What Are You Reading?

Black Cross/Red Star...yes, while I have only read bits & pieces while flipping through it, I can certainly say its a fantastic effort.

I can't even begin to imagine the work involved in taking after-action reports of both German and Soviet pilots, match them against each other, and then check German and Soviet unit loss records to see what actually took place. In many many places the authors describe the action in a very detailed fashion, relays claimed losses and so on, and then goes on to give actual figures - great stuff, and seldomly (never?) seen for the Eastern Air War before.

As far as I know Vol.3 is on the way Soon(tm), and after this Vol.1 is supposed to be rereleased. Apparently the author wasn't too pleased with the way it came out, with somewhat blurred photos and stuff like that. I dunno since I haven't seen it, and since it is rather hard to find anyway I will wait to pick up Vol.1 until the rerelease...

 

That is exactly the only gripe I would have against Vol.I; the pictures are printed in rather bad quality and not really 'up to standard'. Good to hear that it is being rereleased. Means that there is still a market for it!

It certainly is a tour de force, this series and will probably be the series to beat when it comes to the air war on the eastern front.

 

Good question!
I read it and them went on to his second revisionist text "The Blitzkrieg Myth"

Both are very thought provoking; easily checked upon for obvious errors and generally stands up to examination.

The basic myth of the Great War according to Mosier is that what we know of the war (in the English world) is all wrong.

He explains that German artillery was so advanced in 1914 that it took years for the Allies to catch up; that German tactics in attack and defend capitalised on British and French methods in the opposite direction and that regardless how the generals painted the picture that Germany was running out of men, she wasn't.

Mosier cuts through the propaganga which has been written into history as fact, makes clear and astounding statements which after a moment of thought one can only answer, "oh yeah!", stating the obvious in such an obvious manner that one wonders why we keep to the old comfortable history at all.

But then, that is what revisionism is all about. Like it or not.

He is definitely worth reading. Then you can make your own conclusions.

 

Just picked up a decent copy of "Ack-Ack" by General Sir Frederick Pile. This guy commanded AA Command in WWII, and the book chronicles AA defences from their inception in the Great War, through Whitehall indifference in the '30s and the war itself. There are some superb original action photos in it, and I would rate it as the perfect companion to Basil Collier's "The Defence of the UK". One of my better purchases.

 

Just finished Robin Cross´The Bulge 1944. Nice book.Also a while ago finished Michael Schadewitz´s "The Meuse first and then Antwerp" which was a great book on operation Greif except the author seemed quite obsessed with proving that Otto Skorzeny was not a good leader or a commando.

 

I just picked up Day of Infamy. It looks pretty good. But, I haven't had time to start it yet. You can probably guess what it is about by the title.

 

Just invested a bigger sum in books and they should be on their way...

The Caucasus and the Oil, The German-Soviet War in the Caucasus 1942/43.

It Never Snows in September: The German View of Market Garden and the Battle of Arnhem, September 1944.

LAST LAURELS: THE GERMAN DEFENCE OF UPPER SILESIA, JANUARY - MAY 1945


OSTFRONT 1944: The German Defensive Battles on the Russian Front in 1944 by Alex Buchner.

Hitler's Last General, The Case Against Wilhelm Mohnke



BTW, just finished Cooper´s Death traps and I liked it. Ok, it says the Sherman was like **** in fighting the German tanks but the text is good and he gives the credit to the US soldier for beating the Boche. At times the number of lost tanks does make you shake your head. And never before did I read about the feelings of the new crews when they received a knocked-out tank that was repaired...Would you like to have a tank the crew of which had died in that precise tank a while back after a bull´s eye by an 88...I know I would not...

 

Ah yes - investment ! That's the excuse I always use to my wife....

Some great reading coming your way, Kai - Buchner's book and the Mohnke one I have read and both are full of interest. Kershaw's Arnhem book is controversial among Arnhem buffs but it is still the only easily-available source for the German point of view in the battle.

 

Martin - Great idea will have to try that excuse on the missus next time i buy a book!!

I've just started Ken Ford's 'Battleaxe Division' A history of the British 78th Infantry Division. So far so good.

