What are the Forum members reading (3 Viewers)

[Combat]

This one sounds interesting primarily because I know almost nothing about the conflict between China and Vietnam after the US/Vietnam war.

"Deng Xiaoping's Long War: The Military Conflict between China and Vietnam, 1979-1991" by Xiaoming Zhang

http://uncpress.unc.edu/browse/book_detail?title_id=3608

 

[Panzer ace]

I just started "Crete: The Battle And The Resistance" by Antony Beevor.

 

[Cairnbeg]

...now reading, "The War for America 1775-1783" by Piers Mackesy.....hardback from 1964......been waiting to start this for a while as I read through all the previous 'general histories' of the AWI....

...I've tried to balance my reading between the British viewpoint and then the American....so far it seems to have worked....it's fascinating looking at things from either side of the line...

.

 

[lancer]

Just received a couple of air war related titles. The first is the book "Genda's Blade: Japan's Squadron of Aces, 343 Kokutai", written by Henry Sakaida and Koji Takaki in 2003 and published by Classic Publications. This unit was formed late in the war to combat the bombing raids being conducted against the Japanese mainland by both the USAF and the USN. They flew the Kawanishi N1K2-J Shiden-Kai, aka 'George'. Very well researched, using interviews with surviving pilots from both sides, US records, and what records survived from the Japanese side. Well illustrated with photos and color profiles of the 'George', this is an oversize format HB of 208 pages. Highly recommended if you are a fan of the Pacific air war.
The second book is a 2 volume work titled "Inside the Victories of Manfred von Richthofen: Comprehensive Victory Summaries and Combat Statistics", written by James Miller. Just published this year by Aeronaut Books in oversize format SC, Vol 1 is 240 pages, Vol 2 is 232 pages. This is a subject that has been covered in the past but never in this detail. Very well illustrated with photos (both B/W and color), color aircraft profiles, and stat charts. This work contains the info on every victory the Red Baron claimed, including the type of aircraft he flew, the type of aircraft claimed, casualties caused, weather, location, serial numbers of downed aircraft, and other minutia. The volumes split the timeline with the July 6, 1918 wounding of MvR, volume 1 being everything up to and including the wounding, Vol 2 covering everything after. MvR's combat effectiveness is covered as pre-wounding and post-wounding and discusses his possible PTSD. Even though I have read literally dozens of MvR related books and articles, this work is some of the most complete and interesting I have read. Very highly recommended if you are a WW1 air combat enthusiast, and especially a must-have if you are a Red Baron fan. -- Al

 

[bromhead]

If Chaos Reigns,,,,airborne operations and results expected,,projected before and after June 6th,,great deep thought and information

 

[theBaron]

I just finished my annual "Midway" readings, "Incredible Victory" and "Shattered Sword". Now I've started the last of the books I picked up at ColdWars in March, John Ferling's "Almost a Miracle" on the Revolutionary War.

Prost!
Brad

 

[lancer]

Half-way through "The Last Zero Fighter: Firsthand Accounts from WWII Japanese Naval Pilots" by Dan King. It is a SC published by Pacific Press in 2012 (revised in 2012) and is 292 pages long. King went to Japan to interview as many former pilots as he could and this book is the result, covering the accounts of 5 pilots who took part in all aspects of the naval air war. It is extremely interesting, especially since so few accounts from the Japanese side have ever been published in English. The first pilot covered is Kaname Harada, who flew at Pearl Harbor, the Indian Ocean, Midway, and Guadalcanal. By way of coincidence, this man just passed away last month at the age of 99. He suffered a combat ending wound at Guadalcanal, just a couple of months after Saburo Sakai was wounded there. There is a section of maps and photos of the individuals covered. I hope King has other projects in the works that will cover further pilots. This is a really valuable addition to WW2 literature. -- Al

 

[theBaron]

Half-way through "The Last Zero Fighter: Firsthand Accounts from WWII Japanese Naval Pilots" by Dan King. It is a SC published by Pacific Press in 2012 (revised in 2012) and is 292 pages long. King went to Japan to interview as many former pilots as he could and this book is the result, covering the accounts of 5 pilots who took part in all aspects of the naval air war. It is extremely interesting, especially since so few accounts from the Japanese side have ever been published in English. The first pilot covered is Kaname Harada, who flew at Pearl Harbor, the Indian Ocean, Midway, and Guadalcanal. By way of coincidence, this man just passed away last month at the age of 99. He suffered a combat ending wound at Guadalcanal, just a couple of months after Saburo Sakai was wounded there. There is a section of maps and photos of the individuals covered. I hope King has other projects in the works that will cover further pilots. This is a really valuable addition to WW2 literature. -- Al

Thanks for the reference, Al! I've bookmarked this at Amazon, for my collection on the Pacific War.

