THE WORLD WAR TWO GROUP discussion
BOOK DISCUSSIONS
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New Release Books on WW2
Jonny wrote: "Could be interesting Rick, especially given the units reputation in Normandy?"Indeed Jonny and so I had to order a copy, I tried but could help myself :)
Jonny wrote: "Could be interesting Rick, especially given the units reputation in Normandy?".'..men admired even by their very opponents...' might be putting it a little strongly. 'Feared' could be closer to the mark. In Armageddon Fed Up With This I commented about operations Totalize and Tractable, 'Canadian troops knew that 19 of their countrymen had been shot after surrender by members of the 12th SS Panzer (Hitler Jugend) Division. Few prisoners were taken from 12th SS after that.'
A July release:
by Will IredaleDescription:
Dark low-level raids, dodging anti-aircraft flak to make pinpoint-accurate drops – the incredible story of ordinary men and women who took to the skies to mark bomb targets inside Hitler’s Germany
The Pathfinders were the crack team that transformed the hit rate in the RAF’s Bomber Command from 24% in August 1942 to an incredible 96% hit rate by 1945. They transformed Bomber Command – the only part of the Allied war effort capable of attacking the heart of Nazi Germany – from an impotent division on the cusp of disintegration in 1942 to a force capable of razing whole German cities to the ground, inspiring fear in Hitler’s senior command and helping the Allies deliver decisive victory in World War II.
With exclusive interviews with remaining survivors, personal diaries, previously classified records and never-before seen photographs, The Pathfinders brings to life the characters of the airmen and women -- many barely out of their teens — who took to the skies in iconic British aircraft such as the Lancaster and the Mosquito, facing almost unimaginable levels of violence from enemy fighter planes to strike the heart of the Nazi war machine.
A November release:
by Mark StilleDescription:
Although slowly building its navy while neutral during the early years of World War II, the US was struck a serious blow when its battleships, the lynchpin of US naval doctrine, were the target of the dramatic attack at Pearl Harbor. In the Pacific Theater, the US was thereafter locked into a head to head struggle with the impressive Imperial Japanese Navy, fighting a series of major battles in the Coral Sea, at Midway, the Philippine Sea, Leyte Gulf, and Okinawa in the struggle for supremacy over Japan. Having avoided the decisive defeat sought by the IJN, the US increased industrial production and by the end of the war, the US Navy was larger than any other in the world. Meanwhile in the west, the US Navy operated on a second front, supporting landings in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy, and in 1944 played a significant part in the D-Day landings, the largest and most complex amphibious operation of all time. Written by an acknowledged expert and incorporating extensive illustrations including photographs, maps, and color artwork, this book offers a detailed look at the strategy operations and vessels of the US Navy in World War II.
Another November release:
by Robert LymanDescription:
By 1941 the Japanese reigned supreme in their newly conquered territories throughout Asia. But change was coming. In 1943 the Allies were determined to defeat the Japanese. New commanders were appointed, significant training together with restructuring took place, new equipment arrived and new tactics were developed. A War of Empires expertly retells these coordinated efforts to turn the tide of war as well as detailing the personalities of the commanders, their competing leadership styles, and their shared resolve to finally defeat the all-conquering Japanese. A War of Empires also details how the Indian Army, so brutally defeated in 1941 and 1942 was rebuilt, with a million new recruits. Acclaimed historian Robert Lyman describes how this new volunteer Indian Army, rising from the ashes of defeat, would ferociously fight not to preserve the British Empire but to resist the far more brutal, totalitarian Japanese empire and in the hope for a future, independent India.
But victory did not come immediately. It wasn't until March 1944, when the Japanese staged a massive invasion of India, their famed 'March on Delhi', that the years of rebuilding reaped their reward and after bitter, desperate fighting, the Japanese were finally defeated at Kohima and Imphal. This was followed by a series of extraordinary victories culminating in the catastrophic Japanese defeat at Mandalay in May 1945 and the collapse of all Japanese forces in Burma. Robert Lyman expertly charts this dramatic change as Allied forces fought this brutal campaign in horrific conditions. Their contribution consistently forgotten and ignored by many Western historians, Lyman has conducted ground-breaking research into Indian Army archives, to reveal how these triumphs would help secure Allied victory and ultimately redraw the map of the region with an independent India, free from the shackles of empire, all but guaranteed.
