New Release Books on WW2 Showing 1,551-1,600 of 3,293

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Here is a book due out in a few months time (Jan. 2016 - UK) that may interest some group members:


The Bitter Taste of Victory: In the Ruins of the Reich by Lara Feigel
Description:
As the Second World War neared its conclusion, Germany was a nation reduced to rubble: 3.6 million German homes had been destroyed leaving 7.5 million people homeless; an apocalyptic landscape of flattened cities and desolate wastelands.

In May 1945 Germany surrendered, and Britain, America, Soviet Russia and France set about rebuilding their zones of occupation. Most urgent for the Allies in this divided, defeated country were food, water and sanitation, but from the start they were anxious to provide for the minds as well as the physical needs of the German people. Reconstruction was to be cultural as well as practical: denazification and re-education would be key to future peace and the arts crucial in modelling alternative, less militaristic, ways of life. Germany was to be reborn; its citizens as well as its cities were to be reconstructed; the mindset of the Third Reich was to be obliterated.

When, later that year, twenty-two senior Nazis were put in the dock at Nuremberg, writers and artists including Rebecca West, Evelyn Waugh, John Dos Passos and Laura Knight were there to tell the world about a trial intended to ensure that tyrannous dictators could never again enslave the people of Europe. And over the next four years, many of the foremost writers and filmmakers of their generation were dispatched by Britain and America to help rebuild the country their governments had spent years bombing. Among them, Ernest Hemingway, Martha Gellhorn, Marlene Dietrich, George Orwell, Lee Miller, W.H. Auden, Stephen Spender, Billy Wilder and Humphrey Jennings.

The Bitter Taste of Victory traces the experiences of these figures and through their individual stories offers an entirely fresh view of post-war Europe. Never before told, this is a brilliant, important and utterly mesmerising history of cultural transformation.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Here are a number of early-mid 2016 releases from the publisher Helion & Co that may attract some interest here in the group:


The Berlin Operation, 1945 by Richard W Harrison
Description:
The Berlin Operation, 1945, tells the story of the Red Army's penultimate offensive operation in the war in Europe. Here the forces of three fronts (Second and First Belorussian and First Ukrainian) forced the Oder River and surrounded the defenders of the German capital, reduced the city and drove westward to link up with the Western allies in central Germany.

This is another in a series of studies compiled by the Soviet Army General Staff, which during the postwar years set itself the task of gathering and generalizing the experience of the war for the purpose of training the armed forces higher staffs in the conduct of large-scale offensive operations. The study is divided into three parts. The first contains a brief strategic overview of the situation, as it existed by the spring of 1945, with special emphasis on German preparations to meet the inevitable Soviet attack. This section also includes an examination of the decisions by the Stavka of the Supreme High Command on the conduct of the operation.

As usual, the fronts materiel-technical and other preparations for the offensive are covered in great detail. These include plans for artillery, artillery and engineer support, as well as the work of the rear services and political organs and the strengths, capabilities and tasks of the individual armies. Part two deals with the Red Army s breakthrough of the Germans Oder defensive position up to the encirclement of the Berlin garrison. This covers the First Belorussian Front's difficulty in overcoming the defensive along the Seelow Heights along the direct path to Berlin, as well as the First Ukrainian Front's easier passage over the Oder and its secondary attack along the Dresden axis.

The Second Belorussian Front's breakthrough and its sweep through the Baltic littoral is also covered. Part three covers the intense fighting to reduce the city's defenders from late April until the garrison's surrender on 2 May, as well as operations in the area up to the formal German capitulation. This section contains a number of detailed descriptions of urban fighting at the battalion and regimental level. It closes with conclusions about the role of the various combat arms in the operation.

The Battle of Kursk: The Red Army S Defensive Operations and Counter-Offensive, July-August 1943 by Richard W Harrison
Description:
The Battle of Kursk: The Red Army s Defensive Operations and Counter- Offensive, July - August 1943, offers a peculiarly Soviet view of one of the Second World War s most critical events. While the Germans defeats at Moscow and Stalingrad showed that Hitler could not win the war in the East, the outcome of Kursk demonstrated beyond a doubt that he would lose it. This study was compiled by the Red Army General Staff s military-historical directorate, which was charged with collecting and analyzing the war s experience, and issued as an internal document in 1946-47.

