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[Colin]

Well, the erata list and rebuttal is 44 pages long, and only concerns less than 20 pages of his book. Too much to put here, but the highlights are that he disparaged BGEN (then LtCol) William Weise and Maj Gen (then Captain) James E. Livingston, got the facts and figures of the participants wrong, locations and distances wrong, order of battle wrong, order of march wrong, makes assumptions based upon one disgruntled marine's interview (Keith Nolan's book) failed to even ID the NVA's 320th Division as being the main enemy, wrote assumptions that cowardice was rampant (even proven untrue from the Viet Cong and NVA interviews conducted over the years), he got locations mixed up with each other, used material from Keith Nolan's 1994 book (good at the time) but did not use the updated corrected information available in the last decade. Hell, if he had just read the book Livingston and I wrote he would not have made those errors. The 2/4 Marines are about as pissed off as I have ever seen, and I know them all. I am glad I am not him right now, and the future will not get any better.

[Jim]

Hi everybody! I’m new to this group, but I’ve been interested in WWII for quite a while. My primary interest is naval history, probably more the European theater than the Pacific. Probably the best book I’ve read in the last few years was “Blackett’s War” by Stephen Budiansky. I work in software and I’m interested in Operations Research, so this was particularly fascinating for me.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Hi Jim and welcome to the group. I think you will find a few other group members who share your interest in naval history. One of my recent favourite books on WW2 naval history was this title:

The Fleet at Flood Tide: America at Total War in the Pacific, 1944-1945 by James D. Hornfischer

[Manray9]

Jim wrote: "Hi everybody! I’m new to this group, but I’ve been interested in WWII for quite a while. My primary interest is naval history, probably more the European theater than the Pacific. Probably the best..."

Welcome, Jim. Don't be reluctant to chip in.

[Mike, Assisting Moderator US Forces]

Welcome to the group Jim.

[Mike, Assisting Moderator US Forces]

Hi Chantal, welcome to the group. Here you are surrounded by members with similar interests, jump right in!

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Hi Chantal and a warm welcome to our little group :)

[Jonny]

Welcome to the group Jim and Chantal, sure you'll find something to interest you here.

[Liam]

Colin wrote: "Well, the erata list and rebuttal is 44 pages long, and only concerns less than 20 pages of his book. Too much to put here, but the highlights are that he disparaged BGEN (then LtCol) William Weise..."

Damn, that's fairly shocking. I was appalled, though not particularly surprised at some of the errors in the book I recently read by Michael Burleigh (Small Wars, Faraway Places: Global Insurrection and the Making of the Modern World, 1945-1965). I ultimately didn't have the time & energy to write a review enumerating those errors the way I had planned, as real world issues got in the way. Sir Max Hastings is a completely different category from Mr. Burleigh, though, so I'm betting you're right about his taking some heat. There is simply no excuse for that sort of sloppiness in historical research, especially nowadays...

[Jonny]

Liam wrote: "Colin wrote: "Well, the erata list and rebuttal is 44 pages long, and only concerns less than 20 pages of his book. Too much to put here, but the highlights are that he disparaged BGEN (then LtCol)..."
Is there really not somewhere a bit more appropriate for this "discussion"?

[Marc]

Welcome aboard, Jim and Chantal.

Jim, along with Rick's suggestion, I highly recommend this book on naval warfare:
The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour

Hands down, the very best book on naval warfare I've ever read.

Chantal, here's one you might find interesting as well:

V-2

[Liam]

Jonny wrote: "Liam wrote: "Colin wrote: "Well, the erata list and rebuttal is 44 pages long, and only concerns less than 20 pages of his book. Too much to put here, but the highlights are that he disparaged BGEN..."

Yes, Jonny, I'm sure there would be somewhere more appropriate. As you may have noticed, however, most of us here are not particularly concerned with rules or their enforcement, but rather with discussing books about history. That is one of the primary reasons, in my view anyway, that the atmosphere within this group is so pleasant. Some of the other groups ostensibly focused on history seem to be run by moronic, pompous, anally-retentive pedants whose primary concern seems to be promulgating unnecessary rules and obsessively enforcing them. Although I am, obviously, speaking only for myself, that is precisely why I do not waste my time participating in those groups. I don't think Colin's comment, or my response, constitute a crisis of any kind; in any case, I don't anticipate the conversation continuing in this thread (or for that matter elsewhere, though that may change after more of us have had the opportunity to read the book in question). Also, if it did happen to become a problem, that would be for Aussie Rick to decide.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

If need be you can continue the discussion on Max Hastings Vietnam book in this thread:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[happy]

I know this is a bit tardy,

But let me add my welcome to Jim and Chantal

Welcome, Welcome!!!

