What are you currently reading ?

[kipt]

Finished "Attack at Daylight and Whip them: The Battle of Shiloh April 6-7, 1862" by Gregory A. Mertz.

A driving tour as well as very good descriptions of the fighting.  I am partial to the tactical detail available from the Civil War, and this book satisfies that itch.

Good maps, pictures and first person accounts. Recommended.

[kipt]

Finished "Protecting the Flank at Gettysburg: The Battles for Brinkerhoff's Ridge and East Cavalry Field, July 2-3,1863" by Eric J. Wittenberg.

All Wittenberg's books are good and this is no exception. Pictures, maps, OB's, and driving directions for the fields involved. Many personal anecdotes to go with the narrative.

Good book.

[steve_holmes_11]

I've finished Fortress Malta by James Holland.

The author tells the story through a series of interwoven eyewitness stories.
This makes for a plodding start, and lacks the sort of rivet counting detail that folds like us adore.

By the midpoint the story is flowing.
The reader understands the stakes and experiences the hardship through a collection of viewpoints.
Hunger, hardship, improvisation and the looming threat of a surrender date.

This puts the high points (deliveries of food, material and fuel) in striking contrast.
Very effective with the eyewitness technique.

The story ends as quickly as it begins.
(Spoiler Warning) - Axis surrender in North Africa and cleared form Sicily.

The book wraps up with a Hollywood style "where are they now".
Some returned to a mundane postwar life, others falling in other theatres of war.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Loved that book

[kipt]

Finished "The Battle of Monroe's Crossroads and the Civil War's Final Campaign" by Eric J. Wittenberg.

Sherman's army moving north on the Atlantic coast had Judson Kilpatrick's cavalry division on its left flank, both for scouting and protection from Rebel generals Wheeler and Hampton.  Kilpatrick, aggressive as he was ('Kill-Cavalry' nickname) was not good in outposting, having been surprised a couple of times.

This battle also saw Kilpatrick surprised and almost captured.  However, by this time the Union cavalry was well trained and with superior weapons so were able to rally after Confederate cavalry charged through the Union campsites.  The first part of the battle was a Rebel victory, but at the end the Union held the field and so could claim victory.

Maps (kind of first generation as the book was originally published in 2006), pictures and OB's. Tactical which I like.

[kipt]

Finished "History Of The Great War", volume 4 of 5, by Frank H. Symonds.

This volume discusses the great German retreat and the devastation of the territory they left behind.  Italy and Greece, the Russian revolution, submarine warfare, Cambrai and Caporetto are chapters.

Part two has pieces on Clemenceau, Haig, the war in Italy and Canadian and Australian efforts to support Great Britain.

I'm still impressed by the quality of writing in these volumes.

[fsn]

My team were lovely enough to give me a book token for Christmas. I spent it (very quickly) on the two volumes of Broken Eagles by John H Gill.

It's the stories of the German states in the 1813 campaign. I started reading volume II  last night ... though that was after a Christmas dinner, with wine, a beer and a soupcon of fine Jura whisky ... but from what I remember, Friedrich I of Wurttemberg danced the pasa doble with Marshal Soult, though the final of Strictly Come Dancing was on, so I may have misread that.

It's good to get a view from the view of the Rhinebund, rather than from the French overview. It makes me think of them as a separate army, not just Frenchmen in funny uniforms.

Very detailed, (vol I is 245 pages on just Saxony and Bavaria, plus 123 on the campaign itself.) Goes from the diplomatic interactons with Napoleon to the experiences of individual soldiers.     

 

[kipt]

Finished "World War II Airborne Warfare Tactics" by Gordon L. Rottman and illustrated by Peter Dennis. 

Typical Osprey with pictures and plates.

[kipt]

Finished "History Of The Great War", volume 5 of 5, by Frank H. Symonds.

American involvement, the Armistice, other fronts and the end of war there.  Part II has a note by Marshal Foch regarding the Americans.

A well written set of books.

[kipt]

Finished Volume 89, number 4 of"The Journal of Military History".
Articles include:

Between Disruption, Violence, and Accommodation: The Quartering Process in Palermo(1580-1650),
"Freedom of the Hills": The Tenth Mountain Division and the Opening of the Vertical Frontier, (Disappointed in this as it was more about skiing than the Division),
When "Lives Were as Cheap as Chickens": Dark Histories of the Barrio during the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines, 1942-1945,
The Invention of the Kamikaze: dissent and Resistance in the Japanese Military,
Plus others.

Also 95 pages of book reviews, articles and dissertations.

[fred.]

Kipt your through put of books is astonishing!

I've read a couple (both Christmas presents - the combination of being off work and feeling under the weather actually letting me get some reading volume in!)

Hercules by Scott Bateman - a history of the C-130 in RAF service - told through a series of sorties and actions over the years. Surprisingly readable and interesting- highlights the effort of the crews to get things done in much less than ideal circumstances (which does apply to much of British post-war military life)

Arnhem Black Tuesday by Al Murray - this is a really good book, his approach of just looking at one day* of Market Garden and one location is really effective at looking at the key points on this critical day. I'd say I've read a lot about OMG and this book gave me a much better understanding of the geography and chronology. Often histories of the battle have so much to cover it is easy to get a bit lost on some of the sequencing. 

* there is some useful context of the first few days to set the seen and reference to early items as required - but by the constraint of the focus these don't have to explain everything.

[kipt]

I always have 2 to 3 going at once.  Large library and constantly buying new ones although since retirement not as many as before.

A shout out to FSN regarding the Broken eagle books by Gill.  I have Gill's earlier book on the minor states in 1809 but had not known of these, so I bought them.  In the pile of to be read.

[Last Hussar]

Friedrich I of Wurttemberg danced the pasa doble with Marshal Soul

You haven't misremembered - it was a pivotal scene in 'Battle of the Bulge'

[kipt]

Finished an interesting book, not military nor sci-fi (so unusual for me), "The Revolutionary Temper: Paris, 1849-1789" by Robert Darnton.

This follows the French temper, primarily in Paris, through letters, speeches, pamphlets and meetings that led up to the storming of the Bastille.  Extremely well done and it shows how much the public was involved in the writings of philosphes, ministers, Voltaire, Rousseau and many others.  The amount of pamphlets during this period was amazing, and the public's hunger for news was all encompassing.

Very good book.