Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => The Second World War => Topic started by: Munindk on 02 July 2024, 09:42:42 AM
-
I've picked up some Perry infantry for the 8th army and DAK, and now I'm looking for some literature to help maintain my interest in the project.
I've ordered SAS Rogue Heroes (because I like the tv show), and I'm eyeing With the Scots by Peter White, even though its for the late war period.
Any recommendations? I'm primarily looking for books on North Africa, but good books for other theaters are welcome.
I'm more into biographies and similar, than Ospreys and the like. I wont be button counting :)
-
I picked this up in a second hand book shop and remember it being quite a good read.
-
Get a copy of 'Brazen Chariots'. Brilliant book about British tanks in North Africa.
:)
-
If you haven't read Eugene Sledge's "With the old breed at Peleliu and Okinawa" do yourself a favor and run out and buy it now! I've read loads of WW2 memoirs and this one stands head and shoulders above the rest.
You will likely want to start a Pacific theater project after reading it ;)
-
I found a used copy of The Desert War for cheap online, the others will take a bit more searching.
As for Pacific theater, my 8th army chaps could work for that and I've got a ton of aquarium plants left over from a sci fi project...
-
Probably one of the best written personal accounts of WW2 is John Master's The Road Past Mandalay. You don't need to read the earlier Bugles and a Tiger to enjoy it but that is a magnificent book and explains much about the Indian Army before the war. The two books track his progress from subaltern to Lt Colonel.
Nicholas Mosley's *Time of War is one of the better accounts of the Italian Campaign and throroughly readable.
My pick for the Desrt Campaign would be Keith Douglas' Alamein to Zem Zem. Douglas was a tank commander in the desert, later killed in Normandy so it's a really fresh and almost contemporary account, well worth digging out. It came out as a paperback so hunt through second hand bookshops.
*Yep, son of that Mosley but don't hold it against him.
-
James Holland's "Together We Stand" is a great read anout 1942-43.
-
John Masters “The Road Past Mandalay” - memoir of his war from ghurka subaltern to chindit brigadier. Iraq/india/burma.
Also Allan Clarks The Fall of Crete and William Manchesters Goodbye Darkness.
Ok none of them have anything to do with the western desert, but…
-
Not necessarily for the north African theater but Churchill's Toyshop is well worth the read. It may give you some ideas.
For the European theater, Alamo in the Ardenns is a very good read.
-
Iron Hulls Iron Hearts: Mussolini's Elite Armoured Divisions in North Africa gives a nice Italian perspective on things. Warning: may lead to purchasing Italian forces.
Invasion Syria, 1941: Churchill and de Gaulle's Forgotten War is a good western desert adjacent history. Warning: may lead to purchasing French forces for both sides.
: 3
-
For Western Desert I’d highly recommend the Barrie Pitt trilogy. Still in print I think and can often be picked up at a reasonable price second hand. Covers the whole war from East Africa to Tunisia. Very readable.
-
If you've an interest in NW Europe at all, these three are good. 'From the City from the Plough', 18 Platoon and 'Fear is the Foe'.
-
To add to the NW Europe theme, “Mailed fist” and “Warriors for the working day” are worth a read. Ostensibly novels, they are really the respective author’s wartime experiences. Both are very easy reads and tie in with Harry’s “From the city, from the plough” recommendation. “Tank” by Ken Tout is also excellent.
-
I’d highly recommend Panzer Commander by Hans Von Luck. It covers his whole career but a large portion of that is in Afrika and is generally a very interesting read (or listen it’s available as a great audiobook too).
Andrew
BeneathALeadMountain
-
Keep the recommendations coming guys, I'm learning a lot. The vast majority of memoirs I've read are from American and a smattering of German authors. I've never considered the British perspective.
-
Well, if you want the very best of the Limey memoirs. Read 'Men at Arnhem' by Tom Angus.
:)
-
panzer battles by von Mellenthin is a good read....
-
Keep the recommendations coming guys, I'm learning a lot. The vast majority of memoirs I've read are from American and a smattering of German authors. I've never considered the British perspective.
I always recommend 'And No Birds Sang", by Farley Mowat, about his time with the Canadian Army in Sicily and Southern Italy. Mowat also wrote 'The Regiment', about the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment (the Hasty P's) in WWII.