Prost!
Brad

 

[lancer]

Thanks for the reference, Al! I've bookmarked this at Amazon, for my collection on the Pacific War.

Prost!
Brad

You are very welcome, Brad. I have another work of similar content that I haven't read yet but promises to be just as valuable, if not more so because it is a bit older and was the ground-breaking work in this area. It is called "Beyond Pearl Harbor: The Untold Stories of Japan's Naval Airmen". It is written by Ron Werneth and published in a very elaborate HB by Schiffer in 2008 and is 288 pages. It is a typical Schiffer production, oversize HB on slick paper and very well illustrated with wartime photos and some color aircraft profiles. There are also "then and now" photos of the various flyers covered in the book. Like The Last Zero Pilot, this book has interviews with naval flyers. It is divided into 3 parts; Carrier Bomber pilots, Carrier attack plane pilots, and Carrier fighter pilots. There are a total of 17 pilots covered. This book promises to be even better than King's book, mainly because it is more expansive and production values are so much better. -- Al

 

[lancer]

Half-way through "The Last Zero Fighter: Firsthand Accounts from WWII Japanese Naval Pilots" by Dan King. It is a SC published by Pacific Press in 2012 (revised in 2012) and is 292 pages long. King went to Japan to interview as many former pilots as he could and this book is the result, covering the accounts of 5 pilots who took part in all aspects of the naval air war. It is extremely interesting, especially since so few accounts from the Japanese side have ever been published in English. The first pilot covered is Kaname Harada, who flew at Pearl Harbor, the Indian Ocean, Midway, and Guadalcanal. By way of coincidence, this man just passed away last month at the age of 99. He suffered a combat ending wound at Guadalcanal, just a couple of months after Saburo Sakai was wounded there. There is a section of maps and photos of the individuals covered. I hope King has other projects in the works that will cover further pilots. This is a really valuable addition to WW2 literature. -- Al

This book has turned into one of those books that you don't want to finish too fast. I am enjoying this read very much. As to further works, the author has mentioned a further book, but no data on it yet. -- Al

 

[lancer]

Finally got around to adding 2 oversize softbound books that have been on my 'want' list for years. First is a 1990 book (reprinted several times) called "A Glorious Page in Our History: The Battle of Midway 4-6 June 1942", by multiple contributors, Cressman, Ewing, Tillman, Horan, Reynolds, and Cohen. This is a 226 page, illustrated history and it has a very good reputation. The second title is a 1985 book called "Winged Samurai: Saburo Sakai and the Zero Fighter Pilots" by Henry Sakaida. Sakaida had access to Sakai and was able to correct several errors in Sakai's book "Samurai" that had become ingrained but wrong. It is well illustrated and has several pilot bio's within the framework of the Sakai story. One error that was corrected was the famous story of Sakai's nighttime attack on and downing of a B-29 over Japan. Sakai said it never took place. Sakai was blind in his right eye and never flew at night and he also said that the other pilot given credit with him did not exist. Sakai was at a loss to explain how the incident got into his book but Sakaida speculates that it was a series of translation errors between Sakai and the writer of his book, Martin Caidin and his translator. It is also interesting to note that Sakaida says Sakai never received the royalties he was due for "Samurai". It is a fascinating book. -- Al

 

[lancer]

Finally got around to adding 2 oversize softbound books that have been on my 'want' list for years. First is a 1990 book (reprinted several times) called "A Glorious Page in Our History: The Battle of Midway 4-6 June 1942", by multiple contributors, Cressman, Ewing, Tillman, Horan, Reynolds, and Cohen. This is a 226 page, illustrated history and it has a very good reputation. The second title is a 1985 book called "Winged Samurai: Saburo Sakai and the Zero Fighter Pilots" by Henry Sakaida. Sakaida had access to Sakai and was able to correct several errors in Sakai's book "Samurai" that had become ingrained but wrong. It is well illustrated and has several pilot bio's within the framework of the Sakai story. One error that was corrected was the famous story of Sakai's nighttime attack on and downing of a B-29 over Japan. Sakai said it never took place. Sakai was blind in his right eye and never flew at night and he also said that the other pilot given credit with him did not exist. Sakai was at a loss to explain how the incident got into his book but Sakaida speculates that it was a series of translation errors between Sakai and the writer of his book, Martin Caidin and his translator. It is also interesting to note that Sakaida says Sakai never received the royalties he was due for "Samurai". It is a fascinating book. -- Al

