Reading List

[TallyhoBob]

Just finished reading ANVIL by Peter Leslie-the story of the Allied Invasion of Southern France, quite an interesting book apart from some fiction thrown in here and there, interesting note that Churchill was totally against this Operation Dragoon, he wanted to focus on Italy and thrust into Austria and Czechoslovakia to stop the Reds getting there first..now that could have changed history..Book published in 1984

Prior to this I read Return Ticket-the story of Anthony Deane Drummond, pow escapee extraordinaire..great read..book published in 1955

And before this I read Adventure in Diamonds by David E Walker, the true story of 2 Dutchmen and a British Officer and their attempts to get Industrial Diamonds out of Holland under the nose of the Germans in the early days of the German attack..great read..Book published in 1957

[TallyhoBob]

Apr 4, 2012 12:27:27 GMT groundhog said:

In Freedom's Cause by Pádraig O Haicéad

Went into Costcutters in Cashel today for The Nationalist and they have half a dozen copies of this book. It reproduces articles and letters from the pages of the Nenagh Guardian during World War 1. The articles mention by name, not just those who made the ultimate sacrifice, but who volunteered, who was wounded and so on. It also makes occasional forays into the South Riding. The book gives a great feel of the times. No Tipperary military history bookshelf should be without this book.

Thanks for this Mike..I owe ya..just starting it now

[groundhog]

One of the more famous participants in Operation Dragoon was Audie Murphy who landed with the US 3rd Division on August 15th 1944.

[TallyhoBob]

Currently Reading the Regimental History of the Royal Irish Regiment from 1684 to 1902..Excellent Read

[groundhog]

Apr 19, 2012 22:48:49 GMT TallyhoBob said:

...interesting note that Churchill was totally against this Operation Dragoon, he wanted to focus on Italy and thrust into Austria and Czechoslovakia to stop the Reds getting there first..now that could have changed history..Book published in 1984....

The Allies hadn'tquite reached the Northern Italian border when the Germans surrendered in May 1945 if memory serves me correctly. Attempting to fight over the mountains into Austria and Czechslovakia in competition with their ally rather than making a beeline for Berlin sounds like typical nonsense from Churchill. The British General Staff must have been in despair all through WW2 when listening to his hare-brained schemes. Even the Italian campaign itself was a complete waste of time and manpower that could have been used to invade France months earlier and thus shortened the war.

[groundhog]

Arrived this week and continuing the Arras theme;

Battleground Europe's Monchy Le Preux and Cheerful Sacrifice.

Moving a little north of Arras I also bought

The bedside locker is getting a little crowded while I attempt to finish Lyn MacDonald's To the Last Man while dealing with the complaints of the Kitchen Commander that she bought me a Kindle for Christmas so I wouldn't have to buy real books anymore. I've told her that Battleground Europe does not come in Kindle format.

[groundhog]

I'm just finishing this book now and I must say that it is quite the best of Paul O'Brien's books on the Easter Rising so far. The change of editor/publisher has worked wonders and he has limited himself to no more than four or five references to "Crown Forces" ;D, dispensed with the rank of Brigadier Colonel and has almost got on top of the British Regimental system. Former members of the North Staffordshire and South Staffordshire Regiments might be a little insulted to see their regiments referred to as the North and South Battalions of The Staffordshire Regiment.

In his introduction Paul o'Brien writes that "the countermanding order issued by Eoin McNeill must once again be questioned, as it left Daly's Battalion dangerously under strength." If so shouldn't we also question the decision by the leaders of the Rising to disobey the orders of their Chief of Staff and, following on from that, investigate the extent and purpose of the infiltration of the Volunteers by the IRB.

The books itself deals with the fighting in the area of the Four Courts under the command of Ned Daly. I must say that the research on these books is fantastic and the author tells the tale quite well. The best thing about this series is that it moves the story of the Rising away from the GPO. We can also look forward to future books telling the story from the "Crown Forces" side. Don't be put off by my complaints, any student of 1916 needs to read these books.

[groundhog]

Amazon's blurb

After civil war, can the winners commemorate their victory, hailing their conquering heroes with the blood of their former comrades still fresh on their boots? Or should they cover themselves in shame and hope that the nation soon forgets? In this new book, Anne Dolan explores the tensions between memory and forgetting in twentieth-century Ireland. By examining the memory of winning the Irish Civil War, she discusses the extent to which it has been used to serve party political ends, where private grief finds consolation when the dead have fallen from political favour, and how the dead are remembered when no one wanted to fight the war. The book addresses the Irish Civil War at its most public point: at the statues and crosses, and in the ritual and rhetoric of commemoration. It will be of central interest to all students and scholars of European history and politics.

I just got this today and have only read one chapter but it seems pretty good. Bought it second hand as the new copies are a bit cheeky. Having read just a few pages, it sheds some light on why we have airbrushed the men who won the Civil War out of history.

A great Uncle of an STMHS member gets amentionin it by the way.

[trpsarge]

Just finished

The Dambusters By Paul Brickhill 1968 version, nice easy read

'A' Company Action, By Dan Harvey....The Tunnel at Elizabethville, interesting record on the action that needed to be published years ago, its good stuff and well recommended.

Gulag by Anne Applebaum.....fascinating

The Rape Of Nanking by Iris Chan, great piece of work really compelling reading

Hitlers Hangman, The Life of Heydrich, Robert Gerwart, Fascinating insight into one of the few top Nazis who wasn't a diarist, so its not the usual waffle.

The Dambusters Raid by John SWeetman, very analytical insight to the Dambusters raid, along with Enemy Coast Ahead and the above mentioned Dambusters, it covers all.

Thats been my few weeks reading.

Expecting Irish Army Artrillery in the post in the next few days, by Ralph Riccio, guy who did the armour book. I 'll keep updates coming.

[groundhog]

If you only read one book on World War 1 this summer then this should be it

[trpsarge]

its hear finally

The Irish Artillery Corps since 1922 by Ralph Riccio. MMP publications

ISBN978 83 61421 52 8

The one and only, this is the definitive book on Irish Artillery, the units,the history and even the people.

Book is worth its cover price for the photos alone.