What are you currently reading ?

[pierre the shy]

Looks like a fascinating read (an added dimension for me is that the ship that ended the voyage of the Emden in The Great War was also named .... HMAS Sydney!).

A very good read indeed.

The foremast of the original HMAS Sydney was preserved as a memorial in the 1930's and still stands there today: http://mosman1914-1918.net/project/blog/hmas-sydney-memorial-mast

Sailed past in when leaving Sydney harbour recently.

[KTravlos]

Finished Nick Lloyd's "Hundred Days: The End of the Great War". Highly recommended.

[kipt]

Finished "The Russian Army in the Great War; The Eastern Front, 1914-1917" by David Stone.

Very well done and needed when most books are about the Western Front.  I enjoyed it.

[fsn]

Just bought "the Friendless Sky" by Alexander McKee; the story of WWI in the air. It's a classic that I have in paper form, but is well worth a re-read.

Something to listen to as I'm finishing my WWII Luftwaffe.

Though I have been listening to the Aeneid and am watching "In Search of the Trojan War" by Michael Wood - so I thought my next project would be bronze clad. Perhaps not.

[Orcs]

Just finished "Panzer Gunner" by Bruno Friesen who served in Pz1V's and Jagdpanzer lV's on the eastern from.

Good read, especially the explanation about how to work out the range using the gun sight reticule.  The same reticule was used for both the main gun and the Co-ax machine gun. It had atwo position  switch for switching between AP shell setting and the one for HE shells and the MG as the baliistics for the MG was similar to that of the HE shell.

So when the main gun site is damaged as in Chain of Command this will also affect the accuracy of the co-ax MG. (Must buy a new anorak)

[Womble67]

Just finished "Panzer Gunner" by Bruno Friesen who served in Pz1V's and Jagdpanzer lV's on the eastern from.

Good read, especially the explanation about how to work out the range using the gun sight reticule.  The same reticule was used for both the main gun and the Co-ax machine gun. It had atwo position  switch for switching between AP shell setting and the one for HE shells and the MG as the baliistics for the MG was similar to that of the HE shell.

So when the main gun site is damaged as in Chain of Command this will also affect the accuracy of the co-ax MG. (Must buy a new anorak)

I love these little snippets of information

Take care

Andy

[lowlylowlycook]

Recently read "Amedeo: The True Story of an Italian's War in Abyssinia" by Sebastian O'Kelly

It's a biography of Amedeo Guillet, an Italian Cavalry officer that fought in Ethiopia in both 1935-36 and during WW2.  He fought with the Spahys of Libia and with a "bande", an irregular force of Ethiopians and Eritreans.  Sadly he never served with the Penne di Falco that I've converted models for. 

Amedeo had quite the adventure (charging British tanks on horseback is the least of it) so I could recommend this even to people not necessarily interested in Ethiopia or the East African campaign.   

[Leman]

Reading Longstreet again prior to a campaign starting in April. It should be noted that the suggested 1861 starting army has two 6pdrs and a howitzer. 6pdrs play an important part in the early years of this excellent, full war, campaign system. Never understood why most ACW manufacturers always seem to produce the hardly ever used Whitworths and Armstrongs, but avoid the very common (1861-63) 6pdrs.

[kipt]

Finished "The Bitter Years: MacArthur and Sutherland", by Paul Rogers.  Rogers was Sutherland's stenographer starting in the Philippines and went with him to Australia and back to the Philippines.  This is a continuation of "The Good Years".

The falling out between MacArthur and Sutherland came from Sutherland feeling his importance and wanting more.  There is a woman and adultery involved here, not condoned by MacArthur, that was ill concealed.  Also, Sutherland was the voice of MacArthur on trips to Washington DC as well as other senior conferences.

MacArthur recognized this but did not want to lose Sutherland, however they had a strained relationship when the invasion of the Philippines occurred.

The author, Paul Rogers, was in the HQ for the entire war, first as Sutherland's stenographer, and finally unofficially co-opted by MacArthur.  Rogers started as enlisted shortly before the war started, was promoted to sergeant, then warrant officer and then commissioned.  He never got to the front lines but came close on a jeep ride towards Manila prior to its capture.

Not a history but more of remembrances.  Good.

