What are you reading at the moment?

Discussion in 'Books, Films, TV, Radio' started by Gage, Mar 12, 2006.

  1. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    Much coverage of Sittang Bridge?
     
  2. sol

    sol Very Senior Member

    So far I only finished first chapter. I am very interested what it has to say about Sittang Bridge myself and will give more details once I get there. Considering it is a Kindle version it is not easy to just give number of the pages that book dedicate to something.
     
  3. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    Look forward to hearing what you find.
     
  4. Orwell1984

    Orwell1984 Senior Member

    I have the book version.
    Chapter 10 goes from pages 104 to 122 and is entitled
    "Operations carried out by 17 Division on February 21st, 22nd and 23rd, 1942 - The withdrawal from Kyaikto-Japanese attacks on the Sittang bridgehead and on our force east of the river-Battle of the Sittang-Withdrawal of 17 Division across the Sittang
     
    Last edited: Apr 14, 2021
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  5. Orwell1984

    Orwell1984 Senior Member

  6. sol

    sol Very Senior Member

    That books looks really really interesting. I just hope it will be available outside New Zealand too or shipping cost will be quite high.
     
  7. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    I agree, a very niche subject matter and something that has had very little written about it over time.
     
  8. Orwell1984

    Orwell1984 Senior Member

    I took a flyer on it from a used bookstore in New Zealand. I'll report when it gets here, which may be a while since I went with cheapest method of shipping.
     
    sol likes this.
  9. PDH

    PDH Junior Member

    Just finished this

    [​IMG]

    An interesting personal story but not much action or technical detail.
    Good read
     
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  10. RRTB

    RRTB 145 Fd Regt (Berkshire Yeomanry) RA

    I recently finished reading "Dresden" by Sinclair McKay. Although I had heard before about the destruction inflicted on the city, it was the relating of how many of the thousands of people died in the firestorm or in the inadequate places they went to in order to ride out the raids, ending up suffocated and mummified due to the super-heated air etc that really made me wonder if I actually wanted to continue reading. It was also amazing to read how some of the citizens managed to survive, and even find their husband/wife again after being separated by the events.

    I did finish the book, by the way. Quite a read. upload_2021-5-5_22-30-47.png

    RRTB
     
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  11. AB64

    AB64 Senior Member

    I haven't read that one but have read a couple of books about Dresden - I've visited a couple of times recently and it is a beautiful city and well worth a visit, one thing that seemed surreal was that after reading about the funeral pyres in the Altmarkt when I was there last there was a beach volleyball tournament going on next to the memorial as well as people sitting out at the surrounding cafes, such a different then and now image
     
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  12. RRTB

    RRTB 145 Fd Regt (Berkshire Yeomanry) RA

    AB64:

    That's pretty much how the book rounds out: the way that Dresden was eventually restored to its former beautiful self. It took them decades however to rebuild the Frauenkirche, which is apparently a glorious building. I read tonight somewhere that if you look at the bottom of the walls you notice that the stone there is blackened compared to the light colour of the new stone used for rebuilding. The blackened ones were retained as they were from the original church.

    Apparently there's a freestanding stone nearby; that's an original stone too, ejected there when the original Frauenkirche imploded.
     
  13. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

  14. 14/264

    14/264 Active Member

    I've just finished 'At Close Range' by Peter Hart. Based on interviews he conducted with former members of the South Notts Yeomanry in the 1980's. The regiment converted to artillery and served in the Middle East, initially in Palestine, before transferring to the Western Desert. They were part of the Tobruk garrison and were later almost destroyed in the Knightsbridge box. They were reformed as a medium regiment, but lost their local identity, receiving soldiers from all over Britain. They fought in Tunisia, Sicily and, after returning to the UK, in Europe. I enjoyed the book very much, it's mainly personal recollections with linking sections to give the background. Recommended read.

    [​IMG]
     
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  15. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    Haven't got a pic to hand, but I finished reading the WW2 parts of Robin McNish's "Iron Division: The History of the 3rd Division". I want to read more of it, but time presses.
     
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  16. Wapen

    Wapen Well-Known Member

    I'm double-hatting war diaries of 51 Div in Goch and Gary Sheffield's Forgotten Victory.
     
  17. Markyboy

    Markyboy Member

    Had a break for a few weeks, but back with a vengeance now. I've finished two this last week:

    Bombers Battle - A Wing Commander - I mentioned this one on a thread a while back and still haven't a clue who the author actually is. It's a quite unique book published in 1942, which seems to be almost a defence of the lack of tangible results for a bomber campaign that had been ongoing for over two years by that point. It's quite upfront saying it's a small force but rapidly growing now, it's been diverted to coastal targets against its intentions, the weather prevents accuracy, the Ruhr all looks the same at night etc. The overall theme seems to be that they've always known this would be a campaign which would take years to be decisive without ever questioning whether the policy could be flawed based on the experience the Luftwaffe had whilst trying to Blitz London. One of my favourite bits of optimism is how the early leaflet raids were not a waste as they are currently unable to know the long term effect of a soldier reading them, as they may have struck a chord which won't be evident until the tide of war turns more against the Nazis!
    It's an interesting book just for the mindset and it does include plenty of accounts about Blenheim raids which I enjoyed. I also found it to be a good companion piece to the revisionist books that Greg Baughen is putting out.

    Dawn of D Day - David Howarth - I'm sure most of you will know this one. I enjoyed the approach of focusing on thirty people's experiences across the first 24 hours of D-Day as this kept the story changing and allowed the author to drop into areas as diverse as pre attack planning, gliders, parachutists, each of the beaches, German defenders, Hobarts funnies and even a Norwegian destroyer Captain. A nice overview with my only criticism being that some of the back stories are a bit cliche (Americans are a bit rogue but supremely capable, Brits are reluctant soldiers just looking to get home but surprise themselves in battle, Germans are suddenly waking up to the idea the Nazi regime might be fallible etc.)
     
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  18. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Well if all goes to plan and its not piled

    The Last Green Valley by Mark Sullivan
     
  19. Orwell1984

    Orwell1984 Senior Member

    [​IMG] [​IMG]

    Some more interwar conflict reading.
     
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  20. RRTB

    RRTB 145 Fd Regt (Berkshire Yeomanry) RA

    Just started into "The Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer. I've heard mixed stories about this book as to its veracity, so I'm not quite sure how to approach it - at face value as a personal recollection of events which occurred to the author or, as some critics believe, an inaccurate story. I've just read through the Wiki article about it and I still am not sure which way to go! The Forgotten Soldier - Wikipedia

    Anyway, it's a pretty easy read so far.

    Edit:

    Finished the book quite a while ago. I must say I did find the book good. It was interesting and also enlightening following the main character from the exhilarated exuberant youngster who joins up to the destroyed young man who returns eventually to his mother and family, shattered by his experiences.

    RRTB
     
    Last edited: Sep 10, 2021
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