[Deborah]

Hi

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Hi Deborah and welcome to the group.

[Mike, Assisting Moderator US Forces]

Welcome Deborah, nice to have you join us

[Elliot]

Hello everyone! I decided to join this group because I started reading Quartered Safe Out Here: A Harrowing Tale of World War II by George MacDonald Fraser. It's been a while since I read any WWII books (I've recently been reading more about the Napoleonic Wars) but I do plan on reading some more sooner rather than later.

It's good to see some familiar names, and I hope to meet some new ones as well. Happy reading!

[Manray9]

Elliot wrote: "Hello everyone! I decided to join this group because I started reading Quartered Safe Out Here: A Harrowing Tale of World War II by George MacDonald Fraser. It's been a..."

Welcome, Elliot. Please pitch in!

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Hi Elliot and welcome to the group.

[Jonny]

Welcome to the group Elliott

[Marc]

Welcome aboard, Elliott. If you need any suggestions on books to read, you have come to the right place!

[Patrick]

Happy New Year everyone!

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Happy New Year Patrick and welcome to the group.

[R.J.]

Greetings from Scotland, my name's Mac, I served as a reservist in both the US Marines and the Royal Air Force, I did Iraq and Libya. A couple of months ago I had my first novel published, its WWI historical fiction (A Distant Field: A Novel of World War I), but I'm equally interested in WWII, so its good to find this group.

Three of my family fought in the war, my grandfather served throughout in Scottish regiments, his brother was taken prisoner in Singapore and an Australian relative was shot down and killed over Germany, he was a Lancaster bomber pilot. Growing up in the '70's in Britain, most boys had a pretty good grasp of WWII history by just being boys in the 70's- we played with WWII soldiers, built WWII Airfix models, read WWII comic magazines (The Victor, Warlord, Commando) and watched WWII films. We could name the major combatants, tanks, planes and theatres of war. We played 'Commando' in the woods with sticks for rifles and tore our clothes- a lot. As a teenager I read all of Sven Hassel's books, I can still name the characters. Anyway, enough remembering the good old days- when we actually played outdoors and tore our clothes. Nowadays I serve on a volunteer lifeboat in the North Sea- when the pager goes, I run to the station and we launch, regardless of the sea conditions. I look forward to following the discussions.

[Joseph]

Welcome, R.J.!

[Liz V.]

Hello Mac.

Have added your first book to my TBR list. Given your quandary about the third book, I envision a four-book TBR addition eventually.

Best wishes on your books.

[Elliot]

Welcome, Mac! It's good to see you here as well.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Welcome to the WW2 group Mac.

[Mike, Assisting Moderator US Forces]

Welcome Mac, nice to have a former RAF/US Marine veteran here. Can't be too many of you with that pedigree.

[Colin]

Better than me I guess I did US Army 101st Airborne and later served in the US Marines.

[Liam]

Welcome, Mac! That must have been interesting, studying Military History at Berkeley...

[R.J.]

Liz V. wrote: "Hello Mac.

Have added your first book to my TBR list. Given your quandary about the third book, I envision a four-book TBR addition eventually.

Best wishes on your books."

Liz,

I'm flattered, thank you so much, I hope you enjoy the read. While I'd like to dwell on Gallipoli, we're off to Iraq (Mesopotamia). A six to eight book series is planned, ending with the Russian Intervention, so I have a lot of writing to do!

Joseph, Elliot, Aussie Rick, Mike, Colin, Liam (hey, one of my main character's is a Liam!), thanks for the welcome; I'm beginning to see some familiar names now from other groups which is nice.

Mike- No, it's rare, I certainly never bumped into anyone with a US-UK combo when I served. It was always fun wandering up to US Marines in Iraq as an RAF officer and talking the talk.

Colin, not better, just different! And tell the truth- did you ever do a PLF that worked? I just hit the ground like a sack of potatoes and was always happily surprised when I could stand up!

Liam, I did some Mil Affairs Studies courses with the ROTC, they had a hard time. They had a beautiful library, which was burned to the ground, they never found out who did it. Stephen Ambrose was very strict, (marked me down from an A to B+ on my dissertation for being two days late!) but also fascinating and even had a kegger (Anchor Steam) and pizza for his two dissertation classes, which was very cool. He invited us to join his New Orleans students to visit Normandy, but I stayed and did summer school to be with my girlfriend at the time... stupid is as stupid does!

[Leigh]

Welcome Mac ... your book and personal history sound interesting looking forward to your post in the future!

