Coming Soon to a Bookshelf Near You

Discussion in 'Books, Films, TV, Radio' started by Gage, Mar 28, 2009.

  1. Orwell1984

    Orwell1984 Senior Member

    MMP is doing a three part series on Polish paratroopers. Volume 1 is out and volume two is on its way


    Looking through the youtube preview it looks like it would be useful for anyone interested in Commonwealth airborne.
     
  2. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    Steve Zaloga has an Osprey book on Soviet Lend-Lease Tanks of WW2 coming out later this month. Although I tend to think of Osprey books as expensive for the amount of content you get, I'm looking forward to this.
     
  3. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    There's a new book on Monte Cassino being published next week.
    By title, subject and language it fills a significant gap--fingers crossed on the quality:

    Monte Cassino January-May 1944: The Legend of the Green Devils
    Hardcover – Illustrated, 20 Jul 2017

    by Angelos Mansolas (Author)

    In early 1944, two Allied armies were ready to launch a massive assault against German forces in central Italy so they could then march northwards to Rome. There were three routes available to get there. The fastest one passed through the Liri valley, but the entrance was blocked by the rugged Monte Cassino massif, with its hilltop medieval monastery and the town below. In front of them ran the Gustav Line: the most formidably constructed defensive line the Western Allies would ever come up against. The second possible route would be to outflank the Gustav Line to reach the valley, but they would then also have to capture the innumerable rough peaks and ridges along the massif, on a treacherous terrain that only favoured the defenders. The third and final option would be to breach the Gustav Line directly in front of the town, which would mean engaging in costly house-to-house fighting until they dug out the very last of the stubborn German paratroopers lurking beneath the rubble. They decided to try all three, but none of them were easy, and all proved deadly.




      • Hardcover: 176 pages
      • Publisher: Fonthill Media (20 July 2017)
      • Language: English
      • ISBN-10: 1781556024
      • ISBN-13: 978-1781556023
      • Product Dimensions: 15.6 x 1.6 x 23.4 cm
    I'm really hoping that this book maintains its focus on 'the other side of the hill(s)'; we have more than enough overviews of the four battles from the Allied point-of-view.

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Monte-Cass...&qid=1499913289&sr=1-4&keywords=monte+cassino

    Publisher:
    Monte Cassino January-May 1944: The Legend of the Green Devils
     
  4. hucks216

    hucks216 Member

    Considering that most books have a prelude to the main subject and a conclusion, plus sources and index etc, 176 pages doesn't seem very big to fit all that in in any great detail. Considering the price I would rather spend an extra £9 and get The Battle of Monte Cassino Then & Now.
     
  5. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    The Then & Now book is excellent and worth the money, but--as I said--I'm hoping for some real insight about the German defenders. Even the best books I've read (Parker's, for instance) are light on the small details and veteran quotations that bring the allied perspective to life.

    Fingers crossed, though as you say the lage count is light.
     
  6. Stuart Avery

    Stuart Avery In my wagon & not a muleteer.

    Charley, when you have read it, can you let me know if to obtain one? Not a bad price for a score, & its in hardback. Nice one for the heads up.

    Regards.
     
  7. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    Am wondering whether to wait for a review before buying, but if and when I do I'll certainly report back.
     
  8. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    I might have to get a book featured in the latest WW2 Podcast. It's called Flying To Victory: Raymond Collishaw and the Western Desert Campaign 1940-1941, by Mike Bechtold.

    I'm a little tempted by a self published hardcover about the Lord Strathcona's Horse in WW2. (Push On) 440 pages, more than 1400 photographs. But: it's at least $126 Canadian, plus shipping!!!

    With that money I could probably get a book on the Conqueror, Bryan Perrett's book on the Matilda, AND South Albertas: A Canadian Regiment At War, all of which I have held off from buying.
     
  9. Orwell1984

    Orwell1984 Senior Member

  10. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles


    Won't be buying this. There's a preview here:

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Monte-Cass...=UTF8&qid=1502721849&sr=8-11&keywords=cassino

    There's a misuse of the word 'literally' in the pre-introduction section, a typo in the second sentence, and an execrable few pages follow with English that sounds as if it were written by a non-native or translated from another language. Some sentences 'literally' don't mean anything. [Correction: there are two typos in the second sentence--and another in the third!]

    Given the contents page, it also looks as if the 'Green Devils' of the title will not be given especial prominence--which is the only aspect that appealed to me.

    A wasted opportunity.

    Edit: Read it and weep.

    Screen Shot 2017-08-15 at 00.24.31.png
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2017
  11. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    How did that get published?

    The author is Greek, but I think the publisher failed to provide an editor.
     
  12. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    Far more positively, this has pinged up on my radar:

    512zhyz1C+L.jpg

    The Day Rommel Was Stopped: The Battle of Ruweisat Ridge, 2 July 1942
    Hardcover – 31 Oct 2017

    by Major F. R. Jephson MC TD (Author), Chris Jephson (Author)

    About the Author:
    Born in 1918, Major Jephson attended Rossall School and then joined the Manchester Artillery, 52nd Field Regiment RA, TD. He served in France, then went to India where he joined the 11th Field Regiment RA. He served with them in the 4th Indian Division through North Africa, Italy and Greece. He returned to civilian life in 1946 and spent the next 33 years in various management roles in Unilever with periods overseas in Indonesia, Holland and Belgium.

