Slitherine

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ORIGINAL: warspite1

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ORIGINAL: cpdeyoung

Catastrophe - I enjoyed this book. I liked the transition from diplomacy to the opening battles of the war.

Warspite1 - There does seem to be a big change in opinion of the British Army, in both world wars, from the books I read in my youth to today. I remember reading about the Normandy campaign after the landings, with some significant beating up of the British forces by the author. I don't remember the book just off hand.

Chuck

warspite1

Its a real shame because I find Max Hastings to be an excellent story teller. To be clear I do not have a problem with any pointing out of the truth, its the way it is being presented. He finally said something positive about the British performance in the latter stages of the Battle of the Marne, but essentially it boils down to this:

German and, particularly the French fought like lions but their leaders were rubbish,
The British hardly fought at all, and when they did, they were incompetent at all levels.
The German and French fighting is largely at army / corps level, while the tales of the British are at division, regiment or even smaller level - hence the comment earlier about having time to trash the merits of one soldier's Victoria Cross...

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ORIGINAL: Saint Ruth

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ORIGINAL: warspite1

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ORIGINAL: cpdeyoung

Catastrophe - I enjoyed this book. I liked the transition from diplomacy to the opening battles of the war.

Warspite1 - There does seem to be a big change in opinion of the British Army, in both world wars, from the books I read in my youth to today. I remember reading about the Normandy campaign after the landings, with some significant beating up of the British forces by the author. I don't remember the book just off hand.

Chuck

warspite1

Its a real shame because I find Max Hastings to be an excellent story teller. To be clear I do not have a problem with any pointing out of the truth, its the way it is being presented. He finally said something positive about the British performance in the latter stages of the Battle of the Marne, but essentially it boils down to this:

German and, particularly the French fought like lions but their leaders were rubbish,
The British hardly fought at all, and when they did, they were incompetent at all levels.
The German and French fighting is largely at army / corps level, while the tales of the British are at division, regiment or even smaller level - hence the comment earlier about having time to trash the merits of one soldier's Victoria Cross...

Just bought Catastrophe.
He's a great writer. I've read both Armageddon and Nemesis (Japan 44-45) and both were excellent.
He was very critical of the Western Allies in general. His point being that they broke through the German front once after nearly a month in Normandy and then for the next 7 months the only breakthrough was by the Germans (the Bulge).
You don't want to know his opinion about the British in Nemesis, never mind the Australians.

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805

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ORIGINAL: warspite1
I didn't have a big issue with his criticism of the Western Allies in Armegeddon - because he at least gave some valid mitigants as to why they took so long to win the war. Its the fact that more and more he appears to be overcompensating for something by making his observations one sided to the point it no longer seems he is trying to be objective - rather he just has an axe to grind....

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ORIGINAL: Saint Ruth

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ORIGINAL: warspite1
I didn't have a big issue with his criticism of the Western Allies in Armegeddon - because he at least gave some valid mitigants as to why they took so long to win the war. Its the fact that more and more he appears to be overcompensating for something by making his observations one sided to the point it no longer seems he is trying to be objective - rather he just has an axe to grind....

Indeed, he does seem to have an axe to grind. And, considering he writes for the Daily Mail, it's all rather confusing about what the 'axe' is.
Still, he writes well, and as long as Max Hastings isn't the only author one reads, I can't recommend him enough!
Actually, a bit like William Shirar's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. That would appall modern liberals with its descriptions of Nazis but, by Golly, it's a great read all the same.

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805

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ORIGINAL: warspite1

Got these two on order Well its almost Christmas...ish

Seaforth Publishing and Norman Friedman - great combination.

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805

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ORIGINAL: warspite1

Hotschi, please let me know what you think once you have read it. My take on it is that Churchill was no different to the overwhelming majority
of his contemporaries - its the old problem of trying to judge people of yesteryear by the standards of today.

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ORIGINAL: shunwick

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

I love this book.

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ORIGINAL: Orm

Just finnished reading Redcoat by Bernard Cornwell.

To bad that this is a stand alone novel since I really liked the setting in the American Revolutionary War.

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ORIGINAL: warspite1

I saw, quite on the off chance, that there is a book by Geirr H Haarr called The Gathering Storm (The Naval War in Northern Europe Sept 30 to April 40).

Having bought, read and loved this author's work on the naval war during the Norwegian Campaign - The German Invasion of Norway and Battle For Norway - I thought I would take a chance and buy it. It arrived today and from a quick glance through I have to say this looks like its going to be another very good read

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805

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ORIGINAL: Hotschi

Any recommendations for a good World War I history book?

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805

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ORIGINAL: warspite1

If you want a general history of WWI then: The First World War, A Complete History - Martin Gilbert. This is a good introduction.

1914 Catastrophe - Max Hastings. This covers the war's first year. Very anti-British but a good read for the most part.

Castles of Steel - Robert K Massie. This is the dogs dangly bits of a book