My book-buying "problem"

I will be interested to know what rating you give Eagles over Husky.

As far as Maugham's book is concerned, I think it's a "slightly fictionalized memoir". (Which puts in a category with Take These Men by Cyril Joly.) I had already thought that it would be very difficult to invent details without access to war diaries, archival material, history books, and so on, in 1945. I also went and asked Dan Taylor, the curator of the Sharpshooters' museum. He wrote back "I received my copy from John Cloudsley-Thompson, who was very much a contemporary in 4CLY. He was complimentary about Robin’s recounting of events and I believe may have proof read it for him." So that's highly suggestive that Maugham changed the names of people but not events. (He is "Robert" in the book when someone refers to him, instead of "Robin".)


I have some really positive things to say about the book - I'll try to write a mini review when I'm done.

 

My favourite Op Shop has a new arrivals shelf that no one seems to look through.

Found theses three RAF books this morning for my growing RAF/RAAF collection. My purchase justification being that you can never have too many books with Spitfires on the cover

 

I've had my eye on Journeys Into Night for a while--the defictionalised companion to No Moon Tonight, which was an excellent read.

I'd be interested to hear your opinion of it when you get around the reading it.

This may interest you later:
20_men

It details the fates of the men in the book.

 

Just ordered the following non-fiction bestseller.


A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice

In The Bomber Mafia, Malcolm Gladwell weaves together the stories of a Dutch genius and his homemade computer, a band of brothers in central Alabama, a British psychopath, and pyromaniacal chemists at Harvard to examine one of the greatest moral challenges in modern American history.

Most military thinkers in the years leading up to World War II saw the airplane as an afterthought. But a small band of idealistic strategists, the “Bomber Mafia,” asked: What if precision bombing could cripple the enemy and make war far less lethal?

In contrast, the bombing of Tokyo on the deadliest night of the war was the brainchild of General Curtis LeMay, whose brutal pragmatism and scorched-earth tactics in Japan cost thousands of civilian lives, but may have spared even more by averting a planned US invasion. In The Bomber Mafia, Gladwell asks, “Was it worth it?”

Things might have gone differently had LeMay’s predecessor, General Haywood Hansell, remained in charge. Hansell believed in precision bombing, but when he and Curtis LeMay squared off for a leadership handover in the jungles of Guam, LeMay emerged victorious, leading to the darkest night of World War II. The Bomber Mafia is a riveting tale of persistence, innovation, and the incalculable wages of war.

 

I’ve had a bit of a binge over the last week or so, but this time with WW1.

 

For what it's worth. I've seen Gladwell's book eviscerated elsewhere online by historians.

 

I have to say, No Moon Tonight didn't grab me anywhere near as much as it did a lot of other people (well aware I'm in the minority here). Read it a few years ago now, so might revisit it. I thought it was a straight out autobiography and 'Journeys' was the more fictionalised one from chats with fellow aircrew?

 

My wife delicately suggested a pause in the book purchases until we get settled in our new abode.

I agreed, found this cheap online the same evening and had it delivered to my office instead.



I'm not sure whether that indicates I am boldly independent or completely under the thumb.

Good book, mind you.

 

I call that independent thinking!

I have been meaning to post a picture but since I'm never getting around to it, I bought a copy of North Irish Horse Battle Report from Naval & Military Press. It is not just a slim volume (108 pages) but small format. Looks to be written based on the war diary entries, although I'm not sure. In any case I'm sure it will be an interesting read. I really admire what I have read of the regiment's "can do" attitude to infantry support.

 

I have it mentally squirrelled away that that book makes some small reference to their having supported 4th Indian Division in Tunisia.

Is it more than a few lines?

 

I found the briefest mention about C squadron under command of 142 RAC in support of 4th Indian Division on 5 May, that's all.

 

Artillery at Anzac - Adaption, Innovation and Education (2021) by Brigadier Chris Roberts (ret) and Major-General Paul Stevens (ret)

Not my area of research (or WWII) but I thought it might be of interest to some of the 'artillery oriented' members. Australian book about the Australian artillery at Gallipoli.

"Ten chapters, seven appendices, six extensive tables of data, in 361 B4-sized pages. Hardback, ISBN 9781922387936. Published by Bigsky Publishing under the auspices of the Australian Army History Unit. RRP $34.99AUD. Highly recommended to everyone with more than a passing interest in the First World War and in artillery in particular."

Artillery at Anzac - Big Sky Publishing

 

I remember this intriguing account of the intelligence war between the West and the East with foundations set deep deep many years ago....it's interlocked with spy organisations that some might be aware of...remember the outcry in the British press when Fuchs suddenly did a bunk to East Germany but the full background to what was going on was not generally known by the public until much later.

Ben MacIntyre has revisited the account with his recent publication, Sonya

Agent Sonya by Ben Macintyre review – housewife, mother and communist spy

Sonya's background and her intelligence role is well covered by this source.

Ursula Kuczynski - Wikipedia.

 

Bugger!

 

Oooh, I like the look of that NZ official history, "Battle for Egypt"!

 

That's so not going to be the thin end of the wedge...

Actually, I think all the Kiwi ones have been officially transcribed and put online. I suppose there's not much else to do there...

 

Hangs head.....here's my this week's arrivals.

 

Oops did it again ... preparing for my next holiday trip in Holland, I bought some Dutch military books on the Eighty Years War (1568 - 1648) and its sequel the Dutch-Franco conflict (1672 - 1714). A dive into Early Modern Warfare:



The first two titles are also available in English:
https://www.amazon.com/Eighty-Years...af+van+Nimwegen&qid=1623411371&s=books&sr=1-3
https://www.amazon.com/Military-Rev...af+van+Nimwegen&qid=1623411322&s=books&sr=1-2





For the opening year of the French - Dutch War, 1672, when the Dutch Republic was saved by its Water Line against the French troops of Louis XIV, see: Visiting the battlefields in 2020 & now in 2021.