Some good books there Jerome!
An May 2023 release:
by John R. BruningDescription:
On August 20, 1942, twelve Marine dive-bombers and nineteen Marine fighters landed at Guadalcanal. Their mission: defeat the Japanese navy and prevent it from sending more men and supplies to "Starvation Island," as Guadalcanal was nicknamed. The Japanese were turning the remote, jungle-covered mountain in the south Solomon Islands into an air base from which they could attack the supply lines between the U.S. and Australia. The night after the Marines landed and captured the partially completed airfield, the Imperial Navy launched a surprise night attack on the Allied fleet offshore, resulting in the worst defeat the U.S. Navy suffered in the 20th century, which prompted the abandonment of the Marines on Guadalcanal.
The Marines dug in, and waited for help, as those thirty-one pilots and twelve gunners flew against the Japanese, shooting down eighty-three planes in less than two months, while the dive bombers, carried out over thirty attacks on the Japanese fleet. Fifty-Three Days on Starvation Island follows Major John L. Smith, a magnetic leader who became America’s top fighter ace for the time; Captain Marian Carl, the Marine Corps’ first ace, and one of the few survivors of his squadron at the Battle of Midway. He would be shot down and forced to make his way back to base through twenty-five miles of Japanese-held jungle. And Major Richard Mangrum, the lawyer-turned-dive-bomber commander whose inexperienced men wrought havoc on the Japanese Navy.
New York Times bestselling author John R. Bruning depicts the desperate effort to stop the Japanese long enough for America to muster reinforcements and turn the tide at Guadalcanal. Not just the story of an incredible stand on a distant jungle island, Fifty-Three Days on Starvation Island also explores the consequences of victory to the men who secured it at a time when America had been at war for less than a year and its public had yet to fully understand what that meant. The home front they returned to after their jungle ordeal was a surreal montage of football games, nightclubs, fine dining with America’s elites, and inside looks at dysfunctional defense industries more interested in fleecing the government than properly equipping the military. Bruning tells the story of how one battle reshaped the Marine Corps and propelled its veterans into the highest positions of power just in time to lead the service into a new war in Southeast Asia.
A July release:
by Charles Stephenson Description:
Did Japan surrender in 1945 because of the death and devastation caused by the atomic bombs dropped by the Americans on Hiroshima and Nagasaki or because of the crushing defeat inflicted on their armies by the Soviet Union in Manchukuo, the puppet state they set up in north-east China? Indeed, the Red Army’s rapid and total victory in Manchukuo has been relatively neglected by historians.
Charles Stephenson, in this scholarly and highly readable new study, describes the political, diplomatic and military build-up to the Soviet offensive and its decisive outcome. He also considers to what extent Japan’s capitulation is attributable to the atomic bomb or the stunningly successful entry of the Soviet Union into the conflict.
The military side of the story is explored in fascinating detail – the invasion of Manchukuo itself where the Soviet ‘Deep Battle’ concept was employed with shattering results, and secondary actions in Korea, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. But equally absorbing is the account of the decision-making that gave rise to the offensive and the political and diplomatic background to it, and in particular the Yalta conference. There, Stalin allowed the Americans to persuade him to join the war in the east; a conflict he was determined on entering anyway.
Charles Stephenson’s engrossing narrative throws new light on the last act of the Second World War.
Jerome wrote: "A July release:by Charles Stephenson Description:
Did Japan surrender i..."
Sounds like a book to check out once its published.
An August release:
by David Mitchelhill-GreenDescription:
Adolf Hitler’s war in Africa arose from the urgent need to reinforce the Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini, whose 1940 invasion of Egypt had been soundly beaten. Of secondary importance to his ideological dream of conquering the Soviet Union, Germany’s Führer rushed a small mechanised force into the unfamiliar North African theatre to stave off defeat and avert any political fallout.