The study languished for more than a half-century, before being published in Russia in 2006, although heavily supplemented by commentary and other information not contained in the original. The present work omits these additions, while supplying its own commentary in places deemed necessary. The book is divided into two parts, dealing with the defensive and offensive phases of the battle, respectively. The first begins with a strategic overview of the situation along the Eastern Front by the spring and summer of 1943 and the Soviet decision to stand on the defensive. This is followed by a detailed examination of the Central Front's efforts to counter the expected German attack out of the Orel salient, and the Voronezh Front's attempts to do the same against the German concentrations in the Belgorod-Khar kov area.

The rest of this section is devoted to an exceedingly detailed day-by-day, tactical-operational account of the struggle, particularly along the southern face of the salient, where the Germans came closest to succeeding. The second part will be more of a revelation to the Western reader, who is likely to be more familiar with the defensive phase of the battle. Here the authors once again, in great detail, lay out the Red Army s preparations for and conduct of a massive counteroffensive to clear the Orel salient, which soon degenerated to a grinding struggle, which while ultimately successful, cost the Soviets dearly.

Likewise, the authors detail the Voronezh Front's preparations to reduce the Belgorod salient and seize the industrial center of Kharkov. This offensive, in conjunction with a simultaneous offensive in the Donets industrial region, pushed the German lines to the breaking point and set the stage for the follow-on advance to the Dnepr River and the eventual liberation of Ukraine.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

One more new release from the UK publisher Helion & Co, this one due out in June 2016:


Red Wind Over the Balkans: The Soviet Offensive South of the Danube, September-October 1944 by Kaloyan Matev
Description:
This book describes two Soviet offensive operations carried out during September and October 1944. The first was the operation for the occupation of Bulgaria - known as the 'Bulgarian operation'; the second was the Belgrade offensive operation, which was carried out immediately after the Bulgarian operation. Although separate, the two operations were closely linked to each other: the first was conducted in an almost peaceful manner, which saved resources. This necessitated that the Soviet Command carried out the second operation promptly, which seriously endangered the encirclement of German Army Group ? position in the Southern Balkans. Pressed by the advancing Red Army, the German troops withdrew from the territories of Greece and Albania. They also relocated fresh forces from the Western Balkans to the Bulgarian-Yugoslav Border in order to build up a defense line. The book describes in detail the heavy battles during the Belgrade offensive operation. Both combatants suffered from the same problems: heavy mountainous terrain; poor roads and infrastructure; and severe weather conditions. This is one of the few Soviet offensives which started without a large superiority of their forces over those of the enemy. The German soldiers were trained to fight in mountainous conditions, and the Soviets were not. The Soviet armament was more modern, but heavier. Additionally, it was not designed to move on the narrow and steep mountain roads. Therefore, the success of this offensive operation was unclear for a long time. The German Command was but a step away from turning Belgrade into a fortress, and slowing down the war in the region for months. The Soviet troops won, but as a result of very tough fighting. After Bulgaria joined the Allied forces, its military forces were subject to the command of the 3rd Ukrainian Front. The commander of the Front used this new ally to the max - thus conserving Soviet forces. There is also a short description of the activities of the Bulgarian troops, who undertook a secondary offensive from the Aegean Sea to the town of Nis in Southern Serbia. The book describes the operations of both ground and air forces. Special attention is paid to the Soviet tank and mechanized units which participated in both operations, and the book benefits from a detailed set of daily statistics and accompanying analysis which has not been attempted before. As well as a detailed narrative, the author also provides information covering camouflage, markings and unit insignia. The authoritative text is supported by more than 400 photographs (the majority of them previously unpublished); full-color profiles showing the aforementioned camouflage, markings and unit insignia; and also full-color battle maps. This book is a result of the author's years spent studying documents from the Russian Federation's Central Archives of the Ministry of Defense and the Bulgarian State Military Historical Archives. Such a detailed study on this topic has not appeared before - and the author's work is unlikely to be superseded.

