Seamanship, NAVPERS 16118, June 1944, Bureau of Naval Personnel - Training - Standards and Curriculum Division. And I have no idea why. Was there a question?
He has similar volumes on battleships, aircraft carriers, destroyers, and I think submarines and small craft. Also wrote or contributed to quite a few other books.
2 Volumes on US Submarines. Amphibious Ships & Craft British Battleships 2 Volumes on British Cruisers 2 Volumes on British Destroyers Numerous volumes on guns, gunnery, electronics, etc. Right now, I am enjoying his book "Fighters over the Fleet: Naval Air Defence from Biplanes to the Cold War".
I finished The Black Devil Brigade. It was good and I enjoyed it, learning more about the First Special Service Force. My complaints with the book are: It lacked photos. It lacked any followup on the men the story was about, even though the author stated he had long conversations with the men at reunions and the like. 8/10 I also just finished They Fought Alone, John Keats, 1963, with a different publisher and cover. This was another book I swapped from another member It tells the story of Wendell Fertig and other members of guerilla forces on Mindanao from 1942 to 1944. I reads like a novel with recreated dialog between the book characters. It is evident the author spent deal of time with Fertig and heavily relied on Fertig's journal. He paints complimentary picture of Fertig as he struggled to re-establish a US military presence in Mindanao and Philippine civilian government. Fair maps, no photos 9/10 I am now reading: This is a book I won from LibraryThing and I will be writing a critique of it for that site. It has not been released for sale yet. I have just started the book. It is a direct reproduction of Col. H.E. Gardner's diary, with some letters included to fill in the occasional gap. He was part of the first group of US forces to move to Ireland in 1942 and he is fighting in North Africa at present where I am in the book. The book has a great number of footnotes providing details on individuals that are mentioned, equipment, locations, etc. I've noticed many of maps and photos scattered throughout. I have found an error in the book. On one page there is a photo of what is quite obviously 3 M-10 tank destroyers that are labeled as "...tanks in Italy." I suspect the editor does not know to differentiate between tanks and unarmored tank destroyers.
I am about halfway through “ Battleship” by Martin Middlebrook and Patrick Mahoney. The book is about the Prince of Wales and Repulse being sunk in the Pacific during the first days of war with the Japanese. The beginning of the book really caught my attention. I’m ashamed to say that the description voyage from Singapore to the the turnaround by the ships and new courses and sightings by the aircraft has not kept my attention. Rather tedious reading in some places (at least for my dumb ass). I’m finally up to the first attack on the two ships so I’m hopeful I will finish it.
Ooops, Edited. Thanks Hessler! I can’t but feel there could be a Pun developed from that. “Japanese “Wale” Hunters -1941” or something.
Currently reading this. A good first person account of the Marines and island warfare in the Pacific. Very reminiscent of Jeff's book about Marion Sanford.
Martin Bowman's books are very useful. He interviewed many Bomber Command & Mosquito veterans years ago and has skilfully 'milked' the material into numerous books. Some are better than others - one of his best is 'Confounding The Reich' which is excellent about intruder operations ( although it has to be the original PSL publication - the later Pen & Sword reprint loses all the best illustartions ). I'd also recommend 'The Men Who Flew The Mosquito' but yet again - the PSL one as the later reprints are inferior ).
One I posted years ago, but still highly recommend... ON KILLING "The psychological cost of learning to kill in war and society" This covers pretty much everything...From children playing violent video games to army truck drivers getting PTSD because they were the ones to deliver the artillery rounds that killed people...It asks the question "Are we natural born killers?" (we being humans). I won't answer that, you will have to read it yourself. The author was a LTCOL (retired) in the US Army - David Allen Grossman (born August 23, 1956) is an American author and law enforcement trainer who has specialized in the study of the psychology of killing, a proposed subset of psychology focused on the study of the effects of killing on the human psyche. I read this over ten years ago...and still think of parts of the book in conversation. Many military and law enforcement agencies make it required reading.
I finished this yesterday. I did not realize until I was well past it that it was his tank battalion that figured heavily in the withdrawal of the DAK back up the Kasserine Pass. I did a little research on him to learn more about him. He earned a DSC for his command in NA and eventually had 3 tank shot out from under him. He eventually ended up in the regimental HQ as a staff officer in the 13th Armored Regiment/1st AD in Italy. Near the end of the war, when the division was converted from the "heavy" armored division, he was given command of a battalion. He met several "names" during the war, including Humphrey Bogart, Gen Mark Clark, , Bill Mauldin, Punch Salzburger (NYTimes), and several other newspaper men. He was not a fan of George Patton and made fun of Bogart's act and the movie Sahara, the Bogey was in a the time. It was a good good. light reading. 7/10 Might read again.
I started this tonight. The Fool Lieutenant, Moen & Heinen, Meadowlark Publishing, 2000 A personal account of Robert Thomas (Bob) Edlin, who served with the 5th Ranger Battalion. I've just started with it and the first chapter is a lead in where he is landing at the Vierville Draw on Omaha. He has been wounded before making it to the base of the cliffs. Chapter Two backs up and is telling the story of his childhood. There appears to be a large number of photographs of him and others, either of his platoon or company.
I just finished “Battleship” which was about the Prince of Wales and Repulse after being stationed in The Far East. For those that saw my post last week about the tedious reading in the first part of the book I just want to say disregard that statement. I obtained a new respect for the research of the authors and their thought put into their work. The following chapters regarding the two ships being attacked, their sinking, and rescue attempts really left me speechless, unsettled, and just plain sad..... what an awful waste of men and machines. But that describes war in general I guess. Anyway, I am currently about twenty pages into “Halsey’ s Typhoon” about the famous storm that hit the 3rd Fleet in December of 44. Pretty good so far.