New Newsletter

[keif149]

Shiloh, with the Union backed against the Tennessee River?

[wigam]

No, but the river is key...

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

At the risk of sounding stupid, the thoughts that came to mind at first glance of the pics.........

Not very good with naval but the ship looked old with those little side turrets and the USS Maine was my first thought, I don't know why. Even tho the photo is black and white, you can usually tell if something is white and I thought the Maine was. The ship in the pic doesn't look white so Graf Spee came to mind, another I don't know why. I have had thi mind for 47 years and I still don't know how it works. :conf:

The first thing I noticed about the Civil war pic was the Yankees in winter coats. First thought was Murfreesboro or Stones River as some know it.

Third pic, I noticed the fence. It looks to me as the fall of S Vietnam in the 70s after the US pulled out.

Probably way off base on all of them, but the mind and eyes have been abused over the years.

[wigam]

All amounts of bonus points have been awarded now. Thanks to all that replyed. :)

The answers were:

1.This pic shows the German Battleship Schleswig-Holstein fought in WW1 and WW2 - The Schleswig-Holstein bombarded the Polish forts along the Hela Peninsula and signaled the opening of the the german attack into Poland and the start of World War II.

2.The Battle of Stone River or Battle of Murfreesboro another name for this battle - Civil War Dec. 31 1862 to Jan 2 1863 - Total casualties in the battle were 23,515: 13,249 on the Union side and 10,266 for the Confederates. This was the highest percentage of casualties of any major battle in the Civil War.

3. An PAVN tank crashes through the gates of the Idependence Palace in Saigon 30 April 1975 - Fall of Saigon

[seabolt]

1. wasn't too tough because that superstructure was so distinctive and the single forward turret strongly suggested a turn-of-the-century design bureau.

2., as discussed, wasn't all that obvious until you pointed out that the background was a clue. (There's a *lot* of waterways and ridges in the mid-Atlantic U.S.) I didn't know that Stone River was the battle with the highest percentage of casualties, however. That's interesting.

If you couldn't get 3., you've got no business playing. The flag's the most interesting part. It was only flown for about a month, for a separate Communist South Vietnam before the Communists reunited the country.

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[pndrev]

Cool stuff in the newsletter.

A few days ago I found an old photo, showing a WW2 plane in which a friend of my fathers crashed. If I write up a bit of background, where would I send it?

[wigam]

Send it to dominey(at)orcon(dot)net(dot)nz

That sounds very interesting. Bonus points when it goes in the nest newsletter. :)

[brm_3k]

Do you have anything you might like to see in the next issue?

The review of "The Great Siege" kind of surprised me. It truly is a great read -- the last of the terrible steel wyrms weaving their lethal doppelhander arts against the fanatical Ottoman hordes in a grim swan song -- but about as out of print as a book can get. I thought that I might be able to out-obscure it with Pleivier's "Stalingrad," but no way. Amazon has a grand total of 2 copies of "Siege," dozens of "Stalingrad."

Next newsletter how about running my generic review of the collected novels of Alan Furst?:

[Night/Dark/Red/Shadow] [Soldiers/Officer/Victory/Gold] [of Shadows/of Victory/at Night] details the exploits of a [minor European nation or ethnic group]-born protagonist who probably has really high cheekbones. As the story begins in [1936/37/38/39], our hero's sympathy for the socialist ideal has been shattered by the brutal realities of the Stalinist regime. Set into flight by [Nazi/Soviet] sympathizers, he makes his way to Paris [before/after] becoming involved in the Allied [intelligence/partisan] effort in the most perilous possible way, as a dubious asset who constantly has to wonder when, not if, his luck will run out. As a Parisian of the constantly-looking-over-his-shoulder sort, our hero beds [1/2/3/4/5] beautiful women before eventually making his way to the Brasserie Heininger, where we have to read about that damn bullet hole in the mirror yet again. In the meantime, the author does a devilish job of describing the terror and hardship of [espionage/partisan warfare] during the early years of WWII. Additionally, the period detail is seamlessly woven into the narrative, the slightly puckish insight into human nature should bring a wry smile to the reader, and the author's mastery of his art will make it impossible to put this book down, even though you've read this story [1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8] times before ...

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Good review, but you missed Polish from the title options. The Polish Officer is a good book, as you say the period detail is something I can only read and envy.

You could do a similar review for Michael Dibdin's novels featuring Zen, but they are still a good read

Alex

[seabolt]

you missed Polish from the title options.

I tried to limit myself to the more generic options. It's mildly amusing to put them together and realize that they're perfectly valid Furst titles:

Victory of Shadows
Night Officer
Dark Gold

I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from reading the things, however. Furst is a rare author who can drench his narrative in authentic detail yet still keep things moving at a cracking pace.

And "Polish Officer" is my favorite.

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