[J.]

Dimitri wrote: "If you see WWII as a consequence of the Great War, the period 1914-1945 period becomes a second Thirty Years' war...."

That's clear, and I agree, generally, that it's a nonsequitur--the period wasn't a Thirty Years' War, despite the fact that WWII was largely a result of WWI.

I asked the question because nothing in the thread or the links up to Bevan's comment included the phrase "thirty years' war."

[Dimitri]

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Here is a book due out in a few months time (Jan. 2016 - UK) that may interest some group members:


The Bitter Taste of Victory: In the Ruins of the Reich"

Interesting, let's hope it combines well with the strengths and weaknesses of After the Reich: From the Fall of Vienna to the Berlin Airlift by Giles MacDonogh (no book is perfect)

[Dimitri]

the good folks at Waterstone's Brussels spied a re-release in september 2016 for Hitler's Ardennes Offensive: The German View of the Battle of the Bulge...and they were right, GR already added an August edition : Hitler’s Ardennes Offensive: The German View of the Battle of the Bulge. Hopefully it measures up to "it never snows in september".

[Doreen]

Dimitri wrote: "the good folks at Waterstone's Brussels spied a re-release in september 2016 for [book:Hitler's Ardennes..."

This looks like a really good one Dimitri.

[Bevan Lewis]

J. wrote: "Dimitri wrote: "If you see WWII as a consequence of the Great War, the period 1914-1945 period becomes a second Thirty Years' war...."

That's clear, and I agree, generally, that it's a nonsequitur..."

Hi
My comment was just in relation to the mention of To Hell and Back: Europe 1914-1949 and reflecting on the thirty years war thesis as an interpretation of that era. Incidentally there is a good review of A History of the West: The Age of Catastrophe 1914-1945 the other book just released in English which deals with the period here: http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/boo... .

[Jerome]

A June 2016 release:

by Jonathan Trigg
Description:
In 1939 and 1940 the Nazi blitzkrieg crushed Poland and the West. This was a new type of warfare with air and ground forces working hand in glove and sweeping away all resistance. On the ground the new panzer divisions symbolized this combat revolution, and in the air it was the all-conquering Luftwaffe with its fleets of Stuka dive bombers.

When Hitler turned to the East in 1941, the Luftwaffe turned with him, spearheading the largest invasion in world history as the Wehrmacht launched Operation Barbarossa to annihilate Stalin’s Soviet Union. Within weeks they had destroyed thousands of Red Air Force planes and ruled the skies, and yet less than four years later that same Red Air Force was flying unopposed over Hitler’s burning Reich Chancellory in Berlin and his much-vaunted Luftwaffe lay in utter ruins. How did this happen?

Using original research and exceptional illustrations, including photos and diagrams of planes from both sides, this book explains how the Nazi Luftwaffe’s certain victory in the East was transformed into ashes through incompetence, misjudgment and hubris.

[J.]

A friend of mine, a WWII OSS radio operator, provided material for this book:



OSS Station Victor will be available on Amazon in May of 2016

[Jerome]

A July 2016 release:

by Brian Cull
Description:
This volume carries on where First of the Few finished, in the same style and format. 10 July the official first day of the Battle of Britain witnessed increased aerial activity over the Channel and along the eastern and southern seaboards of the British coastline. The main assaults by ever-increasing formations of Luftwaffe bombers, escorted by Bf109s and Bf110s, were initially aimed at British merchant shipping convoys plying their trade of coal and other materials from the north of England to the southern ports. These attacks by the Germans often met with increasing success although RAF Spitfires and Hurricanes endeavored to repel the Heinkels, Dorniers and Ju88s, frequently with ill-afforded loss in pilots and aircraft. Within a month the Channel was effectively closed to British shipping. Only a change in the Luftwaffe s tactics in mid-August, when the main attack changed to the attempted destruction of the RAF s southern airfields, allowed small convoys to resume sneaking through without too greater hindrance.

