Military History

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Voldemort

6,086 posts

277 months

Saturday 17th May 2014
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I didn’t know whether to put this in here or in the thread on graphic novels. So I’ve put it in both!

The Great War - Joe Sacco

This is simply an awesome piece of work.
There are no words.
There are no pages.

You could flick through it in 2 minutes or you can gaze at it for hours and still see things you hadn’t noticed before.

Using the Bayeaux tapestry as inspiration for design, Sacco has created a single (very long) image depicting the first day of the battle of the Somme. The image is folded so you can fan through it like a book and each fold tells its’ own story whilst being linked to the vignettes either side.

I’ve never seen anything like it!

Review from the Grauniad here: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/sep/09/great...


JerseyS2000

378 posts

217 months

Friday 6th June 2014
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I've no idea if the book is any good (and I have no relationship to the author), but this seems like a great deal for a kindle book on D-Day and beyond...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/World-War-II-Last-Heroes-e...

Down to 99p!

RizzoTheRat

25,085 posts

191 months

Friday 6th June 2014
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Finally got round to starting Stephen Ambrose's D-Day that's been sitting on my shelf for ages waiting for me to finish other stuff. An understandably slightly American slant to it but very readable, and I love the way he includes loads of quotes from interviews with the soldiers. I'm a day behind though as I haven't got as far as them hitting the beaches yet.

TheFinners

543 posts

126 months

Friday 6th June 2014
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The Forgotten Highlander is a very interesting read. It is written by Alistair Urquhart who was one of the many British Soldiers taken prisoner by the Imperial Army and forced to build the famous 'death railway'. It's not for the faint hearted, what the prisoners went through is truly shocking, but none the less it is a very interesting account of some of the lesser known events of WW2.

RizzoTheRat

25,085 posts

191 months

Sunday 18th January 2015
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Anyone read Julian Thomspson's "No Picnic", on 3 Cdo Bde in the Falklands? Amazon's showing an edition that was updated in 2007, but having met him last week I'm sure there was mention of a third revision. Anyone know if the Amazon one is the latest version?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Commando-Brigade-Falklands...

hidetheelephants

23,754 posts

192 months

Monday 19th January 2015
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RizzoTheRat said:
Anyone read Julian Thomspson's "No Picnic", on 3 Cdo Bde in the Falklands? Amazon's showing an edition that was updated in 2007, but having met him last week I'm sure there was mention of a third revision. Anyone know if the Amazon one is the latest version?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Commando-Brigade-Falklands...
There are other good ones from that war; 100 days by Sandy Woodward, Through Fire and Water by Mark Higgitt and Reasons in Writing by Ewen Southby Tailour are 3 that spring to mind.

RizzoTheRat

25,085 posts

191 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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This looks interesting for 99p in the daily deal
http://www.amazon.co.uk/In-Hour-Victory-Royal-Nels...

knight

5,204 posts

278 months

Monday 2nd February 2015
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RizzoTheRat

25,085 posts

191 months

Thursday 5th February 2015
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Damn you Amazon and your daily kindle deals, you're going to cost me a fortune
http://www.amazon.co.uk/War-that-Ended-Peace-aband...

BryanC

1,107 posts

237 months

Friday 13th February 2015
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The M Room: Secret Listeners who Bugged the Nazis in WW2.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Room-Secret-Listeners-...

Read it in two long evening sittings ( TV was rubbish ) and a great insight into another MI6 jape which preceded Bletchley Park and the information gained from reading the Enigma.
There were two lots of Nazi's, the arrogant, belief in forever and rightous sort, and those that knew Herr H. was a fruitcake and taking the whole of Germany down the pan and the book sees both camps in tension while we listened in. Naturally evidence was collected which was used selectively at the later Nuremburg trials but raises some interesting points about the Final Solution and what was known then.

A useful addition to any military history library.

Electric Beaver

Original Poster:

707 posts

191 months

Tuesday 3rd March 2015
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Thanks to all who have suggested books on this thread, my wish list is huge and I am rarely stuck for my next download!

I have recently read "Churchill's Secret Warriors" by Damien Lewis which covers the exploits of Anders Lassen VC during WW2 and knits into the development of the SBS. Great story! Towards the end of the book the author touches on the SAS hibernation during the late forties / early fifties, can anyone recommend a book covering this period?

Voldemort

6,086 posts

277 months

Saturday 11th July 2015
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Waterloo - Bernard Cromwell

Him of the Sharpe books has written a factual account of Waterloo. Good writer + great story = highly recommended book.

Napoleonic wars are not a subject I'm familiar with and Cromwell doesn't speculate, just gives you the facts as he found them (with numerous quotes from source material and a comprehensive list of sources): I was left with the impression that this wasn't so much a battle that Wellington won, but one Napoleon lost.

PH5121

1,963 posts

212 months

Monday 13th July 2015
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Another recommendation for Ed Macys' book 'Apache'. I have just started reading it and like the authors style of writing.

Perseverant

439 posts

110 months

Thursday 30th July 2015
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Have a go at George Macdonald Fraser's "Flashman" series. Admittedly they are fiction, but are well written and impeccably researched, taking a justifiably cynical look at so much of 19th century militarism and diplomacy.

TJS10

585 posts

200 months

Tuesday 25th August 2015
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Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes - Vietnam era novel

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Matterhorn-Karl-Marlantes/...

BryanC

1,107 posts

237 months

Tuesday 20th October 2015
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Holiday reading :
Secret War by RV Jones
A top account on the counter war against the German radar and v weapons

Bomber by Len Deighton
Faction at its best, and so thoroughly researched that you are right there in the Lancaster, dropping incendiaries and then flying the night fighter homing in. You assume the role of every character, and the technical detail almost qualifies it as work of reference.

Returned to the bookshelf for keeps.

srob

11,566 posts

237 months

Thursday 29th October 2015
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I'm reading Spitfire Women at the moment. It's the story of female ferry pilots during WW2. It's fascinating, not least the resistance to women flying fast (then current) fighters at the start of the war due to them basically being seen as not as capable.

There's some incredible back stories, like Woolf Barnato (Brooklands racer, owner of Bentley Motors at one point and grandson of the recipient of the largest ever cheque written in the 19thC!)'s daughter Diane who was one of the pilots.

I've just got to the bit where they're 'allowed' to fly Spits smile

knight

5,204 posts

278 months

Thursday 12th November 2015
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I have just finished "Gun Button To Fire" by Tom Neil, a great read from a Battle of Britain pilot, and I'm currently reading "A Higher Call" about Franz Stigler and Charlie Brown and their meeting over wartime Germany. Both books have been hard to put down.

Pupp

12,205 posts

271 months

Saturday 14th November 2015
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Just bought The Silent Deep by Peter Hennessy and James Jinks - a narrative of the RN submarine service since 1945; been getting some really good reviews and looking forward to it

Europa1

10,923 posts

187 months

Tuesday 24th November 2015
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If noone has mentioned them already:

Secrets of the Conqueror - the stuff about the sinking of the Belgrano is great, but equally fascinating is some of the stuff about the Cold War.

Tail End Charlies by John Nichol - incredible stuff about the World War 2 allied bombing campaign.