Liverpudlian soldier had probably never been near a farm animal in his life, there is something very impressive about the ease with which he grasped the principles of animal transport' ...... clinched it for me.

(With matters Arctic very topical of late, it is for similar reasons I have long pondered why 'we' still recruit hardy mountain men from Nepal, but don't have a group of them as a component of our mountain/arctic capability? Yes, I know there are mountains in 'jungle'!)

 

No worries Jim, please don't put yourself out going in the attic. However, can you remember how much of the book is given to Op Musketeer and the whole Suez crisis?

I'm trying to put together a nominal roll of people who jumped into El Gamil (less 3 Para). Apart from the odd few names, it's proving very difficult to get anything on 3 Para.

Cheers.
John.

 

I must dig the book out at sometime John - I'll hopefully get up the ladder into the attic later today. I got the book when it first came out (specifically to see if a dear departed friend, who went from The Blues and Royals to Guards IPC, had been mentioned) and can't remember much of the other content - there is definitely a section on Suez though.

I want to find it and re-read it for myself now too

Will find it out at sometime. I'm sure that years ago I boxed it up as a "keeper".

Kind regards, still looking, always,

Jim.

 

On this day, but not just for on this day.



Always remember, never forget,

Jim.

 

Hello John.

We have a eureka moment!

Give me a chance to make a brew, stick some gaffer tape on my achilles, and carry out the chez Herriot decontamination procedures (I have been told in no uncertain terms I must be a cobweb and dust free zone before I even think about sitting down ) and I will, by way of conversation, send you some stuff.

Kind regards, my Achilles heel has long been my achilles heel, always,

Jim.

 

Originally published in hardback only in October 2024, 592 pgs (including footnotes) and yet to be finished. Many good reviews shown on: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pride-Fall-British-Afghanistan-2001-2014/dp/1472868293

It is a very good read and is comprehensive. Ben Barry, ex-UK Army & IISS:

I have read quite a few books on this war, though not for a few years and know two veterans who were there. Plus, one lady who was killed and a NGO / DFID person.

Difficult in too many places to respect the politicians involved.

 

Wrong image.

 

Written in 1951. Very thin on details of the actual fighting in Normandy and much more interesting from the perspective of the post-war campaign by the surviving German generals to offload any responsibility for Nazi Germany's actions and for the military catastrophe in Normandy. Full of self-pity and self-delusion; has definitely failed to improve with age!!

Regards

Tom

 

On the waiting bookshelf:



Third of series by two local authors, covers WW2 & the Cold War and available from the publishers: https://www.brewinbooks.com/military_history/top_secret_west_midlands

There's also one on Warwickshire and two for Worcestershire.

Then something different and not WW2, but another interest of mine the conflict in Rhodesia, that became Zimbabwe.

See: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Soldiers-Rhodesian-Army-Professionalism/dp/1009348442

Published two years ago based on the author's Oxford University PhD thesis and covers a theme for black soldiers, which makes it very different. Rather expensive (£30 as print-on-demand), so a review one day after properly read.