Have had time to go through "A Glorious Page in Our History" and I must say it is quite impressive. It is well illustrated and the narrative is really good. I highly recommend this 'under the radar' book for any Midway library. Just sorry I didn't get it years ago. -- Al

 

[Terp152]

Just finished Red Platoon by MOH Clinton Romesha about the battle for outpost Keating in Afghanistan. Next up, Flying Guns by a SBD pilot, one of the primary sources in Ian Toll's excellent Pacific War trilogy. On deck, Eagles of the Southern Sky. Chris

 

[bradleyl30]

I just finished reading Willi Heinrich's "Cross of Iron" (aka "The Willing Flesh") on which Peckinpah's movie was based, and focuses on the 101st Jager division in the Caucasus and Crimea. The author served in this unit during the time period in which the story takes place.

While not an uplifting book, I did really enjoy reading it. The version I have was fully anglicized in its translation (submachine guns were referred to as Tommy guns for both sides) which was annoying at first, but the quality of the story overcame it.

Even if you have seen the movie, the book is worth reading since it is significantly different than the movie.

It is brutal, chauvinistic (women and homosexuals are caricatures, not characters) and somewhat nihilistic, but that sounds like the Eastern Front to me.

From Wikipedia:
Willi Heinrich was born in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, and during the Second World War he fought the Russians in the Eastern Front with the 1st Battalion 228th Jäger Regiment of the 101st Jäger Division, the infantry unit of the characters of Das Geduldige Fleisch (The Willing Flesh; Cross of Iron), his most famous novel. In the war's course, the 101st Jäger Division suffered seven hundred per cent casualties; Heinrich was wounded five times.

After the war, Heinrich became a writer; his first novel, In einem Schloss zu wohnen, written 1950–1952, went unpublished until 1976, when he was an established novelist. His first commercial novel, Das Geduldige Fleisch (The Willing Flesh), was published in 1955, and almost immediately was translated to English and published as The Willing Flesh (1956), by Weidenfield & Nicolson in the U.K., and as Cross of Iron (1957), by Bobbs-Merrill in the U.S. To date, the novel remains in print and in many editions; in 1977, Sam Peckinpah cinematically adapted it as Cross of Iron, featuring James Coburn as the protagonist anti-hero Rolf Steiner.

Though he began as a war genre novelist, Heinrich concentrated in the potboiler genre of soapy, sexy stories that were very popular in the 1970s and 1980s. Most of his books are novels, but Erzählungen (1985) is an anthology comprising three novellas: (i) Die Freundinnen, (ii) Fata Morgana, and (iii) Harte Bandagen. His last book, Der Gesang Der Sirenen [The Singing of the Sirens], was published in 1994 when he already was retired; Willi Heinrich died in Dobel, near Karlsruhe, in 2005.

 

[lancer]

I just finished reading Willi Heinrich's "Cross of Iron" (aka "The Willing Flesh") on which Peckinpah's movie was based, and focuses on the 101st Jager division in the Caucasus and Crimea. The author served in this unit during the time period in which the story takes place.

While not an uplifting book, I did really enjoy reading it. The version I have was fully anglicized in its translation (submachine guns were referred to as Tommy guns for both sides) which was annoying at first, but the quality of the story overcame it.

Even if you have seen the movie, the book is worth reading since it is significantly different than the movie.

It is brutal, chauvinistic (women and homosexuals are caricatures, not characters) and somewhat nihilistic, but that sounds like the Eastern Front to me.

From Wikipedia:
Willi Heinrich was born in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, and during the Second World War he fought the Russians in the Eastern Front with the 1st Battalion 228th Jäger Regiment of the 101st Jäger Division, the infantry unit of the characters of Das Geduldige Fleisch (The Willing Flesh; Cross of Iron), his most famous novel. In the war's course, the 101st Jäger Division suffered seven hundred per cent casualties; Heinrich was wounded five times.

After the war, Heinrich became a writer; his first novel, In einem Schloss zu wohnen, written 1950–1952, went unpublished until 1976, when he was an established novelist. His first commercial novel, Das Geduldige Fleisch (The Willing Flesh), was published in 1955, and almost immediately was translated to English and published as The Willing Flesh (1956), by Weidenfield & Nicolson in the U.K., and as Cross of Iron (1957), by Bobbs-Merrill in the U.S. To date, the novel remains in print and in many editions; in 1977, Sam Peckinpah cinematically adapted it as Cross of Iron, featuring James Coburn as the protagonist anti-hero Rolf Steiner.

