What Are You Reading?

Ok, I see...I am reading The Hunter and the Hunted, a great self published book by Bennett Palmer, Squad leader, B Company, 143rd Inf regt, 36th Inf Div. about his time in Italy, France and Germany. I have finished Not Ready To Die the story of Nacho Vasquez, 517 Parachute Infantry Regiment and am going to read Ordeal in the Vosges by Pence and Petersen, the story of the 275th Inf Regt, 70 Inf Div in the Vosges (Nordwind). All self published.

 

There a perceptible leaning on the the side of the RAF (in terms of weight of material, not judgementally, that is), and the book gives Harris more prominence than Spaatz or Eaker (although I think that's justifiable given the villification of the man since the war). I wouldn't call the book one-sided, however, there's a fair degree of balance.

 

I´m reading a book on Churchill´s views on Scandinavian countries and especially on Finland 1900-1955. The 1919 situation is quite interesting as it also opens up ideas why and what happened in WW2.Unfortunately for you guys (??!) by a Finnish history writer.

Also got this book on Galland with loadsa great pics!!

 

Hajo Herrmann's "Eagle's Wings".

 

Just finished reading 'Swifter Than Eagles' , a privately-published book of research into the ( ultimately tragic )career of one Lancaster crew in 1944/5. Researched in the 1970s/80s, it gives many insights into life at 582 (PFF) Squadron, Little Staughton - including many incidents and anecdotes that one wouldn't find in the official histories.

 

Incidentally, I had a lecture today given by the head of the Air Historical Branch of the MoD. Very interesting.

 

I recently finished reading John Birmingham's Weapons of Choice, one of the best alternate histories I have read in some time.

Weapons of Choice, the first book in what will be a three book series, was somewhat reminiscent of the film the Final Countdown. In the Final Countdown, a late 20th century US aircraft carrier was inadvertantly transported to the waters of off Hawaii one day before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In Weapons of Choice, most of a 21st century multi-national naval taskforce (American, British, Australian, Japanese, Italian, German, and Russian forces, etc.) which was conducting an anti-genocide intervention in the name of the UN, was inadvertantly transported to the waters of off Midway Island one day before the pivotal 1942 battle, an interesting idea which Birmingham executed very well.

[ 23. January 2005, 03:39 PM: Message edited by: Deep Web Diver ]

 

Another moment of madness...

The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy September 1939-March 1942
Christopher Browning

Decision In the Ukraine, Summer 1943, II. SS and III. Panzerkorps
by George M Nipe, George M., Jr. Nipe

HIMMLER'S BOSNIAN DIVISION. The Waffen-SS Handschar Division 1943-1945
by George Lepre

Joachim Dressel, Manfred Griehl: The Luftwaffe Album - Bomber and Fighter Aircraft of the German Air Force 1933-1945

 

I am currently reading När Finlands Sak blev Min by Winter War and Continuation War veteran Orvar Nilsson. Unfortunately for the rest of you lot available only in Swedish!

So far it is a great read, having dealt with the short battles of the Swedish vounteers in the Winter War, the unmoving positional war in the area of the river Svir (actually along the Jandeba) up until 1944, and now being thrown into the grueling combat on the Karelian Ishtmus at Näätälä, Tali-Ihantala and such places.

"Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union I have visited all the places where we fought. At the Jandeba river settlements had appeared and the vegetation changed. In the middle of my old position a field of potatoes grew. The trenches were still there, even if only a few decimeters deep, and the barbed wire also remained. But the strangest experience was to stand above ground and look over at the enemy side. We had not been able to do that in 1944. We were always below ground level and observed through trench mirrors.

Two times I have visited the Tali-Ihantala area. I was allowed to search for the remains of those of remained on the battlefield, even though this is a protected area along the border. The growth makes it very hard recognize oneself. But where you do, the memories sort of pours in over you. It is very surreal. It is much too quiet, no firing, no shellbursts, no screaming. The only thing that is the same are - the mosquitos. So you start thinking about what you did, if we did the right thing, why things turned out the way they did. You think alot about the fallen. We never found any of those we had to leave behind.
-- Orvar Nilsson (2000)


The Swedish volunteer company, August 1944. Lieutenant Orvar Nilsson on the far right (from his personal collection)

 

Thumbs up for the Swedish volunteers!

