Discussion
I also seem to be reading mostly war memoirs lately, usually ones based on Vietnam. Chickenhawk was a great read. The others that have stuck with me are:
When Thunder Rolled Following an F-105 pilot in Operation Rolling Thunder. You really get a sense of the ridiculousness of the limitations the airmen were under in Vietnam, also the author takes you on a fascinating journey as he goes from frankly terrified to thoroughly competent over the course of his tour.
Acceptable Loss I'm not sure what to say about this one other than the author has massive balls of steel while also being humble. Well worth a read.
Moving away from Vietnam I highly recommend Scram! following a Royal Navy Wessex pilot in the Falklands.
When Thunder Rolled Following an F-105 pilot in Operation Rolling Thunder. You really get a sense of the ridiculousness of the limitations the airmen were under in Vietnam, also the author takes you on a fascinating journey as he goes from frankly terrified to thoroughly competent over the course of his tour.
Acceptable Loss I'm not sure what to say about this one other than the author has massive balls of steel while also being humble. Well worth a read.
Moving away from Vietnam I highly recommend Scram! following a Royal Navy Wessex pilot in the Falklands.
On the Chickenhawk theme may I suggest Low Level Hell by Hugh Mills. If you like behind enemy lines type stuff in the Vietnam era anything by Gary Linderer is worth a look. The Ravens - about the secret war in Laos is also a good read. Totally different but very good is The Forgotten Highlander by Allistair Urquhart, the experiences of war in the Far East are astonishing.
Voices from the Royal Navy.
https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Voices-Royal-Navy-Arth...
This is a collection of eye witness accounts and it is grim in places. So not an author for one book, but many accounts in one book and includes marines fighting inland in WWI.
https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Voices-Royal-Navy-Arth...
This is a collection of eye witness accounts and it is grim in places. So not an author for one book, but many accounts in one book and includes marines fighting inland in WWI.
To me the greatest war book ever was Richard Hillary's The Last Enemy which I had read initially when I was in my teens but keep coming back to every few years for a re-read.
I also enjoyed Fly For Your Life which was the biography of Bob Stanford-Tuck and written by Larry Forrester.
I'd also recommend Happy Odyssey by Adrian Carton de Wiart if you ever had any doubt that people were made of sterner stuff in days gone by. To give you a flavour, here is his Wikipedia entry https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Carton_de_W...
I also enjoyed Fly For Your Life which was the biography of Bob Stanford-Tuck and written by Larry Forrester.
I'd also recommend Happy Odyssey by Adrian Carton de Wiart if you ever had any doubt that people were made of sterner stuff in days gone by. To give you a flavour, here is his Wikipedia entry https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Carton_de_W...
The Devil's Guard is meant to be a good read - albeit one that has some doubts as to whether it's genuine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Guard
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Guard
You've already got 2 of my factories in Chickenhawk and First Light, so if you enjoyed those try Norman Hanson's "Carrier Pilot".
Not a war memoir as such as most of it is after the war, but Eric 'Winkle' Browns "Wings On My Sleeve" is excellent.
For more recent stuff, I enjoyed Tim Collins "Rules OF Engagement".
I didn't really get in to Sandy Woodwards "100 days", but having met Julian Thompson a while back I need to read "No Picnic" as he was a fascinating bloke to talk to.
Not a war memoir as such as most of it is after the war, but Eric 'Winkle' Browns "Wings On My Sleeve" is excellent.
For more recent stuff, I enjoyed Tim Collins "Rules OF Engagement".
I didn't really get in to Sandy Woodwards "100 days", but having met Julian Thompson a while back I need to read "No Picnic" as he was a fascinating bloke to talk to.
Edited by RizzoTheRat on Tuesday 22 May 08:22
I was about to recommend Eric Brown's book. I'd also go for "Sagittarius Rising" by Cecil Lewis, a First War memoir with a fascinating final section on working as an instructor in China. "Goodbye to all that" is a classic First War memoir by Robert Graves. "Quartered Safe Out Here" by George MacDonald Fraser is an account of the author's time in Burma near the end of WW2 - a largely forgotten campaign. I could go on almost endlessly about other stuff, for example "The notebooks of Captain Coignet" if you could find it is a first hand account of Napoleon's campaign in Russia.
If you liked Ken Tout's book, I suggest you try :
By Tank Into Normandy by Stuart Hills.
Finished it yesterday and you share the horror when a tank is 'brewed up' by a panzerfaust. Sometimes facing a Tiger or Panther when you are out-gunned and under-armoured. Such brave men. Actually it goes beyond Normandy and right through to the surrender in 45.
To quote Richard Holmes '..one of the best half dozen accounts of the Normandy campaign'.
By Tank Into Normandy by Stuart Hills.
Finished it yesterday and you share the horror when a tank is 'brewed up' by a panzerfaust. Sometimes facing a Tiger or Panther when you are out-gunned and under-armoured. Such brave men. Actually it goes beyond Normandy and right through to the surrender in 45.
To quote Richard Holmes '..one of the best half dozen accounts of the Normandy campaign'.
I'm more fascinated by the WW2 books, especially aviation.
However got given Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger, an officer in the German army in WW1. It was one of the first accounts published after the war and republished may times since
It is strong stuff as he fought from start to finish and he had an interesting post war life as well.
It is a narrative rather than casting opinion.
I'd second Stuka Pilot, written by a man who hold the record for the most operational missions ever. A very effective operator, I'd suggest. Believe the Luftwaffe did a (unauthorised) fly past on his burial in the 80's with old comrades giving a Hilter salute as the put him in the ground.
However got given Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger, an officer in the German army in WW1. It was one of the first accounts published after the war and republished may times since
It is strong stuff as he fought from start to finish and he had an interesting post war life as well.
It is a narrative rather than casting opinion.
I'd second Stuka Pilot, written by a man who hold the record for the most operational missions ever. A very effective operator, I'd suggest. Believe the Luftwaffe did a (unauthorised) fly past on his burial in the 80's with old comrades giving a Hilter salute as the put him in the ground.
If you are interested in ww2 aviation I would recommend the two by Mano Ziegler, 'Hitler's Jet Plane' and 'Rocket Fighter'
They're accounts of the use of and squadrons flying the Me 262 and Me163. The latter being the better and gets the flavour of the madness of being strapped into a potentially lethal plane.
Far more sympathetic than Rudel
They're accounts of the use of and squadrons flying the Me 262 and Me163. The latter being the better and gets the flavour of the madness of being strapped into a potentially lethal plane.
Far more sympathetic than Rudel
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