What are you currently reading ?

[kipt]

Finished "Great Battles and Their Great Generals" edited by Harry Roskolenko, 1974.

Thirteen chapters, all excerpts from various books, many autobiographies.  They range from von Schlieffen's "the Battle of Cannae" to The Inchon Landing, 1950.

The chapter on Leyte has Admiral Halsey's "I Turn North", his reasons for leaving the gulf and his frustration on having to turn back to protect the jeep carriers (and he didn't get back in time anyway).

"The Postscript from the Battle for Stalingrad" by General Vasili Chuikov I found most interesting.  I had read most of the others authors but not this one.

A quick read.

[KTravlos]

Finished "Strategem", the most recent book published in Yoshiki Tanaka's Legend of Galactic Heroes Series. While the story keeps being good, the translation this time was terrible with multiple typos.

About 40% done of Sheldon's German Army of 1917, and Embree's Radzetsky's Marches (both are too dense).

Ready to read the last book on the Aubrey-Maturin series "Blue at the Mizzen".

Going through the Army History Directorate "A Concise History of the Campaign in Asia Minor, 1919-1922" for my "Salvation and Catastrophe" project. The info is great, but marred by a plethora of typos.

Also about 40% done with "H Istoria tou Dihasmou kata tin arthografia tou Elefteriou Venizelou kai Ioannou Metaxa" (The History of the Schism according to the articles written by Elefterios Venizelos and Ioannis Metaxas), again for "Salvation and Catastrophe". Man are these two guys hating each other. But I was able to get enough info for an english summary of the Metaxas 1914 Gallipoli Warplan (forthcoming in the Foreign Correspondent).

[kipt]

Finished "Reputations" by Liddell Hart, 1928.

This book discusses the generals of WWI; Joffre, von Falkenhayn, Haig, Gallieni (Hart is most sympathetic here), Foch, Ludendorff, Petain, Allenby, Hunter Liggett and Pershing.

Good chapters on each and therefore good views of WWI.

Quick read.

[paulr]

The chapter on Leyte has Admiral Halsey's "I Turn North", his reasons for leaving the gulf and his frustration on having to turn back to protect the jeep carriers (and he didn't get back in time anyway).

Does he explain why he took the battleships with him rather than form Task Force 34 to cover the San Bernardino Strait as he said he would

[Ithoriel]

Does he explain why he took the battleships with him rather than form Task Force 34 to cover the San Bernardino Strait as he said he would :-

The attack on Taffy 3 exists solely to give rise to one of my favourite military quotes.

As the IJN force of battleships (including Yamato, the largest battleship afloat at the time), heavy cruisers and destroyers closed in on Taffy 3s escort carriers (merchant ships converted to ill-armed, unarmoured baby carriers) one of the carrier officers in charge of an AA battery announced,"just wait a little longer, boys, we're suckering them into 40-mm range."

[paulr]

I have read an account where a gunner on a DDE describes their star shells bursting against the pagoda mast of a Japanese battleship
They were firing star shells because they had already fired everything else

One of the Escort carriers managed to hit a Japanese cruiser with its single 5" gun

My favourite quote is the message from Nimitz to Halsey, "Where is Taskforce 34 RR the world wonders"
The part after RR was message padding that was not remove before the message was printed and handed to Halsey, apparently he flew into a rage on reading it

[Ithoriel]

One of the Escort carriers managed to hit a Japanese cruiser with its single 5" gun

Yup, a single 5" shell from the "jeep" carrier USS White Plains hit the Takao-class heavy cruiser Chokai's torpedo mount causing a catastrophic explosion. A US aircraft completed the job with a 500lb bomb, iirc, shortly after, leaving Chokai a static wreck which was abandoned and scuttled.

Perhaps the most ludicrously mismatched weapon and target pairing in the Battle of Samar involved a US airman who, having expended his bombs and exhausted all of the ammunition for his guns flew alongside a Japanese warship and emptied his .38 pistol into it!!

Leyte is a bizarre and fascinating battle!

[kipt]

Finished the "Gettysburg Magazine", July 2017, issue 57.

It has articles on Rodes failed night attack on Cemetery Hill on July 1, the defense of Blocher's Knoll, the emergence of the Federal Cavalry, the organizational changes to the army of the Potomac prior to Gettysburg and others.

Always interesting and published twice a year.

[OldenBUA]

Just finished a little booklet 'Soldiers from the age of Bethlen Gabor'. It's about a Transylvanian prince from the beginning of the 17th century. The little booklet was put together by some reenactors and archeologists. A little history, and lots of pictures of different troop types.

A free pdf, to be downloaded here: http://katonak-bethlen-gabor-korabol.hu in Hungarian and English versions. 

[Leman]

Got that book on The Uniform of the German Soldier. For £3.99 it is a great price for a book boasting 800 photographs, but I have come across a number of niggles, e.g. "in 1872 the Bavarian army adopted the dark blue Prussian uniform (no it didn't - it adopted the cut but retained its own lighter blue colour). Another niggle is that there is no clear description of field grey, other than the 1910 tunic was lighter and without the greenish tone of the 1915 tunic, but what colour is that? I want to paint a Battles of the Frontiers German force so how grey/brown/blue/green is field grey at that time? Nevertheless, the photos are fascinating, but the one I really like is Hindenburg as an officer in 1870 - a photo of a confident young officer with his pickelhaub at a really jaunty angle.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

I read a book!
It had some pictures, but it was mostly text.
'A Knight Of The Seven Kingdons' by George RR Martin.
Actually a quite good read, and benefits from a lighter touch than GOT!

