What are you currently reading ?

[T13A]

Hi

Just finished 'Sand and Steel: A New History of D-Day' by Peter Caddick-Adams. Good read overall but a bit of a slog to get to the events of 6th June 1944. The author does slightly bemoan the media's highlighting the US side of 'D-Day' including the amount of resources put into it compared to the British and indeed the Canadians. But then writes several chapters covering what happened at 'Omaha' beach and basically only one chapter for each of the British/Canadian beaches.

Cheers Paul

[FierceKitty]

Well, Lorenzoni's pistol may be the one in your book Phil, but it ain't a revolver, or a revolving chamber holding 7  balls and charges - it's a magazine in the handle with enough powder for 7 shots, 7 balls and you hold it muzzle down and work the lever that loads a measure of powder and a ball into the barrel each time.

Video of how it works:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_hnC6x036Q

Dafte's gun is a revolver (and he was British!) and made before Lorenzoni's and nearly two centuries before Colt's.

I feel I have ask about wadding and priming with these weapons. If you know the answers, you'll doubtless already know my questions.

[Gwydion]

It is self priming - there is a small magazine of priming powder and as the drum, rotated by the cocking lever, moves. it slides the bottom of the frizzen pan back to collect a small charge from the magazine. At full rotation the drum cocks the weapon and closes the pan cover. When you rotate the lever back the pan slides back into place as the ball and then powder are dropped into the chamber.

Wadding, lack thereof and why doesn't the bullet roll out of the barrel?
Very fine craftsmanship, fine tolerances and a very tight fit in the bore which slightly deformed the bullet into an almost cylindrical shape when fired.

Did this cause problems?

Well the deformation of the bullet probably didn't help accuracy but you probably weren't too bothered at the likely ranges and with the speed of shot.
The tolerances seem to have been fine enough that flashback into the magazine of powder was not generally a problem, though there is a surviving example which shows evidence that this did destroy that particular weapon. (and probably the hand holding it).

Were those the questions?

PS if you want to know more you can look up John Cookson as well - a British gunsmith of the seventeenth century who copied and improved Lorenzoni's system - producing ten shot quick firing muskets/longs. They used the overflow from the main magazine to allow powder to flow/dribble/spill? into the pan. You usually used a finer grain for priming powder but allegedly this system worked well so who am I to contradict him?!

[FierceKitty]

Thanks - you've covered it pretty thoroughly.

[kipt]

Finished a most interesting little book "The Soldiers Load And The Mobility of a Nation" by COL S.L.A. Marshall.  This was first printed 1950 by the Association of the United States Army and this booklet is a reprint in 1980 by the Marine Corps Association,.

In it Marshall says that the logistics of war is well studied by the professionals but that the higher one gets in rank the more is forgotten about the load of the foot soldier.  Rear area support is well and good but too much supply is only a gift to the enemy.  He has a story about a soldier guarding a supply depot in Normandy for over 6 months and the soldier hardly remembers anything leaving, only more supplies going in.

The feeling in WWII was that nothing was too good for "our Boys" so all kinds of amenities were shipped but not used (ukulele lessons with instruments for one).  D-Day troops went on the beach with 4 cartoons of cigarettes and the comment was "are we going to fight or trade with the French?"

He equates morale with fatigue.  The more a soldier is loaded down the more tired he gets.  The brass said that soldiers will unburden themselves of unnecessary equipment when they get into action and Marshall says why give them that equipment in the first place.  D-Day troops also carried 8 grenades onto the beach and the vast majority were never used.

The common thought was troops cold carry a third of their weight (160 pound troop would then be burdened with over 53 pounds) but some studies showed that 36 pounds would be optimum.

Marshall is writing for the next war (Russians that did not happen) and is concerned with the little amount of attention being given to the infantry man.  He does have examples from the Russian army in WWII and the German generals take on the capacity of the Russian foot soldier who moved with little.

Very interesting read.

[Westmarcher]

.... Rear area support is well and good but too much supply is only a gift to the enemy.  He has a story about a soldier guarding a supply depot in Normandy for over 6 months and the soldier hardly remembers anything leaving, only more supplies going in.

The depot wasn't run by M & M Enterprises by any chance?   


Good ol' Milo Mindbender

[kipt]

Finished an Osprey booklet, "Knight of Outremer, AD 1187-1344" by David Nicolle and illustrated by Christa Hook.

I know nothing about this period and really am not interested in.  The book was gift.  But good history I guess and very good illustrations.

[Techno II]

Finishing off listening to "Exile" by James Swallow.

From the blurb, on the back....