This fresh account begins with the arrival of the largely unprepared German formations, soon to be stricken by disease and heavily reliant upon captured materiel, as they fought a bloody series of see-sawing battles across the Western Desert.
David Mitchelhill-Green has gathered a wealth of personal narratives from both sides as he follows the brash exploits of General Erwin Rommel, intent on retaking Libya; the Nile firmly in his sights. Against this backdrop is the brutal human experience of war itself.
'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Jerome wrote: "A July release:by Charles Stephenson Description:
Did Ja..."
Me, too, AR.
"The Caribbean Front in World War II" by José L Bolívar.
"The conventional view of World War II as a conflict that was not fought in the Americas is debunked in this fascinating book.
"German submarine warfare was sinking one oil tanker or merchant ship per day in Caribbean waters in the worst months of 1942. The US Merchant Marine suffered heavy losses of ships and men, while the Allies struggled to contain the damage done to the supply of oil from Venezuela and airplane fuel from Curaçao to the United States.
"Puerto Rico experienced food shortages on account of German U-boat warfare in 1942, while Martinique suffered near famine in the aftermath of a British and American blockade induced by the Vichy government's control of the Caribbean island. The US invested billions in military installments on the British and American islands and transformed Puerto Rico into 'the Gibraltar of the Caribbean.' This is a compelling narrative based on contemporary newspapers, doctoral dissertations, and primary archival sources."
PUBLICATION DATE: March 1, 2021
Sounds like an interesting book, thanks for posting the details Komet.
A November release:
by Keith Warren LloydDescription:
It was a miracle three years in the making, a testimony to American fortitude and ingenuity—and perhaps the key to why the United States won a war that after Pearl Harbor seemed hopeless.
Impeccably researched deep in the archives at Pearl Harbor and Washington DC, Revenge of the Dreadnoughts is colorfully written, personal, chilling, visceral,
Historian Keith Warren Lloyd brings his gift for injecting life and personalities and heretofore untold stories of the men and women involved-–members of what became known as The Greatest Generation—whose heroism and sacrifice brought about the miraculous new life of a sleeping military force that was reeling and on its knees.
It is a story has never before been old in such detail and with such vibrancy.
On the night of 24 October 1944, a force of two battleships, one heavy cruiser and four destroyers from the Imperial Japanese Navy steamed into Surigao Strait in the Philippines. Their objective: to attack the invasion fleet of General Douglas MacArthur’s army in Leyte Gulf. Alerted by scouting PT boats, the U.S. 7th Fleet under the command of Rear Admiral Jesse Oldendorf prepared a deadly trap. Waiting for the enemy force were five American battleships and supporting cruisers and destroyers. Oldendorf performed the classic naval maneuver of “crossing the T” which allowed the American ships to fire broadsides at the oncoming Japanese vessels, while the enemy could only fire with their forward turrets. When the smoke cleared, the Japanese fleet had been all but annihilated.
Only one destroyer escaped.
The victorious American battleships were the Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, California, and Tennessee, five of the eight dreadnoughts that had been sunk at Pearl Harbor.
The five ships had been raised, repaired, modified and re-manned. After three long years, they finally had their revenge.
Revenge of the Dreadnoughts takes readers from the attack on Pearl Harbor, telling the story of the severe damage dealt to each ship and the incredible acts of courage performed by the sailors of each crew that morning. It continues with how each ship was raised and repaired—Herculean in scope-- and the mustering of new commanders, officers and crewmen.
The final drama unfolds as of each ship returns triumphantly to the battle fleet, and the ultimate triumph at the battle of Surigao Strait.
An October release:
by Michael Lee LanningDescription:
During World War II, some 10,000 American bombers and fighters were shot down over Europe. Of the crews aboard, 26,000 men were killed, while 30,000 survived being shot down only to be captured and made prisoners of war. Against the longest of odds, nearly 3,000 airmen made it to the ground alive, evaded capture, and escaped to safety. These men proudly called themselves the Blister Club.
