Finished "The Waterloo Archive: volume IV: British Sources" edited by Gareth Glover.  Got back to reading these lately.  These are letters or reports written by the participants before and after the battle.  The book has sections on the Staff, Cavalry, Artillery, Infantry, Reserve forces, Support Services (the medical is particularly gruesome) and those not at Waterloo.

I currently have 12 volumes but see that now 13 and 14 are available.  Will have to get...

Quote from: kipt on 29 November 2023, 08:01:20 PMThe book has sections on the Staff, Cavalry, Artillery, Infantry, Reserve forces, Support Services (the medical is particularly gruesome)

I believe I have a whole book about the medical side of the Napoleonic Wars. Could dig it out if you're interested!

I have a book about Larrey. Quite enough thank you.

But thanks.

Finished "The Waterloo Archive: Volume V: German Sources" edited by Gareth Glover.  Interesting to read the comments from all the "foreign" troops with Wellington.  There is a particularly good note on the Brunswick troops; organization, uniforms in detail, commanders names and the colors of the commanders horses!

And finished "The Waterloo Archive: Volume VI: British Sources" edited by Gareth Glover.  The last of the Frontline Books as publishers.  Glover thought he had found pretty much all of the documents out there.  However, he found more but Frontline declined to publish more.  So the next will be by others.

Finished "Orde Wingate" by Christopher Sykes. This is a very dense book about a very different man. Wingate was a man with very strong convictions and religious to his core. He often upset people through his unconventional habits but did not care as he was sure he was correct.

His military career took him to Palestine in the 1930's where he became a rabid Zionist but not Jewish. His big ambition was to lead a Jewish army and this never really left him.  During his time in Palestine he organized night squads to fight the Mosley's who were attacking Jewish settlements.

When WWII started he went to Ethiopia in order to help drive out the Italians. He organized long range patrols, using his experience from Palestine, calling them Gideon Force. After the Italians were driven out (regular British troops did most of the work) he became discouraged with the lack of personal and organizational recognition. He tried to commit suicide by driving a knife into his neck.

Obviously he survived but had to prove his mental stability as well as physical healing to get reimployed. He was a prolific writer on his thoughts and did have connections with certain British politicians.  This lead to interviews with Churchill who became a supporter. Wingate at this time was a brigadier and was taken by Churchill to the Quebec conference where he related his experiences with essentially guerilla warfare. He was able to get support for his way of fighting and went to India with a premise of support for his long range patrols against the Japanese in Burma. There was much conservative military reaction against him but Wavwll and Mountbatten did support him.

He organized and lead the group called the Chindits. They did two excursions; the first did alarm the Japanese but was only so successful. The second, of 6 brigades (he having the local rank of Major General) was really in support of Slim's 14th Army. As the second expedition was in process he was killed in the crash of the Mitchell bomber he used to visit his troops.

A very complicated individual with his own personal demons. Recognized by many as gifted and able to do great things but by others as a pain in the ass. The author does not agree with Slim's description of Wingate in several instances by the way.

Just re-reading "Street without Joy" by Bernard Fall. A history of the French war (as oppossed to the American war) in Vietnam. It is a huge pity that he didn't survive the last one (and he was terminally ill at the time of his death) as his disection of the American war would have been truely facinating to read.
I'm also dipping into Lovecrafts collective tales on and off as I might have signed up to a Call of Chthulhu roleplaying group.

Santa Cruz 1942 - Mark Stille - Osprey Campaign #247 - a pretty well written account of the two carrier battles fought north of "the 'canal" in August and October 1942. My local library has a copy of this which greatly surprised me.

The only negative thing to me was the author's insistance on referring to the Japanese carrier aircraft in the text as "carrier attack planes" (B5N "Kates") and "carrier bombers" (D3A "Val"), while USN aircraft are clearly identified as Dauntless/Avenger/Wildcats. He does state this is because those terms were the official IJN terminology, but I found myself having to go back several times in the narrative as its unclear immediately exactly what types he is referring to. Overall a very good treatment of the subject.     

Using it to outline another solo scripted campaign following the fate of my Zero shotai (flight) that has previously participated in the Indian Ocean raid aboard Akagi and the Aleutian diversion on Junyo. Santa Cruz is the next logical step as Junyo was present at the battle.



         

Finished "The Waterloo Archive Volume VII: British Sources" edited by Gareth Glover.  This and any following are published by Ken Trotman and called The Ken Trotman Waterloo Archive Book 1.

Interesting how many new sourced Glover keeps finding.

Finished the "Personal Memoirs Of U.S. Grant".

Grant began writing in 1884 as he learned he had cancer.  He was worried about taking care of his family after he was gone.  He finished writing a year later and the correction of the proofs was finished July 14, 1885.  He died 9 days later.

Needing money he accepted the Century magazines offer to write a book on his life.  However Mark Twain stepped in when Twain felt Grant was being cheated and offered to publish it himself.  This he did.

The book is a good history and plain spoken.  It has been called one of the best narratives by a commanding general and I agree.

Quote from: fsn on 26 November 2023, 08:21:42 AM*update*
Got the Oxford book as a pdf.

I don't visit this thread often, because I always seem to fall over a book that magically comes through the letterbox shortly after!

Anyway, I got and read "Escape from Puroland" from Charles Stross's Laundry series over Cheesemas. Or "What Bob did on his holiday in Japan (whilst dark elves invaded Leeds)".

I knew it was a novella, but it was still shockingly short. Felt like it was a sketch of a novel and could have done with twice the length.

Good, but in the way a tapas plate does when your actually really hungry. Where's the rest of the meal?!

Finished "DeGaulle: The Rebel 1890-1944" by Jean Lacouture, translated by Patrick O'Brian (which to me is interesting in itself).  This is how biographies should be written.  Absolutely fascinating writing; history, anecdotes, speeches, reports from all sources, really enjoyable.

Per the dates it is of DeGaulle's journey from birth to the capture of Paris and the trials and tribulations associated.  Supported in the beginning by Churchill, seen as an irritant by FDR, he was somewhat the bane of the western allies, although embraced by Stalin.  A French airgroup fought in Russia (with over 5000 sorties).

I imagine I will get volume 2 at some point as I really enjoy Jean Lacouture's writing style.

Finished ""The Bullets Flew Like Hail"Cutler's Brigade At Gettysburg; from McPherson's Ridge to Culp's Hill" by James I. McLean Jr.

Great book at the regimental level.  This brigade fired the first infantry shots of the battle (Buford's cavalry first of course) and were in action before the Iron Brigade, which followed them on the march.

Good maps and many personal accounts.

Gamelit fiction, set in the popular genre of the 'System Apocalypse', on a popular-branded e-reader.

The Castle at the End of the World
by Justin Marks
bk 2 in his System Apocalypse series 'At the End of the World'

Currently reading

The Quest for Fire
(French: La Guerre du feu)
[2020 English translation]

Joseph Henri Honoré Boex [1856–1940]
[1911 Belgian fantasy novel]

Wikipedia info: (not finished the book, so don't know if this is fully accurate)
Setting
The Quest for Fire takes place in 100,000 BC in Europe. The fauna of this period is omnipresent, including mammoths, cave lions, aurochs, cave bears, sabre-toothed cats, giant elks and saiga antelopes. Several humanoid ethnicities live alongside animals: the Ulams (Neandertal-like hunters-gatherers who worship the fire and are able to ally themselves with beasts), the Wahs (people without shoulders from marshes), the Blue-Haired Men (huge four-handed simians with a bluish fur), the Men-Eaters (bestial cannibals) and the Red Dwarfs (extremely warmongering and xenophobic pygmies).