 

Great book, Ross.
My old man was in the Battleaxe Division, and I bought that book for his birthday a couple of years back.

 

Recently finished Richard Holmes' Firing Line and Tail End Charlies by John Nichol and Tony Rennel, now reading Frederick Taylor's Dresden.

 

How did you like 'Tail End Charlies' , Greenjacket ?

I'm half-way through and enjoying it very much. I had thought that it was 'just another Bomber Command book' and only bought it because it was half-price.

But it focusses on certain aspects of the Bomber war ( eg fear, morale, leadership etc ) and discusses 'taboo' areas ( LMF, suicides, etc ). The two authors are not BC experts, and it's not a reference book. But - sensibly - they have selected from a wide range of veterans reminiscences.

I like the result so far ( I'm also a bit biased because Reg Davey - the Mosquito Museum's 'resident veteran' - had a big input ).

 

I enjoyed Tail End Charlies - aerial combat, and the bomber war in particular, can sometimes seem like an impersonal business; machine against machine (or the faceless 'bomber versus city'), aviators never seeing the whites of the enemies' eyes and so on. I think TECs provides a very useful human perspective, focussing as it does on the experiences of the Allied airmen of both combat and life in wartime Britain. Incidentally, I found the recollections of schoolboy David Hastings fascinating - you may have already read them if you're halfway through, and having been introduced to 'LMF' in Terraine's The Right of the Line, I think TECs does a good job of giving an impression of just how harsh this policy was, and how punishing on BC aircrew.

Like you say, it's not an exhaustive study or particularly ground-breaking, but as a broad illustration of the experience of the latter stages of the bomber war it's a useful book, and compliments work that focuses on more operational or technical aspects like Middlebrook's on Hamburg or Nuremburg.

 

Gents doesn't the mentioned book cover some German SturmFw actions ? if not it should !

let me know please ...........

time to take a walk with my babe' in the snow, the twon is basically almost shut down. I luv this time of year

Erich

 

It does indeed mention the Focke-Wulf Sturmgruppen, and gives a fairly dramatic and graphic account of the havoc they wreaked on an 8th AF raid on Kassel.

I also remember an anecdote reproduced in which a US propaganda poster on a wall at a US 8AF base in England asking 'Who's afraid of the new Focke-Wulf?' beneath which some humourous airman had chalked 'Sign here'. Before long every flying man on the base had added his signature, including the group commander!

 

ah yes the bog battle over Kassel when all 3 SturmFw gruppen attacked what a mess for the 445th bg, losing over 30 B-24's and hundreds killed and captured. The bomb group would have ceased to exist if the Yellowjackets had not come to the rescue and pursue SturmFw' and Bf 109G-6's of JG 4 and JG 300. IV.Sturm/JG 3 attacked first and got clean away and shot down 17 of the B-24's confirmed..........I am supplying the German acct's for a book being produced through the 445th bg.

Remember Oskar Romm's account quite vividly when he described his shootdowns of 3 B-24's......arg it was terrible what the Minengeschoos rounds could do.

thanks Green-Jacket

 

Went to the Mosquito Museum today ( a New Year resolution - must help out there more ! ) and Reg Davey kindly signed my copy of 'Tail End Charlies' - 'Reg Davey F/L Nav : 218, 514, 139, 627 PFF'

 

Go ahead...rub it in...

Sounds like an interesting read, Martin. Especially the taboo- issues... Have agrowing interest in this; the psychological effects of war...

See that Mr. Davey was with 514 Sqn. Would you mind asking him, next time you see him, if the names of Sgt Ivor Rich, F/S Sgt Wilbur Chapman, Sgt Richard Day, Sgt Howell John, Sgt Albert Johnson, F/S John Underwood say anything to him. F/O Ivor Rich was the Navigator of that crew, so if he remembers any, it might be him.

They (execpt Chapman) were KIA on 22 March 1944 and I can't find didly squat on them or the squadron. Wilbur Chapman was KIA 22 January 1944.

 

Don't want to totally hijack the thread Stevin, so I've sent you a pm !

 

ok I have to ask, is the tail end Charlie book covering more of RAF bomber command participation at night than US heavy day ?

E ♪♪