Drawing on tens of thousands of pages of mostly untapped documents in the National Archives, Michael Lee Lanning tells the story of these courageous airmen. They had received escape-and-evasion (E & E) training, and some were lucky enough to land with their E-&-E kits—but all bets were off once they hit the ground. They landed after an air catastrophe. The geography was usually unfamiliar. Civilians might or might not be trustworthy. German soldiers and Gestapo agents hunted down airmen as well as civilians who dared help them. If an airman abandoned his uniform for civilian garb, he forfeited Geneva Convention protections. Most faced the daunting task of escaping on foot across hundreds of miles. The fortunate connected with one of the established escape routes to Spain or Switzerland or across the English Channel, or they hooked up with the underground resistance or friendly civilians. Upon return to friendly lines, these men were often able to provide valuable intelligence about enemy troop dispositions and civilian morale. Many volunteered to fly again even though regulations prohibited it.
The Blister Club is history with a punch. With a historian’s eye, Lanning covers the hows and whys of escape-and-evasion and aerial combat in the European theater, but the book also vividly captures the stories of the airmen who did the escaping and evading, including that of a young pilot named Chuck Yeager, who, during his own escape, aided the French Resistance and helped another downed airman to safety—and then begged to fly again, eventually securing Eisenhower’s approval to return to the air, where he achieved ace status.
Stories of escape are popular, especially those set during World War II, as are stories of the war in the air. Combining both of these, The Blister Club should find an enthusiastic audience.
Jerome wrote: "A November release: by Keith Warren LloydDescription:
It was a miracle three years in the making, a testimony to American fortit..."
Is it Avenging Pearl Harbor or Revenge of the Dreadnoughts? Either way, what a great idea for a book. Thanks for sharing. I also would love to read the Blister Club. Again, thatnks for putting these books on my radar screen.
A September release:
by Jonathan WhiteheadDescription:
Spanish Republicans and the Second World War tells the stories of the 500,000 Spanish Republicans that fled across the Pyrenees in 1939 as Catalonia fell to Franco’s victorious army in the final weeks of the Civil War. Many of the exiles played an active part in the Second World War. Some joined the French and British armed forces and saw action in various theatres including Africa and Europe (both in 1940 and after D-Day).
In August 1944, Spanish Republicans in the La Nueve Company of General Leclerc’s Deuxième Blindée were the first Allied troops into Paris during the liberation of the French capital. Those that had remained in Vichy France were active in the early days of the French Resistance, and Republican Maquis also played a significant part in the liberation of the south-west of France in 1944.
Those who fought the Axis troops in Spain during the Civil War and then again in France assumed that once the Allies had defeated the Nazis, they would launch a military campaign to overthrow Franco’s government in Spain. In October 1944, a force of thousands of Spanish Maquis took part in Operación Reconquista, the invasion of the Valley of Aran on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees. Their declared aim was to trigger a popular uprising and force the Allies to intervene against Franco’s dictatorship.
Whitehead also examines the role of the Spanish volunteers of the División Azul who swore an oath of allegiance to Hitler and fought with the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front; the role of the master double-agent Garbo, who played a crucial part in the success of D-Day; the strategic importance of Gibraltar; and the activities of the British diplomatic corps and secret services in resisting Hitler’s plans to invade the Iberian Peninsula.
A November release:
by Brendan SimmsDescription:
By early December 1941, war had changed much of the world beyond recognition. Nazi Germany occupied most of the European continent, while in Asia, the Second Sino-Japanese War had turned China into a battleground. But these conflicts were not yet inextricably linked—and the United States remained at peace.
Hitler’s American Gamble recounts the five days that upended everything: December 7 to 11. Tracing developments in real time and backed by deep archival research, historians Brendan Simms and Charlie Laderman show how Hitler’s intervention was not the foolhardy decision of a man so bloodthirsty that he forgot all strategy, but a calculated risk that can only be understood in a truly global context. This book reveals how December 11, not Pearl Harbor, was the real watershed that created a world war and transformed international history.
Marc wrote: "Just found out about two upcoming books which look interesting:
[book:Solo Into..."I proofed the manuscript for Jay, much the same for Adam Makos' books and Bruce Henderson for Sons and Soldiers, and they look at mine on occasion. I liked the book very much.
