Books

[The Rattler]

I have just finished Atlantis.....the story of a german surface commerce raider> An armed merchant ship dressed in disguise ,pouncing upon allied shipping from 1940 - 42 and which achieved the most "kills" out of all of the raiders.Twice as much as the famed Graf Spree.Travelled around the world twice in the 2 years., Interesting insight.

[keif149]

Greetings!

I have another. Tried a different era, and dropped back to the US Civil War. The title is: “Detailed Minutiae of Soldier Life”. CR1882 by C. McCarthy. Reprinted in 1982 by Time Life Books. This is a library edition, beautifully bound in leather, will gold fillet on the pages, and a crimson sash book mark.

McCarthy was an artilleryman in the Army of Northern Virginia. He gives some details of his own actions, but, what I thought was very interesting, is his take on the every day life of a Confederate soldier. He figured (hoped) his writing would survive the test of time, and someday be read by future generations. Knowing this, instead of taking for granted what people knew about everyday life back then, he goes into great detail for the readers in the future, so they might understand how things where. It is very well written and reads very smoothly. Having read many a deed from that time period, I was a little concerned if it would be hard to get into. On the contrary, I raced through its 224 pages. I’ve wanted to break out some of my Civil War games, and I thought this would be a great primer, and I was correct.
http://www.questia.com/library/book/deta...eppard.jsp

http://www.amazon.com/Detailed-Minutiae-...0803281978

Highly recommended.
Keif.

[Antoni Chmielowski]

I just got this book fron my local library :

The Bravest Man, the story of Richard O`Kane ISBN 0 7509 2767 4.

He won :

Medal Of Honour
3 x Navy Cross
Legion of Merit
3 x Silver Stars
Commendation Ribbon
3 x Presidential Unit Citations

and battle stars for 11 War Patrols


It is an excellent and interesting book !

[keif149]

Greetings!
Next is “With Rommel in the Desert”. By H.W. Schmidt. CR.1931, ISBN 0-553-13130-3.

Schmidt was Rommel’s aid-de-camp. Having just read general information about Rommel, this was a nice insight to some of his more personal features. I especially enjoyed the description of Rommel hunting antelope between major battles. Although the whole book is not about Schmidt’s association with Rommel, his own story is quite interesting. He leaves Rommel to command his own company and later a battalion. The book ends at the defeat of the German Army in North Africa. Not sure if he has written other books, but this story ends with him back in Germany.
Translated well into English, it is easy to read. My copy was a Bantam War Book paperback series. A steal from a used book store for .50 cents. It has a few maps, and many fine sketches. Also the colored fold out “painting” was nice also.
Scenario ideas would probably most benefit larger scale games, as the Panzer Campaigns or The Campaign Series. Some battles he does give a good account for both sides suitable for CMAK etc.
I enjoyed it and I think most people would as well.
Keif.


http://www.amazon.com/Rommel-Desert-War-...0939482398

[Antoni Chmielowski]

For all off you Eastern Front fanatics out there, the best books I have read about the war on the Eastern Front have to be John Ericsons Road to Stalingrad : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Road-Stalingrad-...903&sr=8-1

and the follow up the Road to Berlin : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Road-Berlin-Stal...046&sr=1-1

They are excellantly researched and written books.

[cillmhor]

Just one more title to throw into the pot for anyone interested - The Middle Parts of Fortune by Frederic Manning.

The book is a novel set during the First World War and it very realistically depicts life at the front and between fighting. This is very much a work of literature and as such is not full of descriptions of actual battles or war, if action is what you are after then this book is not for you. The book focuses on the day-to-day monotony and the comradeship between the ordinary soldiers, it also touches on the futility of war and how the constant threat of death and injury was dealt with by soldiers. The author served on the Western Front in WWI and he is a very fine writer, described by some of the best known authors of the time as one of, if not the best novels on WWI. As I said this is not fast-paced or a page-turner, but a real good book which allows you to sympathise with the common soldier. Strong language peppers the book so if you are offended then maybe this is not for you. I have not read many novels on war, but this is a great one in my opinion.

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[Cole]

Death`s Men by Denis Winter. Can`t praise this book enough. Great overview of the British experience during WWI. The book is divided into chapters on various aspects of the war to include the Home Front, the training camps, life in the trenches, etc, etc and these aspects are nicely described by a variety of methods.