[fsn]

Many, many years ago - 1981 - I was a student working in London. With my meagre allowance, I bought a book which changed my view on the world. I put my favourite bookmark in that book (yes, I have a favourite bookmark) and it engaged and entertained me on the tube into London.

One day, alas, the book fell from my pocket, or I left it on the train, or some light fingered magpie took a shine to my bookmark. Whatever, I lost the book, and the bookmark, never to be seen again.

What had me so captivated? Well until 1981 I knew that the Normans were ex-Viking who cut their hair, took to horseback and won a battle in Southern England in 1066. The book, The Normans in the South by John Julius Norwich opened the world of Italy and Sicily and Byzantium. I always liked the names of the sons of Tancred Hautvilles - William "Iron Arm"; Drogo (a wild name which obviously means cutting off a limb with an axe, backhanded) and Humphrey. One feels Humphrey may have been named by his mother.

Anyway, The Normans in the South is now available on the Kindle, and I have downloaded it. To be honest, I'm a little nervous. Will this be a joyous reuniting, or will it be more like hailing Jamie Carragher?

[Leman]

As it's the same book, it's likely to be the spit of it.

[Ithoriel]

As it's the same book, it's likely to be the spit of it.

I have reread books that were a joy in my youth only to find that time and experience left me rather less impressed than of yore!

[FierceKitty]

I have reread books that were a joy in my youth only to find that time and experience left me rather less impressed than of yore!

Getting old is less fun than one expects.

[Leman]

My back can confirm that, especially after a painting session.

[kipt]

Finished "USN Battleship vs IJN Battleship: The Pacific 1942-44" by Mark Stile.  Typical Osprey with good pictures and illustrations.

Guadalcanal and Leyte Gulf were the only two actions between battleships in the Pacific.  The narrative is well written and I found the booklet to be very good.

We had just finished a GQIII WWI naval action so I moved this book up in my queue.

[Chad]

Re-reading 'Eagles over the Alps' Suvorov's campaign in Italy and Switzerland with a view to it being my next project.

[kipt]

Finished another Osprey, "British Destroyers 1939-1945" by Angus Konstam.  Typical with good pictures, illustrations, narrative on each type produced with stats.

Also a good description (if short) of the battle of Malacca Strait, May 1945.  It was the last significant surface action of WWII fought by the RN.

[KTravlos]

Finished "Oi tris tafes to Hasan Tahsin Pasha" (The Three Burials of Hasan Tahsin Pasha) by Chris Christodoulos. A bit of an apologia of Hasan Tahsin Pasha , the Ottoman commander defeated by the Greeks in 1912, and who had to surrender Thessaloniki/Selanik/Salonika to the Greeks. Still some interesting information. Especially pertinent how many of the protagonists of Greek and Turkish history of the era knew each other personally. My goal is to use it to write a article for the Foreign Correspondent on those operations.

[Steve J]

From Pike to Shot 1685 to 1720 by CS Grant.

I've been after this for a while and luckily a reasonably priced one appeared on Ebay recently. It arrived a few days ago and is another great WRG book which I'm happily skimming through, but paying particular attention to Monmouth's Rebellion and The Glorious Revolution period. Inspired by D-Guy's posts on his Monmouth's campaign, I aim to use my LoA forces to re-create this campaign or something loosely based upon it.

[kipt]

Finished "An Army of Brigadiers: British Brigade Commanders at the Battle of Arras 1917" by Trevor Harvey.  Good but dense book.

This is a book about 5 brigade commanders, their staffs and their battalions at Arras.  There is quite a bit of back history leading up to the events at Arras.

One brigadier has been selected from each of the 5 Corps involved in the battle; their backgrounds are one from civilian life and the remainder Regular army, one Canadian, two Scots, one Irish and one English, and the divisions their brigades were in were Regular, Territorial, New army and Dominion.

The emphasis is how they influenced their command.  They were more than a pass through of orders from above; they were busy training (lots of replacements after each combat), coordinating their battalions, and influencing the battle at their level, and sometimes more.

This has me thinking of how wargamers use commanders.  Most seem to have a circle of command, where units can act as required, and possibly a plus (or minus) to an individual unit action.  There are more and I want to start a list to see how others use a commander.