Current Reading: March 2024

First up with Desert Armour, the author's highly critical examination of the tank war in North Africa in 1940-41. Forczyk doesn't take many prisoners in regards to the reputations of the flag-rank class, but this book will be useful to even advanced readers, as he seems to make more use of Italian sources than I've seen before.

Finished Civil War Field Artillery. While a rather dry book, if Hess doesn't talk about it in regards to the topic, you probably don't need to know it.

Finished Hitler's U-Boat Bases by Jack P. Mallmann Showell. This is a look at the planning, construction and operation of the U-boat bases during WW2, primarily focused on the bunkers rather than the personnel and materials accommodation, although that is discussed as well. It is not a technical history as there aren't blueprints or the like, but there are many photographs from WW2 as well as modern ones, as many of the bunkers still exist, some more damaged than others. The author has sections describing each U-boat base from initial conception through building and then their post-war situation. If the book can be faulted it is that it is somewhat uneven in the content outside of the base descriptions.

Finished an excellent A Tidy Little War: The British Invasion of Egypt 1882 by William Wright. As the author notes, there has been little written about this short but very important war. The book is not only a military history of the war, but also spends a considerable number of pages early on explaining the causes of the war in a clear and thorough manner. Overall the narrative is well written although the lack of maps is unfortunately. Highly recommended.

I finished Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell's memoir of his time in Spain fighting with the anti-Fascist forces in the Spanish Civil War. Orwell presents a vivid picture, sprinkled with wry humor, of his months in the trenches in the mountains of Catalonia. There are also two detailed chapters on the fighting between the forces of the various anti-Franco militias and the central government forces in the streets of Barcelona in 1937.

Finished Freedom for Themselves which follows the four Black Union regiments formed in North Carolina from former (mostly escaped) slaves. The book covers not just the military experiences of each regiment during the war, but also how their families were treated and (sort of) supported, assignments during Reconstruction, and former soldiers experiences as veterans in the south. Much of the military chapters focused on the white officers, which is inevitable considering the illiteracy forced on the Black soldiers while they were enslaved. The life of a Civil War soldier was hard, and harder still for Black troops, who were at the end of the line for everything from food to armaments to officers. Interestingly, Black (or in the terminology of the day "Colored") troops from northern states were generally held in higher regard than those from slave states, apparently due to the assumption that slavery had a debilitating effect on those subjected to it.

On to To the Limits of Endurance A Battalion of Marines in the Great War.

Wrapped up The Other Battle Britain, which could have been a reasonable general history of RAF Bomber Command during the middle of 1940, but which fell rather short of my marginal expectations. The author did 80% of the work, but either let themselves down, or were failed by their publisher.

Completed an outstanding Autumn of the Black Snake: The Creation of the U.S. Army and the Invasion That Opened the West by William Hogeland. I learned quite a lot from this book about the Indians of the American frontier from the end of the French & Indian War through the Revolution and into the 1790s. The book was also very interesting regarding the rather mixed ideas of the early Republic regarding expansion into the old Northwest. No one on the American side, from Washington on down, comes off looking very saintly but I feel that the author did attempt to be fair in his assessments. Overall I found the book to be an excellent narrative history and quite fascinating.

Just finishing up Stringbag: The Fairey Swordfish at War. A quick read that covers the wide ranging contributions made by this obsolete bi-plane, and the brave crewmen that flew in them, to allied victory. A somewhat obscure subject but overall, highly recommended.

>8 jztemple: I've been going back and forth over whether I wanted to read that book, particularly after reading Unlikely General, which is a first-class examination of "Mad" Anthony Wayne by a specialist in the First Nations of the Old Northwest.

>10 Shrike58: I enjoyed Autumn of the Black Snake quite a lot because I learned so much from it. As mentioned in someone else's review the author at times is a little glib (he says that when James Wilkinson went to work for the Spanish as Spy 13, they gave him a number and took away his name, a Secret Agent reference), but these were few and far between. The book isn't focused on Wayne or Washington, rather on the sequence of events. I found the discussion of how the British were using their Indian allies to undermine the American expansion into the Northwest with the idea of eventually taking back the territory rather eye-opening. While there were no heroes here I felt the author also wasn't trying to paint anyone as a true villain, with the exception perhaps of Wilkinson.

Currently reading Bloody Okinawa by Joseph Wheelan. It isn't terrible, but there are some obvious errors.

>7 Shrike58: Have you read Before the Storm: Royal Air Force Bomber Command by Robert Jackson? I wonder how they compare?

Finished Agincourt by Christopher Hibbert. While this is a rather short history of the battle of Agincourt and the associated campaign, it is particularly well done. There are descriptions of the background to the campaign, the preparations and the landing in France. The siege of Harfleur is well described followed by the march across northern France shadowed by the French forces, then the battle and the aftermath. Additionally there is a rather interesting discussion of how the money was raised for the campaign and who got what. And several good appendices as well, including one listing Henry's retinue, which included such notables as the Clerk of the Stable and the Clerk of the Poultry!

>13 mburdette: No I have not, but maybe I should consider doing so, as I have just enough exposure to his work to regard him as being responsible historian.

Also, speaking of WWII aviation, I just finished Dornier: The Yugoslav Saga 1926-2007. You mostly obtain this book for the pictures and the drawings, which are great, but the authors have been doing a good job of salvaging every bit of information about the old Royal Yugoslavian air arm that has survived.

A few years ago (well, maybe more than that) I started collecting and reading books about the Victorian era military, battles, campaigns and personalities. I have the expected books on the Crimean War, Zulu War, the various campaigns in Egypt and the Sudan and of course the 2nd Anglo-Boer War (I also have a couple of books on the first war too). And so I have been searching further afield for books on lesser known conflicts.

This brings me to the latest book I just completed, John Company's Last War by Barbara English. This short book covers the The Anglo-Persian War of 1856-57 but with that certain style of narrative that I so often find in British writers who can relate a good story. The war itself was rather short yet the author manages to make it an interesting tale. There are shenanigans in the Cabinet, an ass of a mission secretary, a mysterious woman, umbrage taken by most everyone, naval bombardments, thrilling land battles and at least two unexpected suicides. Well worth the read.

I did finish Bloody Okinawa. It wasn't terrible, but it could have been a lot better.

Moving today's post to the April thread.