@SuperbattleshipYamato Yeah I get you 100%. Alternate History is a niche interest in the first place so finding other people willing to go down the rabbit hole is always tough.
What are you reading
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Just finished “Sapiens” by Yuval Noah Harari. A remarkable book. Not WW2 but it is history so I thought a recommendation here might be worthwhile.
If you want a history read that comes at the subject from a unique position and finds a host of startling conclusions as a result, then this is a book for you!
No detailed examinations of orders of battle or military under garments I am afraid!
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Sounds like a book for a girl. I can see why you liked it, PP.
(Actually, what would I give to be able to read anything at the moment! My eyes preclude my reading anything, except my toddler’s books.) -
My recommendation was for people who are not challenged by their toddler’s books Witt. :-P
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That’s it: pick on the disabled guy!
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I’m currently reading HERO OF THE EMPIRE The Boer War, a Daring Escape and the Making of Winston Churchill.
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Just got in the mail the book Ship 16, a story of a German Surface Raider.
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You do love books on Raiders, don’t you, Worsham?
Three of the last books I read were: Confederate Colonels, by Allardice (more
Of a Reference book, so not read cover to cover), James Robertson’s biography of AP Hill and The Gallant Dead, by Derek Smith. It is a record and short biography of the 123 Generals who died in the Civil War. All great books for my collection.
I have three books still to read, when I can see properly. They are all on WW2.
It is so hard not to buy new books. But what would be the point?Al wants me to come over to America for my 50th. She has begun saving fir it!
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Yes, I love German and Confederate raiders.
OUR local library created a WWI area to honor the centennial celebration of the event. I couldn’t resist donating a book on the Raider Wolf and Graf Spee’s East Asian Squadron.
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I nearly bought Osprey’s Graf Spee today. But I held back! Osprey also have a new Campaign book on the English part of Operation Market Garden. (One of my fav subjects.) Again, i have not read the second (Southern Front) Osprey Campaign book on Kursk. Had it months! Cannot see the writing: is too small, even for my good eye.
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On the subject of the Graf Spee, Eric Grove’s book The Price of Disobedience is a good recent work on the Battle of the River Plate. I read it a few years ago.
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Thanks Marc. Naval engagements are not my thing, really. I would but the Osprey Campaign on the Graf Spee, as they have lovely pics and just enough information.
I do hope you have been well. (I have had a bad year, unfortunately: trouble with my eyes!). -
@wittmann:
(I have had a bad year, unfortunately: trouble with my eyes!).
Sorry to hear this. When I read your previous post about your good eye, I was reminded of the time when Nelson (back in the days when he was a ship captain rather a fleet commander) was told by a subordinate that the flagship had hoisted a flag signal to do something-or-other. Nelson, who wanted to do something else, pointed his telescope at the flagship, held it up to his blind eye, and told his subordinate that he could see no such order being displayed.
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Yesterday I got the best WWII book I ever had, WAR at SEA, A naval atlas 1939-1945 by Marcus Faulkner, published 2012 by Seaforth Publishing in England. Cost me £ 50. The best book ever. Most of the information are pictures of maps, maps that looks like A&A maps, and the ships and aircrafts are pictured in the same way as the A&A Rulebook. It feels like reading the A&A Rulebook, or a book about A&A. And the text are almost statistic only, how many ships, how many men, how many aircrafts and so on. Not that nonsense you usually see in WWII books, that private Schumacker write letters home to his family, and tell them how poor it is at the front, he is wet, frozen and hungry, and the enemy kill his friends and so on, all the off topic stuff that have ruined so many WWII books. This Atlas is free from that BS. Statistics only, and pics of the situational maps that tell the story.
Best buy ever  :-)
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Im buying this for sure right now. I also bought the Great War version .
Eagle you should also buy the WW2 and WW1 Data books. The same thing . no stories about dysentery to grandma. Just the facts. Im with you on this completely. I just want raw data for me to interpret.
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Anything by Stackpole books. These are amazing. Currently reading “Tank Tactics”, next “Panzer Wedge!” Luthwaffe Fighters and Bombers was a great read of short action reports and biographies…
Only problem is that Half-priced books got a huge run of these, sold for $5-11, now they have all been picked up and only AMZN carries the full catalog of both theory books and eye-witness accounts.
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One that I like is The Longest Winter by Alex Kershaw.
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Just finished Burma '44 by James Holland.
It is about the largely forgotten Battle of the Admin Box, which was the first decisive victory by the allies against Japanese mainland forces. Of course, the US was already winning the war at sea and across the islands.
The Japanese attacked British Empire forces in southern Burma and for the first time were defeated. What makes this a fascinating read is the succession of tactical and strategic lessons the allies had learned, which were here deployed so effectively, despite the Empire forces at hand being “a ragtag collection of clerks, doctors and muleteers, a few Yorkshiremen and a handful of tank crews” to quote the book cover.
The later larger and better know Battles of Imphal and Kohima, followed by the Burma campaign, have rather eclipsed this battle, whose name invites relegation. But prior to the Admin Box the Japanese were perceived as unbeatable in the jungles of Burma.
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@Imperious:
Im buying this for sure right now. I also bought the Great War version .
Eagle you should also buy the WW2 and WW1 Data books. The same thing . no stories about dysentery to grandma. Just the facts. Im with you on this completely. I just want raw data for me to interpret.
In case you are talking about The military Atlas of WW II by Chris Bishop, the 2013 edition from Amber Books, then I just got it, based on your suggestion. This book is good, maybe one of the best books ever to get an understanding of the conflict. But what I miss, if nitpicking, is a correct number of men in each battle. This book only deals with divisions and corps, but a division could be from 7000 men to 18000 men, and a panzer division could have from 500 Tanks in the early war, dropping to 250 Tanks for the late war division, and Bishop dont go deep into that. But nevertheless, one of the best WWII educational books ever, and absolutely short of any dysentery to grandma stories.
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@ABWorsham:
Just got in the mail the book Ship 16, a story of a German Surface Raider.
Finished Ship 16, overall was a very good read.
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