[KOMET]

The following book is slated for release on MARCH 8th, 2016.

At War on the Gothic Line: Fighting in Italy, 1944-45 by Christian Jennings.




SUMMARY
"In the autumn of 1944, as Patton’s Third Army paraded through Paris, another Allied force was gathering in southern Italy. Spearheaded by over 100,000 American troops, this vast, international army was faced with a grim task―break The Gothic Line, a series of interconnected German fortifications that stretched across the mountains of northern Italy. Striving to reach Europe’s vulnerable underbelly before the Red Army, these Allied soldiers fought uphill against entrenched enemies in some of the final and most brutal battles of the Second World War.

"In 'At War on the Gothic Line', veteran war correspondent and historian Christian Jennings provides an unprecedented look inside this unsung but highly significant campaign. Through the eyes of thirteen men and women from seven different countries, Jennings brings history to life as he vividly recounts the courageous acts of valor performed by these soldiers facing overwhelming odds, even as many experienced discrimination at the hands of their allies and superiors.

"Witness the courage of a young Japanese-American officer willing to die for those under his command. Lie in wait with a troop of Canadian fur trappers turned snipers. Creep along mountain paths with Indian warriors as they assault fortified positions in the dead of night. Learn to fear a one-armed SS-Major guilty of some of the most atrocious war-crimes in the European theater. All these stories and more pack the pages of this faced-paced, action-heavy history, taking readers inside one of the most important, and least discussed, campaigns of World War Two."

I'm especially keen on this book as my late uncle had served in Italy during 1944-45 as a company commander with the 370th Regimental Combat Team of the U.S. 92nd Infantry Division.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Should be a good book by the sounds of it Komet, thanks for sharing the details.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Here is a book due out for release in January 2016 that really has the potential to offer something different in our WW2 reading:

Midnight in Broad Daylight: A Japanese American Family Caught Between Two Worlds by Pamela Rotner Sakamoto
Description:
Meticulously researched and beautifully written, the true story of a Japanese American family that found itself on opposite sides during World War II—an epic tale of family, separation, divided loyalties, love, reconciliation, loss, and redemption—this is a riveting chronicle of U.S.–Japan relations and the Japanese experience in America.

After their father’s death, Harry, Frank, and Pierce Fukuhara—all born and raised in the Pacific Northwest—moved to Hiroshima, their mother’s ancestral home. Eager to go back to America, Harry returned in the late 1930s. Then came Pearl Harbor. Harry was sent to an internment camp until a call came for Japanese translators and he dutifully volunteered to serve his country. Back in Hiroshima, his brothers Frank and Pierce became soldiers in the Japanese Imperial Army.

As the war raged on, Harry, one of the finest bilingual interpreters in the United States Army, island-hopped across the Pacific, moving ever closer to the enemy—and to his younger brothers. But before the Fukuharas would have to face each other in battle, the U.S. detonated the atomic bomb over Hiroshima, gravely injuring tens of thousands of civilians, including members of their family.

Alternating between the American and Japanese perspectives, Midnight in Broad Daylight captures the uncertainty and intensity of those charged with the fighting as well as the deteriorating home front of Hiroshima—as never told before in English—and provides a fresh look at the dropping of the first atomic bomb. Intimate and evocative, it is an indelible portrait of a resilient family, a scathing examination of racism and xenophobia, an homage to the tremendous Japanese American contribution to the American war effort, and an invaluable addition to the historical record of this extraordinary time.