Other good memoirs include George Blackburn's 'The Guns of Normandy' which focusses on Canadian artillery in NWE, '18 Platoon' by Syd Jary (British infantry in NWE), and 'Quartered Safe Out Here' by George MacDonald Fraser (author of the Flashman series).
-
Battalion by Alastair Borthwick
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Battalion-British-Infantry-Actions-Alamein/dp/1898573352 (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Battalion-British-Infantry-Actions-Alamein/dp/1898573352)
Traces a British Battalion from El Alamein.
-
Well, if you want the very best of the Limey memoirs. Read 'Men at Arnhem' by Tom Angus.
:)
For the very best of seppo memoirs I'd second the suggestion of Manchester's Goodbye Darkness, albeit it's about the Pacific. It's a genuinely great piece of literature.
For an Australian perspective on El Alamein I'd recommend Dornan's The Last Man Standing.
I'd also recommend reading the Australian Official Histories if you are interested in the desert, Syria, Greece and Crete. Unlike many official histories, the Australian versions are particularly well written and read easily, especially the ones authored by Gavin Long. They are an invaluable source for scenario creation and full of glorious detail.
Best of all, they are all available, free and online through the Australian War Memorial site. Boo sucks to those of us who collected complete sets over the years. lol
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1417143
-
I'm overwhelmed by the recommendations, thanks guys :)
I've started with With the Scots, as it arrived first, and I've got a question about a weapon.
There's mention of a mountain gun used the the KOSB. Its breaks down so its portable by a handful of men. Is it this beast: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QF_3.7-inch_mountain_howitzer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QF_3.7-inch_mountain_howitzer)?
-
Yes, the 3.7" howitzer is the gun provided to 52 Lowland Division which was nominally a Mountain Division, as opposed to the 51st Highland Division which was not. :) For added irony, the Mountain Division spent most of its operational history in the very unmountainous Low Countries. At least the Lowland part was apposite I suppose. lol
The gun was developed at the end of the First World War as a mountain piece and saw a lot of service in India, alos seeing WW2 service in New Guinea. For a time between the wars it was also the official landing party gun for capital ships, usually crewed by Royal Marines.
Empress Miniatures do one in their Jazz Age range if you want one.
-
Men at Arnhem by Tom Angus is not available on (US) Amazon it might be difficult but not impossible to track down.
18 platoon by Jary is going for $100 :o
The other recommendations can be easily and cheaply purchased on Amazon, keep the recommendations coming guy!
-
Another for Alan Moorehead's 'The Desert War'. What is unique is that it was written by a war correspondent who was in theatre at the time and the book was actually written in real time. The author is not using distant historical sources or writing with the benefit of hindsight, it's a collection of his work at the time from his own perspective and those of the men he was talking to.
-
Anyone mentioned The Recollections of Rifleman Bowlby yet?
-
Yes, the 3.7" howitzer is the gun provided to 52 Lowland Division which was nominally a Mountain Division, as opposed to the 51st Highland Division which was not. :) For added irony, the Mountain Division spent most of its operational history in the very unmountainous Low Countries. At least the Lowland part was apposite I suppose. lol
The gun was developed at the end of the First World War as a mountain piece and saw a lot of service in India, alos seeing WW2 service in New Guinea. For a time between the wars it was also the official landing party gun for capital ships, usually crewed by Royal Marines.
Empress Miniatures do one in their Jazz Age range if you want one.
Thanks for the confirmation and miniature recommendation. Its far larger than I'd have thought "man portable", even if its a squad carrying it.
-
Quite a few of the books I'd recommend are already here, so I'll just add; 'So Few Got Through' By Martin Lindsay (Gordon Highlanders) & 'Lion Rampant' by Robert Woollcombe (KOSB).
Just an aside for those hunting for a copy of 'Men at Arnhem' by Tom Angus, 'Men at Arnhem' by Geoffrey Powell is the same book.
Originally released under a pseudonym
-
Quite a few of the books I'd recommend are already here, so I'll just add; 'So Few Got Through' By Martin Lindsay (Gordon Highlanders) & 'Lion Rampant' by Robert Woollcombe (KOSB).
Just an aside for those hunting for a copy of 'Men at Arnhem' by Tom Angus, 'Men at Arnhem' by Geoffrey Powell is the same book.
Originally released under a pseudonym
ohhhh thanks for the tip.