A vicious Serbian gang whose profits come from fake nuclear weapons...
A disgraced Russian General with access to the real thing..
A vengeful Somali warlord, with a cause for which he'd let the world burn...
A jaded government agency, without the information to stop him...

Only on man sees what's coming. And even he might not be able to prevent it....

(Bet he does !...You get the picture )

Quite entertaining but getting VERY silly towards the end !....

Cheers - Phil.

[kipt]

Finished a great book, "The Maps Of Chickamauga: An atlas of the Chickamauga Campaign, Including the Tullahoma Operations, June 22 - September 23, 1863" by David A. Powell and cartography by David A. Friedrichs.

this complements the book I previously reported on the Tullahoma Campaign by the same authors.  This book has facing map every every page showing the location and numbers of the regiments.  Very Tactical and well done.  Action in approximately 15 minute intervals.

So good I just bought "The Maps Of Gettysburg" and "The Maps Of First Bull Run".  To me it reads like a report from Regimental Fire and Fury (or perhaps the other way around).

Highly recommended.

[Steve J]

Sounds a great book and perfect for us wargamers.

[fred.]

Does sound good.

Has anyone done the opposite, use figures and terrain to provide the snapshots of a battle as it unfolds? Following the history, not playing a set of rules.

[kipt]

"Has anyone done the opposite, use figures and terrain to provide the snapshots of a battle as it unfolds? Following the history, not playing a set of rules."

In 1988 Leighton Films made "The Battle Of Gettysburg In Miniature".  It runs 40 minutes in color as a DVD.  I haven't seen it for a long time (and no DVD player now) but it was pretty good.

They used all  types of figures, 15mm, 20mm, 25mm and 54mm.  Building roughly HO scale and thousands of trees.  The Peach Orchard has over 400 trees.  As well as the off the shelf figures, they had over 200 special figures made, such as the kneeling drummer boy of Pickett's Charge.

[kipt]

Also finished another Osprey, "Byzantine Armies 886-1118", by Ian Heath and Angus McBride.

Typical canned history but well done and great illustrations.   I din not know of the vary different terms for the military organizations and ranks of the commanders.  Very Byzantine...

[kipt]

Finished "Prince Eugene" by LTG Sir George MacMunn.  Good writer as the book reads in a breezy style.  Interesting for a LTG but he has 15 other historical books to his name.  The author died in 1952 and the book does not have a print date, so maybe in the 30's after he retired?

A good overview, with examples of Prince Eugene's life, trials and successes.  However, I have started another old book on Eugene written in 1888 which seems suspiciously similar.  We'll see as I finish it.  Of course, the biography of someone's life will essentially follow the same path, so who knows.

Anyway, I enjoyed the history and the writing style.

[kipt]

Just found a video of the Gettysburg in Miniatures DVD that I mentioned earlier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1Rs5C84hDM

[Ithoriel]

Just finished Tank Action: An armoured troop commander's war 1944-1945 by David Render with Stuart Tootal

Lots of small unit actions that might prove inspirational for those looking for skirmish scenarios.

I particularly liked small details, like the time he was leading 5 Troop when his Sherman was ambushed  by a Panther. The Panther fired but didn't knock them out so they backed up sharpish. The Sherman's 75mm wasn't going to do much frontally to a Panther so it looked like curtains until he realised the Panther's barrel was too long to traverse between the trees to get them. Two Panthers scuttled off out of it. Presumably to get away before the troop's Firefly turned up.

[Rhys]

I'm currently re-reading Prit Buttars "Retribution" about the Russian reconquest of the Ukraine after Kursk in 1943.
Well worth a look (as are all his books on the Russian front in both wars) as he covers topics only sparsely covered by others.
Only let down by poor maps.

[steve_holmes_11]

Re-reading the Pulp Alley rules for the Nth time.

Great game, simple, quick and extremely well written.
But the little grey cells aren't what they were, so I always seem to forget aspects of the game.

[Raider4]

H.G.Wells' "The War of the Worlds".

Penultimate chapter in part XIV:
"He heard footsteps running to and fro in the rooms, and up and down stairs behind him. His landlady came to the door, loosely wrapped in dressing gown and shawl; her husband followed ejaculating."

I'd not noticed it was so filthy before!

[kipt]

Finished "the Maps of Gettysburg: An Atlas of the Gettysburg Campaign, June 3-July 13, 1863" by Bradley M. Gottfried.  A book in the same style as "The Maps iof
Chickamauga..." I wrote about earlier.  Currently reading "The Maps of First Bull Run..." and there are 3 others in the queue.

Same narrative on the left hand page and an explanatory map on the right.  Great books!