Reviews:
“ ‘Mother, I am Katsuharu. I have come home.’ By the time the reader arrives at this simple, Odysseus-like declaration, she will have been tossed and transported through one of the most wrenching, inspirational—and until now unknown—true epics of World War II. Pamela Rotner Sakamoto, in her luminous, magisterial reassembling of the lives of the two Japanese brothers who found themselves on opposite sides of the great conflict, has helped shape and set the standard for a vital and necessary new genre: transpacific literature. Her readers will want more.”—Ron Powers, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Mark Twain: A Life

“Midnight in Broad Daylight takes the reader back into World War II, into the life of Japanese American Harry Fukuhara, a brilliant bilingual interpreter in the U.S Army. Riveting in its alternating American and Japanese perspectives, and a fresh look at the dropping of the atom bomb over Hiroshima, this story is inspirational as well as educational. A great addition to World War II literature.”—Jeanne WaKatsuki Houston, coauthor of Farewell to Manzanar

“Midnight in Broad Daylight is a deeply moving, well-written work that ranks among the better accounts of the injuries inflicted in wartime on civilian and ethnic populations. Students of war crimes and crimes against humanity are sure to notice this book.”—Herbert Bix, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan

“An intimately detailed look at the agony of a Japanese American family struggling to maintain American loyalty amid discrimination and war. . . . A richly textured narrative history. . . . A beautifully rendered work wrought with enormous care and sense of compassionate dignity.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

[Manray9]

An ad for this new release appeared in the Feb. 11 edition of the NYRB:

Daily Life in Wartime Japan, 1940-1945 by Samuel Hideo Yamashita

Historian Edward Drea wrote:

Sam Yamashita seamlessly weaves diverse diarists' accounts, from schoolchildren to kamikaze pilots, into simply the best account in English of everyday life on wartime Japan's homefront.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Sounds interesting MR9, thanks for posting the details.

[Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces]

Thanks, that does look worth a read.

[Nooilforpacifists]

Manray9,

Sounds interesting!

[carl]

Indeed !


Nooilforpacifists wrote: "Manray9,

Sounds interesting!"

[KOMET]

The French Navy in World War II by Rear Admiral Paul Auphan

ISBN: 978-1591145660 (paperback)



Slated for release: June 15th, 2016

SUMMARY
"Prior to this book's original publication in 1959, little had been done to dispel confusion regarding what really happened to the French Navy during World War II. Few people realized the tragic situation of a country forced to capitulate to a traditional enemy. After this humiliating experience, the Navy, in its attempts to preserve France's foreign possessions, and to supply the mother country, found itself torn between the conflicting interests of involved internal and international politics. Forced to scuttle part of the fleet at Toulon, the remainder found themselves viewed with wary suspicion by both the Germans and the Allies.

"That the French Navy was able to survive at all is a minor miracle. That it so well preserved its unanimity as to return to the fight and participate in the final victory is in itself a tribute to the moral, discipline, and traditions that date back to the Crusades."

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Should be a good book Komet!

[Michal]

how do you guys find these upcoming books?

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Spend too much time browsing Amazon and other internet sites :)

[Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces]

Same as Rick, and another resource known as group member Jerome :)

[Jerome]

Yep, way too much time :)

[Michal]

I need to start doing that and help you guys out :) Any pointers?

[Kerry]

Received for Christmas "The Conquering Tide" by Ian Toll. Started reading it this month. It covers the Pacific Theater from 1942-1944. It is the second in his trilogy of the war in the Pacific. Enjoyed his first book "Pacific Crucible" very much. Extremely well written and researched. For those who love to read in depth books on history, this is it.

[Jerome]

An August 2016 release:

by Christer Bergström
Description:
Operation Barbarossa was the largest military campaign in history. Springing from Hitler’s fanatical desire to conquer the Soviet territories, defeat Bolshevism and create ‘Lebensraum’ for the German people, it pitted two diametrically opposed armed forces against one another.

The invasion began with 4.5 million troops attacking 2.3 million defenders. On one side was the Wehrmacht, without any doubt the world’s most advanced military force. On the other were the Soviet armed forces, downtrodden, humiliated, decapitated and terrorized by an autocratic and crude dictator with no military education whatsoever.

Initially Operation Barbarossa led to a row of unparalleled tactical victories for the attackers. In just five months, an area of around 1.4 million square kilometres was captured. Tremendous losses were inflicted on the Soviet armed forces. 566,852 troops were listed as killed in action, 2,335,482 as missing in action (including POWs), and around 500,000 Soviet reservists had been captured while still mobilizing - making a total of approximately 3.4 million total losses. But by the end of December 1941, Operation Barbarossa had ground to halt; how was this possible? Christer Bergström tells the story in great detail; as with The Battle of Britain: An Epic Conflict Revisited he combines facts and figures with the human stories behind the action, and draws new conclusions based on many years of research in German and Russian archives.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Should be a good addition to any Eastern Front library, thanks for the details Jerome.