[cameronian]

Got that book on The Uniform of the German Soldier. For £3.99 it is a great price for a book boasting 800 photographs, but I have come across a number of niggles, e.g. "in 1872 the Bavarian army adopted the dark blue Prussian uniform (no it didn't - it adopted the cut but retained its own lighter blue colour). Another niggle is that there is no clear description of field grey, other than the 1910 tunic was lighter and without the greenish tone of the 1915 tunic, but what colour is that? I want to paint a Battles of the Frontiers German force so how grey/brown/blue/green is field grey at that time? Nevertheless, the photos are fascinating, but the one I really like is Hindenburg as an officer in 1870 - a photo of a confident young officer with his pickelhaub at a really jaunty angle.

Yes ditto, found a few other errors but for four quid who's complaining. Personally I'd describe Hindenberg as a cocky arrogant little sh*t, but then he's Guards ... the affliction is international 

[kipt]

A book I couldn't finish "The Foundations of the Science of War" by Col. J.F.C. Fuller, preface dated 1935.

This book is more psychology, relating war to the human body (brain, muscles, internal organs - which relate to structure, control and maintenance), etc, etc.

I like Fuller's writings but this was too esoteric for me.

The best passage is where he is discussing military shortsightedness.  The established British higher command had an opposition to scientific progress. He says "during the war I knew a major-general who was also an anti-optic fanatic; he disliked trench periscopes, and when, early in the war, a proposal was made to introduce them, he officially put down his objection on paper, and it read: 'It is contrary to the traditions of the British officer to seek information from a position of security by means of a mechanical device'".

An army of lions...

[kipt]

Finished "The Real War" by Liddell Hart, no date but most likely early 30's.

Very good history of WWI, mainly from a British perspective.  Good folding maps (western front and eastern front) in the back and each chapter has a map before the narrative.  I enjoyed it very much.

An interesting discussion in chapter VII, "The Battle of a Nightmare-The Meuse-Argonne", where he talks about the Ardennes.  "It was based on the idea that the Ardennes formed an impenetrable back wall to the great German salient in France, and that if the Allies could reach and close the exits east and west they would cut off the German armies the the salient.  But the impassibility of the Ardennes has been much exaggerated, especially in Haig's reports.  Actually, the Ardennes were traversed by numerous roads and several railways, so that though the severance of the routs east and west might complicate the German withdrawal this wold be imperiled only if the objective was attained very rapidly."

Seems like this book was never read by the French GHQ prior to WWII.

[Leman]

'The Hundred Year Old Man who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared' - what an absolute hoot.

[DaveH]

Forgotten Battles of the Zulu War - Adrian Greaves, covering all the other battles than Isandalwana and Rorke's Drift. I'm actually finally getting round to painting my Pendraken Zulus and British now.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

By Tank Into Normandy by Stuart Hills MC (2002)
A good book, Apart from the DIRE first chapter about how great his public school was and how many runs he scored (honestly, people outside your school might read it).
It's actually a really good, honest account of his time as a commander of Sherman troop in Normandy and after (his DD sank under him on D-Day). Written with access to quite a few of his contemporaries journals, and compiled from his and the regimental diaries, but also with a good deal of hindsight, fifty years after. The details of combat are, as you would expect, hazy, but a lot of the minor details he remembers are stolll obviously vivid. The after action accounts, and how the men dealt with the loss and trauma of seeing friends (and actually enemies) killed is very well thought through. Overall it is not in the least gung-ho.
He does talk mostly about tank commanders and officers lost, and only really talks about the men when they are in his Tank, but I guess that's the times he lived in.
I would actually recommend it, but skip Chapter 1!

[FierceKitty]

Forgotten Battles of the Zulu War - Adrian Greaves, covering all the other battles than Isandalwana and Rorke's Drift. I'm actually finally getting round to painting my Pendraken Zulus and British now.

Other battles of the Anglo-Zulu war?! This could revolutionise colonial gaming!

[fsn]

By Tank Into Normandy by Stuart Hills MC (2002)
A good book, Apart from the DIRE first chapter about how great his public school was and how many runs he scored (honestly, people outside your school might read it).
It's actually a really good, honest account of his time as a commander of Sherman troop in Normandy and after (his DD sank under him on D-Day). Written with access to quite a few of his contemporaries journals, and compiled from his and the regimental diaries, but also with a good deal of hindsight, fifty years after. The details of combat are, as you would expect, hazy, but a lot of the minor details he remembers are stolll obviously vivid. The after action accounts, and how the men dealt with the loss and trauma of seeing friends (and actually enemies) killed is very well thought through. Overall it is not in the least gung-ho.
He does talk mostly about tank commanders and officers lost, and only really talks about the men when they are in his Tank, but I guess that's the times he lived in.
I would actually recommend it, but skip Chapter 1!

Do you not find that with a lot of military memoires? I tend to skip the bits until they actually put on a uniform. Then skim read until they actually get somewhere near the front.

[Leman]

It's All Going Wonderfully Well - biography of Bob Hoskins. A bit hit and miss and a bit patchy in that it seems to be a lot of anecdotal stuff in no particular chronological order.