Although we have our "mutual" disagreements and jokes of each other and especially the ice hockey games must not be lost at any price - I salute the Swedish volunteers for they truly did their duty and more when fighting in WW2 in the Finnish army!

 

I absolutely agree! Although in recent years the ice-hockey games have lost much of their old charm, with all too few classic reversals in the last minutes! Still, the Finnish Lions sometimes get a satisfyingly wobbly look when leading the game by two goals! Of course, nowdays you guys actually win most of the games...

Amazingly, they have been largely ignored over here. The first recognition they got from "official sources" was when our (then) Defense Minister Björn von Sydow laid down a wreath at a memorial in Helsinki. This was in...2001!

Another interesting sidenote is the fact that Orvar Nilsson offered his services to help build up the old invasion defense against the Soviet Union following the war. The army chief of staff shrugged off the idea with the comment that "War experience is all well and good, but must also be adapted to Swedish terrain, Swedish soldiers and Swedish codes of conduct." Which seems like a polite way of saying he did not really find the experience offered by the volunteers useful at all!

Orvar Nilsson had quite an interesting career by the way. After the war he served in the Ethiopian Imperial Guard in Addis Abbeba(!), in Korea, and in Cyprus as part of the UN forces, apparently.

 

I have to read two books and do reviews of them for WWII class. They are Why the Allies Won by Richard Overy and Stalingrad by Antony Beevor (Hopefully a lot better than Enema At the Gates) . Any good/bad reviews on these? I'm also up to my eyeballs with Later Medieval Europe (I like this course too), Fictional Writing (yada, yada) and History Research Seminar (agravating class).

 

I just can't get over how much the "babe" looks more like a pig in a wig!!!

 

I have Stalingrad by Beevor and have read about a quarter way through. It appears to be authoritative and well researched I think it is considered to be generally accepted as such. I have used it since for reference.

Th author uses enough anecdotal discussion to give the book a sense of intimacy with the subject but it remains a general's eye view of the battle.

I recently bought a bunch of paperbacks that included Stalingrad by Theodore Plievier and The 900 Days - The Siege of Leningrad. I'll read them all some day when I can handle the depression they might cause.

 

I've read both of them, but I'm more familiar with Overy's book. Basically, it is excellent. Thematic analysis, very tightly focussed on the question. Deals with naval and aerial warfare, economics, moral factors, technology, and also crucial engagements like Normandy, Stalingrad/Kursk and Midway. Argument well structured and, as a bonus, highly readable as well.

 

Herbert Maeger - "Verlorene Ehre, Verratene Treue" (title translated in English would be: Lost Honour, Betrayed Loyalty).

Its an autobiography about a belgian 19 years old boy with german parents serving for the LSSAH at the Ost-Front (Sambek, Charkow, Kursk, Belgorod), in France, Italy and at the Oder-Front. Most of the time he was a driver. For me it's the first autobiography of a soldier and I find it very exciting.

 

I have read large parts of this book as well. I also e-mailed with Herr Maeger, but lost his emails in my PC crash...

I saw him on-line somewhere recently, that he was at some signing of artwork or something to that effect.

It is a very interesting book. It was the first real insight for me about how new recruits were treated when they joined the LLSAH.I think he was also a medical officer in 36th SS division Dirlewanger, after the LLSAH. Something he wasn't really happy about as Dirlewanger had somewhat of a reputation then.

It is a good read. I'd like to think what you thought of it when you have finished with it.

 

I liked very much Beevor's book by the same arguments mentioned by Major Destruction, but I think that the best book about Stalingrad may be Stephen Walsh's Stalingrad, the Infernal Cauldron. Much more detailed.

 

Stevin, I tell you when I've finished the book so that we can discuss it. Right now I'm on page 237.
What did Hr. Maeger tell you in the e-mails?