[Sweetwilliam]

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Here is a book due out for release in January 2016 that really has the potential to offer something different in our WW2 reading:

[bookcover:Midnight in Broad Daylight: A Japanese American Family ..."

This looks like a good read for sure.

[Mike, Assisting Moderator US Forces]

Jerome wrote: "An August 2016 release:

by Christer Bergström...."


Added TBR, looks like a good one.

[Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces]

Thanks Jerome. Good one.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

This May 2016 release may interest some members in the group:


The Castaway's War: One Man's Battle against Imperial Japan by Stephen Harding
Description:
In the early hours of July 5, 1943, the destroyer USS Strong was hit by a Japanese torpedo. The powerful weapon broke the destroyer's back, flooded her engine room, killed dozens of sailors, and sparked raging fires. While accompanying ships were able to rescue most of Strong's surviving crewmen, scores were submerged in the ocean as the shattered warship sank beneath the waves—and a young officer's harrowing story of survival began.

Based on official American and Japanese histories, personal memoirs, and the author's exclusive interviews with key participants, The Castaway's War tells the entirely unique and very personal tale of Navy Lieutenant Hugh Barr Miller's fight for survival against both a hostile environment and an implacable human enemy.

[Michal]

thanks Rick!

[Jerome]

A December release:

by Terry Mort
Description:
In the spring of 1944, Hemingway traveled to London and then to France to cover World War II for Colliers Magazine.

Obviously he was a little late in arriving. Why did he go? He had resisted this kind of journalism for much of the early period of the war, but when he finally decided to go, he threw himself into the thick of events and so became a conduit to understanding some of the major events and characters of the war.

He flew missions with the RAF (in part to gather material for a novel); he went on a landing craft on Omaha Beach on D-Day; he went on to involve himself in the French Resistance forces in France and famously rode into the still dangerous streets of liberated Paris. And he was at the German Siegfried line for the horrendous killing ground of the Huertgen Forest, in which his favored 22nd Regiment lost nearly man they sent into the fight. After that tragedy, it came to be argued, he was never the same.

This invigorating narrative is also, in a parallel fashion, an investigation into Hemingway’s subsequent work―much of it stemming from his wartime experience―which shaped the latter stages of his career in dramatic fashion.

[Derek]

Once There Was a War is an interesting counterpoint. The writing sometimes shows signs of haste (Steinbeck deliberately didn't go back and polish it) but shows flashes of absolute brilliance.

[Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces]

Hi Derek, On a different line have you read his The Moon Is Down?

[Derek]

I confess I hadn't heard of it. It's now on the 'to read' list. Thanks!

[carl]

It's an interesting movie also.

Derek wrote: "I confess I hadn't heard of it. It's now on the 'to read' list. Thanks!"

[Mike, Assisting Moderator US Forces]

Geevee wrote: "Hi Derek, On a different line have you read his The Moon Is Down?"

Thanks for the reminder Geevee, I have that on the shelf. Might find time to squeeze that in.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Here is a new title that is due out in a few months and offers something a bit different. I am sure it will interest a few members here in the group:

The Nazi Titanic: The Incredible Untold Story of a Doomed Ship in World War II by Robert P. Watson
Description:
Built in 1927, the German ocean liner Cap Arcona was the greatest ship since the Titanic. When the Nazis seized control, she was stripped down for use as a floating barracks and troop transport. Hitler's minister, Joseph Goebbels, later cast her as a "star" in the epic propaganda film about the sinking of the legendary Titanic. In the Third Reich's final desperate days, when SS Cap Arcona was mistakenly bombed by the British Air Force, concentration camp prisoners packed the ship.