[Dimitri]

Welcome, Mac. Let us know what type of WWII books we can flood you with !

[Marc]

Welcome to the group, Mac!

[Colin]

R.J. wrote: "Liz V. wrote: "Hello Mac.

Have added your first book to my TBR list. Given your quandary about the third book, I envision a four-book TBR addition eventually.

Best wishes on your books."

Liz,

I..."

R.J. wrote: "Liz V. wrote: "Hello Mac.

Have added your first book to my TBR list. Given your quandary about the third book, I envision a four-book TBR addition eventually.

Best wishes on your books."

Liz,

I..."

Liam wrote: "Welcome, Mac! That must have been interesting, studying Military History at Berkeley..."

R.J. most were good PLFs, got better after going into free fall with ram airs. Got kicked off a DZ for doing a downwind landing on a dare. We would launch out sometimes doing 4 free fall jumps a day from CH-47s, and take bets on who would be the last to pull the rip cord before the AOD would deploy, or we would just disconnect it. After a few months I ended up driving a new sports car, which made superiors question my "side job" as an enlisted man could never afford one.

[R.J.]

Leigh, Dimitri, Marc,

Many thanks for the welcome.

Colin- I was in a support squadron for Sea Knights, great, if ageing, helicopters. A sports car POV? That would have raised eyebrows rolling up to the base entrance!

[Manray9]

R.J. wrote: "Leigh, Dimitri, Marc,

Many thanks for the welcome.

Colin- I was in a support squadron for Sea Knights, great, if ageing, helicopters. A sports car POV? That would have raised eyebrows rolling up ..."

R. J. -- I've flown aboard more Sea Knights than I care to recall. Had to ride the wire down on destroyers and cruisers in mid-ocean so many times it still scares me decades later.

[happy]

Wow, I really behind on adding my greetings

Deborah, Elliot, RJ/Mac, Patrick

Welcome, Welcome! this corner of the Internet

[Steve]

Hello to all. I've been reading a lot of WW 2 books over the last year or so, and I thought I should join a GR group. Actually, I've read always them (though my primary reading interests are probably to be found in literary fiction). But I had some uncles (and a father-in-law) who fought in the war, and they have all passed away in the last few years. I'm of an age where WW 2 was considered the great event of history. I want to get back to that. (I'm dating myself, but I grew up watching Combat and just about anything related to the War that was on TV. ) I had one uncle who fought at the Battle of the Bulge. Another who probably did, but he never talked about it. I know he took part in the liberation of one of the concentration camps. My father-in-law was in the Navy, and saw a lot of action in the Pacific. His ship (the USS Biloxi) was hit by a Kamikaze off of Okinawa, but it survived the strike with light damage. I'm semi-retired now, but I used to work within walking distance of the WW 2 National Memorial monument in DC. I have walked down there often.

[Marc]

Steve wrote: "Hello to all. I've been reading a lot of WW 2 books over the last year or so, and I thought I should join a GR group. Actually, I've read always them (though my primary reading interests are probab..."

Welcome to the group, Steve. Feel free to jump into any of the conversations, and if you ever need a suggestion (or thirty) about what to read on a particular WWII topic, don't hesitate to ask!

[happy]

Steve, I'll echo Marc greeting! Please feel free to jump in to any conversation or topic - we don't bite ............ much :)

Again

Welcome, Welcome!!!!!!!!

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Steve wrote: "Hello to all. I've been reading a lot of WW 2 books over the last year or so, and I thought I should join a GR group. Actually, I've read always them (though my primary reading interests are probab..."

Hi Steve and let me offer you a warm welcome to the group. I hope you find a few things of interest here, enjoy :)

[John]

Thanks for including me in this group. I am a mid 60’s Canadian and have been an avid history buff since my early teens. ‘Japanese Destroyer Captain’ was my first buy. ( I’ve still got it). My interests are very wide now from anything military from all centuries, to historical fiction, thrillers (Jack Reacher anyone) even the odd western and fantasy novel. Always looking for new ideas in what to read so I’m looking forward to what you folks have to suggest.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Hi John and welcome to the group, I'm sure you will fit right in with the rest of the group members :)

[Susan]

Welcome to the group!

[Manray9]

John wrote: "Thanks for including me in this group. I am a mid 60’s Canadian and have been an avid history buff since my early teens. ‘Japanese Destroyer Captain’ was my first buy. ( I’ve still got it). My inte..."

Welcome, John. Looks like we have similar tastes.

[Liz V.]

Welcome Steve and John.

No shortage of suggestions with this group. Your TBR list will expand exponentially.

[Elliot]

Welcome everyone!