Above the Reich: Deadly Dogfights, Blistering Bombing Raids, and Other War Stories from the Greatest American Air Heroes of World War II, in Their Own Words This is my next release coming in June for those interested. I am working on a new book of interviews with aces from the Pacific Theater now.
Colin wrote: "Above the Reich: Deadly Dogfights, Blistering Bombing Raids, and Other War Stories from the Greatest American Air Heroes of World War II, in Their Own Words This is my next release ..."Sounds like that should be quite interesting reading. I will keep an eye out for its release.
Above the Reich: Deadly Dogfights, Blistering Bombing Raids, and Other War Stories from the Greatest American Air Heroes of World War II, in Their Own Words by Colin Heaton
A September release:
by John A. EnglishDescription:
General Bernard Law Montgomery, affectionately known as "Monty," exerted a more lasting military influence on the Canadian Army than any other Second World War commander. In 1942 he assumed responsibility for the exercise and training of Canadian formations in England, and by the end of the war Canada’s field army was second to none in the practical exercise of combined arms.
In Monty and the Canadian Army, John A. English analyses the way Montgomery’s operational influence continued to permeate the Canadian Army. For years, the Canadian Army remained a highly professional force largely because it was commanded by "Monty men," found at almost every lower level of army command, who were steeped in the Montgomery method. The era of the Canadian Army headed by such men ceased with the integration and unification of Canada’s armed forces in 1964.
The embrace of Montgomery by Canadian soldiers stands in marked contrast to negative perceptions by Americans, only a few of whom have viewed him in a favourable light. Monty and the Canadian Army aims to correct such perceptions, which are mostly superficial and more often than not wrong, and addresses the anomaly of how this gifted general, one of the greatest field commanders of World War Two, managed to win over other North American troops.
Kind of preaching at the converted Jerome, but I'll keep an eye out for that one. Thanks.
Being a Canadian I will be watching for this one😎😎
Another:
by Martin DugardDescription:
May 1940: The world is stunned as Hitler's forces invade France with a devastating blitzkrieg aimed at Paris. Within weeks, the French government has collapsed, and the City of Lights, revered for its carefree lifestyle, intellectual freedom, and love of liberty, has fallen under Nazi control--perhaps forever.
As the Germans ruthlessly crush all opposition, a patriotic band of Parisians known as the Resistance secretly rise up to fight back. But these young men and woman cannot do it alone. Over 120,000 Parisians die under German occupation. Countless more are tortured in the city's Gestapo prisons and sent to death camps. The longer the Nazis hold the city, the greater the danger its citizens face. As the armies of America and Great Britain prepare to launch the greatest invasion in history, the spies of the Resistance risk all to ensure the Germans are defeated and Paris is once again free.
The players holding the fate of Paris in their hands are some of the biggest historical figures of the era: Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, General George S. Patton, and the exiled French general Charles de Gaulle, headquartered in London's Connaught Hotel. From the fall of Paris in 1940 to the race for Paris in 1944, this riveting, page-turning drama unfolds through their decisions--for better and worse. Taking Paris is history told at a breathtaking pace, a sprawling yet intimate saga of heroism, desire, and personal sacrifice for all that is right.
Jerome wrote: "Another: by Martin DugardDescription:
May 1940: The world is stunned as Hitler's forces invade France with..."
Judging by the blurb, this already sounds like breathless exaggeration
Don't think this one has been mentioned yet. Coming in April 21 (from an author I like but not generally thought of as a military historian):
The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War by Malcolm GladwellAn exploration of how technology and best intentions collide in the heat of war
In The Bomber Mafia, Malcolm Gladwell weaves together the stories of a Dutch genius and his homemade computer, a band of brothers in central Alabama, a British psychopath, and pyromaniacal chemists at Harvard to examine one of the greatest moral challenges in modern American history.
Most military thinkers in the years leading up to World War II saw the airplane as an afterthought. But a small band of idealistic strategists, the “Bomber Mafia,” asked: What if precision bombing could cripple the enemy and make war far less lethal?
In contrast, the bombing of Tokyo on the deadliest night of the war was the brainchild of General Curtis LeMay, whose brutal pragmatism and scorched-earth tactics in Japan cost thousands of civilian lives, but may have spared even more by averting a planned US invasion. In The Bomber Mafia, Gladwell asks, “Was it worth it?”