Although the British government sealed many documents pertaining to the ship's sinking, Robert P. Watson has unearthed forgotten records and conducted many interviews. The Nazi Titanic is a riveting and astonishing story about an enigmatic ship that played a devastating role in World War II.

[Jerome]

An October release:

by Hakan Gustavsson
Description:
The Sino-Japanese war of 1937-1945 was the longest struggle of the Second World War. It started with the Japanese aggression in July 1937 and soon accelerated into a full-scale war with the Chinese Kuomintang government. The Chinese Air Force was to suffer large losses during the whole conflict with Japan. During the first weeks of the war the Chinese lost almost all of their medium bombers. This was a pattern that would be repeated again and again. Not getting much help from the outside world, the Kuomintang government, led by Chiang Kai-shek, soon closed a un-holy treaty with the communistic Soviet Union to receive armament including a large number of aircraft and Soviet volunteers to fly some of them. This difficult relation with the Soviet Union lasted until 1941, when the USA became the main supplier of armament to China, which included the short-lived but famous US voluntary group called the Flying Tigers. Everything was to change with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, but the struggle was to continue until the end of the war in August 1945.

[Dimitri]

Jerome wrote: "An October release:

by Hakan Gustavsson
Description:
The Sino-Japanese war of 1937-1945 was the longest ..."

We'll all have to prepare by reading Forgotten Ally: China's World War II, 1937-1945 first. Scandinavion authors seem to fancy the air war cfr. Christer Bergström.

[Dimitri]

KOMET wrote: "The following book is slated for release on MARCH 8th, 2016.

At War on the Gothic Line: Fighting in Italy, 1944-45

by Christian Jennings"

A positive review: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Sounds like it will be a good book, thanks for the link Komet.

[Jerome]

A November release:

by Stephen L. Moore
Description:
In late 1944, the Allies invaded the Japanese-held Philippines, and soon the end of the Pacific War was within reach. But for the last 150 American prisoners of war still held on the island of Palawan, there would be no salvation. After years of slave labor, starvation, disease, and torture, their worst fears were about to be realized. On December 14, with machine guns trained on them, they were herded underground into shallow air raid shelters—death pits dug with their own hands.

Japanese soldiers doused the shelters with gasoline and set them on fire. Some thirty prisoners managed to bolt from the fiery carnage, running a lethal gauntlet of machine gun fire and bayonets to jump from the cliffs to the rocky Palawan coast. By the next morning, only eleven men were left alive—but their desperate journey to freedom had just begun.

As Good as Dead is one of the greatest escape stories of World War scrounged for food and water, swam shark-infested bays, and wandered through treacherous jungle terrain, hoping to find friendly Filipino guerrillas. Their endurance, determination, and courage in the face of death make this a gripping and inspiring saga of survival.

[Jerome]

An October release:

by Robert Forczyk
Description:
In May, 1940, Nazi Germany was master of continental Europe, the only European power still standing was Great Britain--and the all-conquering German armed forces stood poised to cross the channel. Following the destruction of the RAF fighter forces, the sweeping of the channel of mines, and the wearing down of the Royal Naval defenders, two German army groups were set to storm the beaches of southern England. Despite near-constant British fears from August to October, the invasion never took place after first being postponed to spring 1941, before finally being abandoned entirely.

Robert Forcyzk, author of Where the Iron Crosses Grow, looks beyond the traditional British account of Operation Sea lion, complete with plucky Home Guards and courageous Spitfire pilots, at the real scale of German ambition, plans and capabilities. He examines, in depth, how Operation Sea Lion fitted in with German air-sea actions around the British Isles as he shows exactly what stopped Hitler from invading Britain.

[Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces]

Thanks Jerome. March Against England looks good.

[Mike]

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Here is a new title that is due out in a few months and offers something a bit different. I am sure it will interest a few members here in the group:

[bookcover:The Nazi Titanic: The Incredible Un..."

The sinking of this ship is an interesting, and upsetting, story from the very end of the war in Europe. I think this is probably the first book about it, at least in English; I'd be very interested to read it.

[Marc]

This is one I'm looking forward to later this year.