Currently Reading

[Colonel Kilgore]

Congratulations on your continuing efforts to get us all playing Market Garden, Miles, and thank you!

Simon

[Colonel Kilgore]

I've just finished reading Pen & Sword's "Crete - the Airborne Invasion 1941" by Tim Saunders.

There's lots of useful detail, some interesting photos and a lot of maps, albeit of variable detail and quality (as is the proof-reading...).

I paid the full price of £16.99, which felt a little steep. However, it's now available for just £4.99, which has to be excellent value:

https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Crete-ePub/p/5457

[John Watson]

Should have gone to Dave Lanchester Military Books.

[Colonel Kilgore]

Should have gone to Dave Lanchester Military Books.

Yup - life's full of regrets... 

[Leman (Andy)]

Some time ago I bought a book from Oxfam titled The World's Battles 1800-1900. There is a handwritten date 1929 on the inner cover. How things have changed over the last 90 years! There is what you would expect - Waterloo, Auerstadt, Gettysburg, Sedan. There are some which I don't think would make it now - the Eureka stockade, Brody, Guad El Ras, the Chitral Campaign, Slivnitza, Kirkee, the Canadian Red River Expedition of 1870. AND some exceptional absentees - Antietam, Magenta, Solferino, Koniggratz, the Alma, anything from the Boer War or the Spanish American War, and no mention of any days at all in Peking (unless that was 1901). Interesting to see what was considered important then compared to now

[Colonel Kilgore]

That sounds fascinating, Andy.

I have a 2-volume history of The Great War, written prior to WW2, that I must sit down and read properly one day.

[Leman (Andy)]

I just thought it really odd that some of the C19th's largest battles, with some significant effects on world affairs, were left out, while a canoe trip up a Canadian river is included. At first I thought it was just a British Empire centric approach, but four battles from the Franco-Prussian War are in there, as well as a French battle in Algeria and the 1848 battle of Novara. Maybe the author just wanted scale and location variety, but how Villersexel gets included and Koniggratz doesn't is very peculiar.

[Colonel Kilgore]

Maybe the author only had access to a narrower range of information in that pre-internet age...?

[Colonel Kilgore]

I have just finished reading Philip A Haigh's "From Wakefield to Towton - Battleground Britain 1460-1461".

This is both a history of the battles of Wakefield, Ferrybridge and Towton and a battleground guide.

I enjoyed the book - it was easy to read and contains some interesting detail, enhanced by the tour guide section.

As with the Crete book in the same series, it could have done with some more editing and proof-reading: there are quite a few typos, sections apparently out of sequence / repeats as well as - at times - a rather heavy and stilted use of English. The guide is no doubt a little outdated, and the provision of telephone numbers rather than web addresses for the various museums felt rather quaint.

But on balance, worth the money and time to read. I'm now rather more informed about these three battles and the dirty deeds that took place during the campaign.

[Leman (Andy)]

I must admit I do like the Battleground WoR books.

[Fat Wally]

Currently 'Battles and Leaders of the [American] Civil War Volume 2'.  A book to dip in and out of for bedtime reading. 

Volume 1 took me two years to complete.  Mid way now through Vol 2.

[martin goddard]

Good project Kev. Hope no one does a plot spoiler. The Confederacy doing quite well so far?

[Sean Clark]

To read Battles and Leaders cover to cover is a monumental task! Well done for persevering😀

Currently reading Crete by Beevor, and Robert Harris' Munich. Both very good.

[Leman (Andy)]

I am reading Shelby Foote's three volume history of the American Civil War. It must have been a real labour of love as the shortest volume is over 800 pages. There is no additional fluff in the form of illustrations, although there are many relatively small maps, plus each volume has two double page spread maps as the end papers showing the major campaigns of the relevant period covered by that volume. Another nice touch is that each page has the year it is dealing with at the top, so in volume one at one point 1861 moves to 1862. This is a truly comprehensive work dealing with the political machinations as well as the strategic and tactical aspects of both the army and naval campaigns (the taking of New Orleans is particularly well handled). Shelby Foote is also a novelist and and as such he is very good at handling the personalities of the characters involved and shows how, for example, Lincoln's concern over the safety of Washington in 1862 affected McClellan's confidence in the Peninsula, itself also affected by faulty intelligence, which could have brought the war to a rapid conclusion. This is so well written that I am now more than 400 pages in in less than a fortnight and still wanting more.

[Fat Wally]

Finished the trilogy myself last year and concur with everything you said.