    Chris Jephson was born in 1947, and has lived overseas most of his life although he was educated in the UK, ending with a BSc in Politics, Economics and Philosophy. He has worked all over the world, in the shipping industry. In 1976 he joined the Maersk Group in Denmark and instead of retiring at the end of 2011, obtained the company's agreement to write a book on the history of part of the company. This was published as Creating Global Opportunities, Maersk Line in Containerisation 1973–2013 (Cambridge University Press, 2013), and in Danish by Gyldendal.

    Blurb:
    George VI's biographer, Sir John Wheeler Bennett wrote "The actual turning of the tide in the 2nd World War may be accurately determined as the first week of July 1942." This book argues that it is possible to be even more exact: the tide turned at about 21.00 hrs on 2 July 1942, when Rommel's tanks withdrew for the first time since the fall of Tobruk on 20 June, or arguably since 14 January 1942 at El Agheila.

    At dusk on Wednesday 1 July 1942, Rommel broke through the centre of the British defences at Alamein. His tanks had overwhelmed the gallant defence of the 18th Indian Infantry Brigade in the Deir el Shein at the foot of the Ruweisat Ridge. At that moment, and for the next twelve hours, there was no further organised defence between the spearhead of the Afrika Korps and Alexandria. Throughout the next day, only a handful of men and guns stood between Rommel and his prize. In Cairo, black clouds of smoke from burning files showed that many people believed Rommel would not stop short of the Suez Canal, his stated objective.
    But, on Friday 3 July at 22.56 hrs, only 48 hours later, Rommel called off his attack and ordered his troops to dig in where they stood. The Delta was saved.

    Just a few weeks earlier, the 18th Indian Infantry Brigade, which took the brunt of the initial attack on 1 July, and the guns of the small column known as Robcol that stopped Rommel on 2 and 3 of July, had been in northern Iraq. General Auchinleck's desperate measure, pulling them 1,500 miles from Iraq into the Western desert, just succeeded but it greatly increased the price of failure. If Robcol had failed, it is doubtful that Rommel would have stopped at the canal; it does not require much imagination to see his forces threatening to link up with Barbarossa in the Ukraine. This vivid account of the battle of Ruweisat Ridge, the beginning of the battle of Alamein, was written by an officer who was part of Robcol on the fateful day.
    ________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    This is most interesting to me.

    There's a lengthy interview with Maj. Jephson up at the IWM and he covers a lot of the material that will no doubt appear in this book. 1/4th Essex contributed a major element to ROBCOL and Jephson himself was attached to the unit in later Tunisia.

    Fingers crossed: detail-detail-detail.
    (The title is pretty specific!)
     
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  13. Roy Martin

    Roy Martin Senior Member

    My latest book Merchantmen at Normandy has now been published on Amazon:

    List Price: $10.00 (£7.69)

    7.44" x 9.69" (18.898 x 24.613 cm)
    Black & White on White paper
    220 pages


    ISBN-13: 978-0955744150
    ISBN-10: 0955744156
    BISAC: History / Maritime History & Piracy


    Available through Amazon UK and worldwide


    At low water on the grey dawn of the 6 June 1944 the greatest invasion force ever assembled lay off the Normandy coast. Among them were thirty-six Infantry Landing Ships manned by the British Merchant Navy. During that morning they landed forty thousand soldiers, at all five beaches. They then returned to the south coast of England to reload and continued to ferry troops throughout Operation Neptune and beyond.

    That evening the first convoy of civilian coasters arrived; these small ships brought fuel, ammunition and more men. The next morning the Liberty ships, both British and American, came with vehicles, fuel and even more troops. Then the hospital carriers and salvage ships joined, as did more and more coasters, and so the build-up continued.

    Roy Martin describes this vital, but largely forgotten, part of the landings. He explains how the planning involved other civilian organisations and how the various types of ships evolved. He shows how the press correspondents reported the landings and how some of the crews remembered their involvement.
     

    Attached Files:

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  14. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    I am really interested in The Day Rommel Was Stopped and it irks me that it won't be available here until December.
     
  15. JohnS

    JohnS Senior Member

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  16. Aixman

    Aixman War Establishment addict Patron

    John
    already acquired and enjoying.


    By the way: What happened to Canadian Service Publications?
    Service Publications


    The say
    "DUE TO UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES SERVICE PUBLICATION IS UNABLE TO TAKE ORDERS AT THIS TIME.
    WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE"

    Do you happen to know if there is any hope they will return into business?
    Cheers
    Aixman
     
  17. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    Sadly, Clive Law, who ran Service Publications, passed away in June.

    I have no idea what will happen to the business.
     
  18. Aixman

    Aixman War Establishment addict Patron

    Sad news, Chris.
    I didn't expect anything like this.
    Thanks anyway!
     
  19. idler

    idler GeneralList

    Just arrived - War on Wheels. It's a history of the RAOC side of things rather than the vehicles themselves.

    Worth shopping around for, mine was under a tenner from Ebay.

    IMG_20170915_105331245.jpg
     
  20. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    Have now seen the lengthy preview online--and am continuing to weep.

    Monte Cassino January-May 1944

    1/4th Essex are referred to throughout as 1st Royal Essex Battalion!?!?

    Apparently, the '4th' is because they were part of 4th Indian Division. This is not a joke.

    The author might might have asked himself, for example, why 6th RWK wasn't 6/78th RWK? They were in 78th Division after all.
     

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