What are you currently reading ?

Started by goat major, 03 November 2012, 06:40:05 PM

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kipt

Finished "The Fleet at Flood Tide: America at Total War in the Pacific 1944-1945" by James Hornfischer.  Great book by the same author that did "Neptune's Inferno" possibly the best book I have read about Guadalcanal.

This book continues the push into the Central Pacific, with good sea, air and ground action.  Detailed on the assault on Saipan and he likes Spruance more than Halsey.  Good discussions on Turner also.

A detailed part on the B-29's and Tibbet's (pilot) role in pushing the plane (the B-29 as well as the Enola Gay and the atomic bomb.

Packed with detail for all of its 602 pages (includes the index).  Liked it a lot.

fsn

Reading "Vichy Air Force at War: The French Air Force That Fought The Allies in World War II" by Diane Canwell & Jon Sutherland. Kindle edition, £4.74.

:-\

So the previous book I read on the French air force stated that French aircraft were constantly slower than contemporaries, and that poor production numbers meant reserves in 1940 were few.

This book takes a slightly different tack. French aircraft were absolutely super fast, and production was marvellous ... and apparently (I paraphrase here) the French army lost the Battle of France and the airforce didn't do nuffink wrong.

Interesting skitter around a rather neglected subject.   
Lord Oik of Runcorn (You may refer to me as Milord Oik)

Oik of the Year 2013, 2014; Prize for originality and 'having a go, bless him', 2015
3 votes in the 2016 Painting Competition!; 2017-2019 The Wilderness years
Oik of the Year 2020; 7 votes in the 2021 Painting Competition
11 votes in the 2022 Painting Competition (Double figures!)
2023 - the year of Gerald:
2024 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

kipt

Finished an interesting little reprint booklet "Report on Foreign Maneuvers in 1912" published by the General Staff, War Office.  There are sections on 12 countries written by British military observers (but no authors names) with the most developed being on France.

The sections are in parts; Direction of Maneuvers, talking about the directing staff and the umpires, the Staff, the Tactics of the Three Arms combined, Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, Air Service, Supply and Transport and Miscellaneous.  Generally all the observations of the countries follow this format.  There is a discussion within infantry and cavalry of machine guns.

There are some interesting statistics of marching, supply, tactics and numbers.  Overall a fast read.

kipt

Also finished "Nimitz Class" by Patrick Robinson a thriller in the genre of Clancy.

A Nimitz class carrier, the Thomas Jefferson is torpedoed by a rogue submarine (A Kilo 630 - Russian).  the torpedo is a nuke and the carrier is vaporized.

The main character trying to find the bad guys is a lieutenant commander, nuclear trained scientist and the brother of the group Operations Officer.

Trips all over the world, ferreting out leads until the confrontation.  Written in 1997, so one of the 'jump on the band wagon' books after Clancy's "Hunt for Red October" so a bit dated, but still a fun read.

KTravlos

I finally finished "The Ottoman Crimean War (1853-1856)" by Dr. Candan Badem.

It was an interesting reads. Its topic is essentially partly a coverage of the Crimean War fronts not generally covered well in western historiography (the Danube front before 1854, the Caucasus, domestic conditions), and mostly a look at aspects of Ottoman life and government and how the Crimean War impacted them, and how Ottoman conditions impacted Ottoman policy and activity during the war.
The author used a wide range of primary sources, not always seen in English and French, including Ottoman Turkish and Russian ones.

It is not per se a military history, as a mix of military and social history. You still need a survey history to place some events he talks about in a whole. But this is a must book if you wish to comprehend the war from an Ottoman perspective.

It is also worth reading for the extremely detailed, and very very harsh, literature review of English, French, Russian, Turkish and Ottoman Turkish works done on the war. He really does not hold punches.

The structure of the book does not always make it an easy read, and while his English is technically good, I felt that the information flow was not always well served.

That said this is an indispensable book for those interested in getting a better picture of the Crimean War.

