'Aussie Rick'’s Comments (group member since Jun 12, 2009)

'Aussie Rick'’s comments from the THE WORLD WAR TWO GROUP group.

Some excellent books being mentioned here by group members. A few that I have read and a few that I am yet to read!

Thanks for the notification, Mike. I am sure a few group members will be checking some of these titles out!

Rowan wrote: "I just finished reading The Chipilly Six: Unsung heroes of the Great War by Lucas Jordan

I a..."

Sounds like one to keep an eye out for, thanks for sharing those details.

Better set up a New Guinea theme read for next year I think :)

Marc, his other book on New Guinea is sitting on my pile of TBR titles!

I purchased a copy of this book on sale yesterday; "Return to Victory: MacArthur's Epic Liberation of the Philippines" by James P. Duffy.

Return to Victory: MacArthur's Epic Liberation of the Philippines by James P. Duffy

fourtriplezed wrote: "I was gifted an interesting book today. Not one review on Goodreads or Amazon. I would have thought that it would have had a review somewhere. I am keen to know where it stands in the cannon. It is..."

Nice book 4ZZZ. It seems like you will have to do the honours of the first review :)

More good books and great prices, thanks for the info Mike!

"The Other Side Of The Wire Volume 1: With the German XIV Reserve Corps on the Somme, September 1914 June 1916 " - The author mentioned the establishment of a cemetery near Bapaume to honour the dead of the XIV Reserve Corps:

"The monument was placed in the center of the cemetery that was laid out in the shape of a circle. The graves were grouped by state, with men from Wurttemberg and Baden in the first line, Prussians, Bavarians and others in the next lines extending further out from the center. Even the bodies of enemy soldiers who had died in captivity were buried among the men from the XIV Reserve Corps. A hedge of beeches surrounded the entire site. A linden avenue ran through the cemetery in the shape of a cross. It was not the first time German soldiers had been buried in Bapaume; one grave belonged to a Prussian officer of the Guards killed in 1871."

The German XIV Reserve Corps cemetery:
http://www.webmatters.net/index.php?i...

Josh wrote: "Normandy ‘44 by James Holland. Solid book so far!"

Glad to hear you are enjoying the book. It is a very good account.

Sounds like a pretty interesting account Komet. Thanks for providing that summary on the book, much appreciated.

Darya Silman wrote: "Aussie, that's the book I want to buy. Visiting Stalingrad has been my dream for some years"

I wouldn't mind visiting there one day as well, once things get back to normal that is!

I received a notification from a UK bookshop that this new release was available for order; "The Battle of Stalingrad: Then and Now" by Karel Margry.

Besides covering one of my favourite topics, I quite enjoy "Then and Now" books, having their volumes; "The Battle of the Bulge", "Panzers in Normandy" and "Ruckmarsch". So, it didn't take long to press the 'order' button!

The Battle of Stalingrad: Then and Now by Karel Margry
Description:
Stalingrad was not only the most-crucial battle on the Eastern Front, it was the main turning point of the whole Second World War in Europe. The Third Reich had suffered setbacks earlier, notably at El Alamein in North Africa in October 1942, but the scale of the fighting on the Eastern Front was incomparably larger than any of the other war fronts and it was the fate of the armies there that decided the outcome of the global conflict. After the demise of the German 6. Armee at Stalingrad in February 1943 it was clear that Nazi Germany would lose the war. This book brings together three After the Battle stories devoted to that historic struggle. It opens with a detailed account of the fight for the city of Voronezh. Lying on the great Don river, it was a prime initial objective of the German summer offensive towards the Caucasus launched on June 28, 1942. Possession of Voronezh would secure an eastern anchor point for a northern defensive line needed for the southward advance to Stalingrad. The city was taken with relative ease in early July but, when the Soviets launched a counter-offensive, the Heeresgruppe Süd commander, Generalfeldmarschall Fedor von Bock, allowed his panzer and motorised divisions to be drawn into the protracted fight. This week-long delay – which infuriated Hitler – severely disrupted the timetable for the main offensive, and fatally contributed to the failure to seize Stalingrad in a surprise raid. The main part of the book is taken up by a comprehensive description of the gargantuan seven-month battle for Stalingrad itself. All stages are described in detail: the advance of the German armies to the city in August, the stubborn and heroic defence of the besieged Soviet 62nd Army against overwhelming German superiority in September-November; and the subsequent encirclement and annihilation of the doomed 6. Armee in the winter, ending in total capitulation on February 2, 1943. Due to the wholesale destruction of the embattled city, it was long thought impossible to apply After the Battle's 'then and now' format to Stalingrad but with the help of a local expert and acknowledged student of the battle, Alexander Trofimov, we managed to match up numerous combat photos taken all over the city, giving full treatment to the months-long struggle for the city on the Volga. The same goes for Voronezh where we found another local expert, Sergey Popov, who achieved equally astounding comparisons. Without them, this book could not have been made. The German catastrophe at Stalingrad, with around 150,000 men killed or succumbing to the winter cold and around 100,000 taken prisoner (of whom only some 5,000 survived captivity), remained a national trauma in Germany. Coming to terms with the event proved difficult, the sorrow over the loss of so many German lives being surmounted by guilt over the fact that Germany had been the aggressor. In many ways, Stalingrad became a taboo, remembered in silence but avoided in public discussion. Illustrative of this is the fact that it took a full 50 years before a major feature film on Stalingrad could be produced in Germany. It was only in 1992 that the German film industry felt the time was ripe and produced and released Stalingrad, the first full-fledged war movie on the battle. We include the story of the making of this film as an epilogue to the main story. 260 b/w illustrations

Doubledf99.99 wrote: "In the 80's while stationed at Schofield Barracks, our unit went to New Zealand for a month of good hard training at a fine place called Waiouru, and on the 4th of July we had about 4 inches of sno..."

Great lambchops in New Zealand! Plus, I am sure they wash and shampoo their sheep over there. They are always bright white in the paddocks while our sheep are usually a dirty white/brown. :)

Nothing better than lambchops on the BBQ!

Happy Fourth of July for our American members. I hope you all have a great day!

BA wrote: "I finished reading Last Citadel by David L. Robbins


This author is a master with prose, storytelling, and characteri..."

Really glad to hear you enjoyed "Last Citadel" and thanks for the excellent summary of the novel.

I hope you enjoy the book Komet, keep us all posted!

Manray9 wrote: "Tonight I'll start on Joachim Fest's bio of Adolf Hitler --

Hitler."

Another whopper of a book, I hope you enjoy it MR9!

"Kriegies: The Australian Airmen of Stalag Luft III" - The author mentioned the study conducted by Adolf Vischer who identified a 'neurosis' among Great War POW's which he called 'barbed-wire disease'.

Barbed-wire Disease:
https://circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov/20...