Things might have gone differently had LeMay’s predecessor, General Haywood Hansell, remained in charge. Hansell believed in precision bombing, but when he and Curtis LeMay squared off for a leadership handover in the jungles of Guam, LeMay emerged victorious, leading to the darkest night of World War II. The Bomber Mafia is a riveting tale of persistence, innovation, and the incalculable wages of war.
Sounds like an interesting book, thanks for the heads-up Mike.
An October release:
by Alexandra Lohse Description:
Mobilized for total war, soldiers and citizens alike experienced an unprecedented convergence of military, economic, social, and political crises. But even in retreat, the militarized national community unleashed ferocious energies, staving off defeat for over two years and continuing a systematic murder campaign against European Jews and others. Was its faith in the Führer never shaken by the prospect of ultimate defeat?
Lohse uncovers how Germans experienced life and death, investigates how mounting emergency conditions impacted their understanding of the nature and purpose of the conflagration, and shows how these factors impacted people's relationship with the Nazi regime. She draws on Nazi morale and censorship reports, features citizens' private letters and diaries, and incorporates a large body of Allied intelligence, including several thousand transcripts of surreptitiously recorded conversations among German POWs in Western Allied captivity.
Lohse's historical reconstruction helps us understand how ordinary Germans interpreted their experiences as both the victims and perpetrators of extreme violence. We are immersively drawn into their desolate landscape: walking through bombed-out streets, scrounging for food, burning furniture, listening furtively to Allied broadcasts, unsure where the truth lay. Prevail until the Bitter End is about the stories that Germans told themselves to make sense of this world in crisis.
A November release:
by John C. McManus Description:
After some two years at war, the Army in the Pacific held ground across nearly a third of the globe, from Alaska’s Aleutians to Burma and New Guinea. The challenges ahead were enormous: supplying a vast number of troops over thousands of miles of ocean; surviving in jungles ripe with dysentery, malaria, and other tropical diseases; fighting an enemy prone to ever-more desperate and dangerous assaults. Yet the Army had proven they could fight. Now, they had to prove they could win a war.
Brilliantly researched and written, Island Infernos moves seamlessly from the highest generals to the lowest foot soldiers and in between, capturing the true essence of this horrible conflict. A sprawling yet page-turning narrative, the story spans the battles for Saipan and Guam, the appalling carnage of Peleliu, General MacArthur’s dramatic return to the Philippines, and the grinding jungle combat to capture the island of Leyte. This masterful history is the second volume of John C. McManus’s trilogy on the US Army in the Pacific War, proving McManus to be one of our finest historians of World War II.
Jerome wrote: "A November release: by John C. McManus Description:
After some two years at war, the Army in the Paci..."
This will be a future purchase for me :)
'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Jerome wrote: "A November release: by John C. McManus Description:
After some two years at war, the A..."
Me too!
A January 19th, 2022 release ---Fleet Air Arm Legends: Fairey Swordfish by Matthew Willis
SUMMARY
Few aircraft encompass as many contradictions as the Fairey Swordfish – the legendary ‘Stringbag’ naval torpedo bomber was approaching antiquation at the start of the war yet struck mortal blows against some of the most powerful battleships in the Axis fleets.
Naval Aviation historian Matthew Willis explores how modern technology such as radar kept the Swordfish effective in the early years of the war and enabled it to find and hit the Italian fleet at Taranto, and the Bismarck in the Atlantic, in circumstances where no other aircraft could have succeeded.
When it was finally superseded in its main role with the Fleet, the Swordfish fulfilled vital roles protecting convoys from the U-boat menace. The story of the Swordfish’s service across the majority of theaters in WWII, from the hunt for the Graf Spee to the beaches of Normandy, is told here with never-before-published accounts from veteran aircrews. Includes 100+ historic photographs and unique images of the Royal Navy Historic Flight’s preserved aircraft.
I just read an ARC of this. Really well-researched. Lots of first-person accounts, interviews and official records. And it is a well-written story on top of that.