If you read and like it, make sure to tell him that. He is facing some challenging times in his life.

https://brill.com/view/title/15553?qt-qt_product_details=1

Leman

Age  of Hannibal by Greg Wagman. A set of fast play Ancient rules covering approximately 500BC to 500AD designed with 6mm and 10mm figures in mind. Games can be played using designed scenarios (currently a booklet covering the three Punic Wars), plus a further three in the rule book (one from the 2nd Punic War, one from Alexander and one from Caesar). The rules are very straightforward and read very well. A 40mm square base is a unit but units can operate in groups. Missile fire can be by a group of units against one target base, but close combat is worked by unit against unit. As units are defeated they accrue demoralisation. Three demoralisations eliminate a unit, but at the start of the turn the turn it is possible to rally off demoralisations. An army starts with a morale of 9. At the end of each player's turn the army that lost the turn has jts morale lowered by one. Army morale cannot be recovered so the battle is lost when one army reaches zero morale. To spice things up though units have traits that affect their combat ability, commanders have traits that affect their leadership, there are large number of different unit types and there is a card driven terrain set up system (which can also include army stratagems) for non-scenario games (More scenario booklets are promised). Finally Little Wars TV is the producer of the rules and also provides support, including terrain tutorials, play throughs and downloadable 6mm buildings and city walls for siege games, which are also covered in the rules. To take a look go to:

www.littlewarstv.com
The artist formerly known as Dour Puritan!

Chris Pringle

Quote from: KTravlos on 15 October 2018, 04:49:15 PM
I finally finished "The Ottoman Crimean War (1853-1856)" by Dr. Candan Badem.

If you read and like it, make sure to tell him that. He is facing some challenging times in his life.

Not sure how I'd tell him, but yes, I have it, I read it and liked it and found it really valuable.

Chris

Bloody Big BATTLES!
https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BBB_wargames/info
http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/

KTravlos

He is on twitter. Pretty much only way to reach him now.

kipt

Finished "The Army of the French Revolution: From Citizen-Soldiers to Instrument of Power" by Jean-Paul Bertaud, translated by R. R. Palmer.

This is a well researched and written book.  Part One is From the Royal Army to the Democracy in Arms (1789 to Summer 1793).  Part Two is the Sans-culottes, the Revolutionary Government and the Transformation of the Army (Summer 1793 to Summer 1794).  Part Three is From the National and Revolutionary Army to the Army of the Coup d'Etat of Fructidor (Year III to Year V).

the author did extensive search in the archives of Paris and the different provinces to gather data on the conscription's, the training, the amalgamations and the desertions and other losses. It is not a listing of raw statistics but he incorporates the lives of the troops and their letters when available as well as reports from the government officials.  It is also not a detailed description of the campaigns and battles.  Phipps is good for that ("The Armies of the French Republic").

I now know much more about this period than I did before and I have several books on this period.  This one is good.

Chad

Kipt

Another good source are the series of books produced by George Nafziger , The Wars of the French Revolution. Some volumes are available from Caliver, but more often than not you have to buy direct from Nafziger in the US.

Can also recommend the following book if you want to look at the minor German states involved in the Revolution. 'We Are Accustomed to do our Our Duty'. Covers Hanover, the two Hessian states, Baden and Brunswick. General campaign history, organisation and uniforms.

Chad

kipt

I have many Nafzinger's but not those. And not the other. I concentrated more on the Empire.

Steve J

The Osprey 3 book set on Operation Market-Garden, just to get another view for my wargames and also as a treat to myself :)

Westmarcher

A Tale of Two Cities.

Did you know it was first serialised in two local newspapers? It was the Bicester Times and the Worcester Times.
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.

Techno

Go and get your coat, Westie !!

NOBBY.......Customer for you.

Cheers - Phil  ;)

fsn

Lord Oik of Runcorn (You may refer to me as Milord Oik)

Oik of the Year 2013, 2014; Prize for originality and 'having a go, bless him', 2015
3 votes in the 2016 Painting Competition!; 2017-2019 The Wilderness years
Oik of the Year 2020; 7 votes in the 2021 Painting Competition
11 votes in the 2022 Painting Competition (Double figures!)
2023 - the year of Gerald:
2024 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!