Though he began as a war genre novelist, Heinrich concentrated in the potboiler genre of soapy, sexy stories that were very popular in the 1970s and 1980s. Most of his books are novels, but Erzählungen (1985) is an anthology comprising three novellas: (i) Die Freundinnen, (ii) Fata Morgana, and (iii) Harte Bandagen. His last book, Der Gesang Der Sirenen [The Singing of the Sirens], was published in 1994 when he already was retired; Willi Heinrich died in Dobel, near Karlsruhe, in 2005.

Completely agree. A book well worth reading, and so much more detailed and complete than the movie. Readers might also enjoy Heinrich's "Crack of Doom", about partisan warfare on the Eastern front. Not as good, IMO, as Cross, but an interesting read. -- Al

 

[bradleyl30]

Completely agree. A book well worth reading, and so much more detailed and complete than the movie. Readers might also enjoy Heinrich's "Crack of Doom", about partisan warfare on the Eastern front. Not as good, IMO, as Cross, but an interesting read. -- Al

It does sound interesting. I need a little more light hearted reading for a while, before getting into my next "dreary" book. The news is providing enough dreariness for now.

 

[Rob]

Am at the moment reading Sinclair McKay's ' Fighter Command , the men and women who beat the Luftwaffe ' . This is an interesting and revealing look at the Battle of Britain focusing on the HQ of Fighter Command at Bentley Priory in Stanmore North London. It reveals the workings of Hugh Dowding and his team and especially the women who worked there, it explains the immense physical and psychological stress the RAF and Luftwaffe pilots were under as well as aforementioned staff at HQ.

What I like about it is that there are little things I've learnt that I never knew. I had no idea pilots on both sides were given some pretty strong anti depressants and stimulants, the stimulants given to Luftwaffe pilots had some serious side affects on top of the exhaustion and stress they were already suffering.

I also did not know that women from the Royal Navy listened in on Luftwaffe radio transmissions from coastal bases, whilst very useful this could be traumatic when pilots were burned alive in aircraft or who crashed to their deaths. Sobering stuff.

Very interesting book and looks at the human experience on both sides.

Rob

 

[bradleyl30]

Am at the moment reading Sinclair McKay's ' Fighter Command , the men and women who beat the Luftwaffe ' . This is an interesting and revealing look at the Battle of Britain focusing on the HQ of Fighter Command at Bentley Priory in Stanmore North London. It reveals the workings of Hugh Dowding and his team and especially the women who worked there, it explains the immense physical and psychological stress the RAF and Luftwaffe pilots were under as well as aforementioned staff at HQ.

What I like about it is that there are little things I've learnt that I never knew. I had no idea pilots on both sides were given some pretty strong anti depressants and stimulants, the stimulants given to Luftwaffe pilots had some serious side affects on top of the exhaustion and stress they were already suffering.

I also did not know that women from the Royal Navy listened in on Luftwaffe radio transmissions from coastal bases, whilst very useful this could be traumatic when pilots were burned alive in aircraft or who crashed to their deaths. Sobering stuff.

Very interesting book and looks at the human experience on both sides.

Rob

I forget which historian said it (Maybe Gen. Michael Reynolds in Steel Inferno?) but I remember seeing quote that went something like this:

"Most people don't realize the Allies fought on speed and the Germans on meth (pervitin)." Both sides tried to regulate it, but I think the Allies had more success. Even after the Germans "outlawed" Pervitin, except in extreme conditions, it was still used on a regular basis.

 

[Rob]

I forget which historian said it (Maybe Gen. Michael Reynolds in Steel Inferno?) but I remember seeing quote that went something like this:

"Most people don't realize the Allies fought on speed and the Germans on meth (pervitin)." Both sides tried to regulate it, but I think the Allies had more success. Even after the Germans "outlawed" Pervitin, except in extreme conditions, it was still used on a regular basis.

Yes that's absolutely true. Pervitin side effects included sleep deprivation and psychotic episodes. Luftwaffe pilots already suffered depression from having to cross the English channel day after day , knowing that swarms of Spitfires and Hurricanes were waiting for them , try to fight them off, then turn for home often without escorts. RAF pilots had legendary drinking sessions after battle to try and forget the risks they suffered including becoming trapped or burnt alive in cockpits etc. What it was like tring to deal with G force , clouds, ME109s and a hangover I cannot imagine.

Rob

 

[theBaron]

I started my annual summer re-read of "Shogun" yesterday.