Book comes out on May 11, 2021.
Marc wrote: "Just found out about this one today:
Brothers in Arms"Hard to pass up a James Holland book :)
Emma wrote: "I just read an ARC of this. Really well-researched. L..."
Sounds like another good book to keep an eye-out for!
In this month's Audible non-fiction newsletter, I stumbled on the following book:The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
I did know Malcom Gladwell so was a little bit surprised that he wrote this book - judging on his previous books, I wasn't aware his topics also included World War II.
Boudewijn wrote: "In this month's Audible non-fiction newsletter, I stumbled on the following book:The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War https://www.goodreads.com/b..."
It does sound like quite an interesting book Boudewijn, keep us posted on your progress.
This one looks interesting... some of the slides in the article are amazing.https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/techn...
Abandoned World War II Aircraft, Tanks Warships
Does sound interesting Jonny!
In approximately 3 weeks, the new book by Sir Max Hastings will be released. It is "Operation Pedestal: The Fleet That Battled to Malta, 1942."
I'm very excited about the impending publication of this book because I've long had a deep interest in the Siege of Malta (June 1940-November 1942), an island in the Mediterranean which served as a linchpin in Britain's efforts to retain a presence in North Africa and the Mediterranean against the Axis Powers. From Malta, British air and naval vessels would harry German and Italian ships sending supplies to Rommel in the Western Desert during the height of the fighting there in 1941-42. Ship sinkings became almost prohibitive to the Axis, so both the Germans and Italians resolved to destroy Malta through air assault.
Malta became one of the most bombed areas in World War II. Indeed, it was brought to the brink of starvation and defeat as the Axis sought to put a stranglehold on the island and neutralize it. Some of the fiercest air battles of the war --- with the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica pitted against the Royal Air Force ---were fought over Malta itself.
I'm happily anticipating buying and reading the paperback edition of "Operation Pedestal" (which is being released at the same time as the hardcover edition). It covers a key military operation during the Siege of Malta in August 1942 that helped to keep Britain in the war.
I have a copy on order as well Komet and eagerly awaiting its arrival :)
Earlier today (May 16th, 2021), I came across a book that holds a special appeal for me because my late father was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II who had served in a segregated unit of Patton's Third Army, seeing action from Normandy (including the Battle of the Bulge) to Czechoslovakia on VE-Day. Proud Warriors: African American Combat Units in World War II by Alexander M Bielakowski
Expected Publication Date: October 15, 2021.
A book well worth waiting for Komet!
After over a year delay because of this, that, and the other, ‘Days of Steel Rain’ is now available. AR previously posted it here way back when.Several years ago the to-be author Brent Jones and I met as we both had relatives aboard the USS Astoria CL-90. Along the line he got the idea for a book about the ship and a cross section of the crew.
As fellow WW2 history fans, you can image how thrilled I was to participate with the research on this tale.
Although Brent was unpublished, James Hornfischer took him on as his agent, so you know that he knew the book had promise in its early development.
MR9, (and other contemporary Navy fans) perhaps you know of Full Admiral John C. Harvey, who has received the book well along with other Navy readers.
Consider this book for your collection ! ( no I don’t make any money off sales)
Days of Steel Rain: The Epic Story of a WWII Vengeance Ship in the Year of the Kamikaze
https://www.hachettebooks.com/titles/...
OK, one to keep an eye out for, thanks for the update Carl!
Impressive Carl, so neat to be able to participate in uncovering another WWII story. I'll also keep an eye open for this one.
THE WORLD WAR TWO GROUP
Books mentioned in this topic
Empire of Ashes: Truman, Hirohito, and the Descent into Total War (other topics)Empire of Ashes: Truman, Hirohito, and the Descent into Total War (other topics)
1942: Hitler's Gamble for Victory (other topics)
1942: Hitler's Gamble for Victory (other topics)
Greyhounds of the Pacific: U.S. Destroyers in the War Against Japan (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
James M. Scott (other topics)James M. Scott (other topics)
Richard Hargreaves (other topics)
Richard Hargreaves (other topics)
Andrew Faltum (other topics)
More...
Definitely interested AR.