Book Club of War

  Though people have heard of the Holocaust and atrocities against the Jewish people in the 2 World War, and they have heard of Auschwitz, Dachau, Treblinka etc not many people will know or understand what happened and the consequences prior to the holocaust happening and the suffering of the Jewish people in Germany and Austria. In Kristallnacht, the author Martin Gilbert draws on personal correspondence with over 50 eyewitnesses and on vivid newspaper and diplomatic reports to produce a meticulously researched and utterly compelling account of a night that set the tone of the atrocities suffered by Jewish people at the hands of the Nazis. For those that do not know, Kristallnacht – the night of broken glass – saw the destruction in a single night of more than a thousand synagogues, the ransacking of tens of 1000s of Jewish shops and homes, and more than 30,000 Jewish men rounded up and taken to concentration camps.   It started the systematic eradication of a people who traced th

  On the day, the Falklands War started 2 nd April 1982 I had just turned 14.   I was becoming aware of the world around me and a little bit addicted to the news. San Carlos, Goose Green, Bluff Cove, Tumbledown, Kent, The Belgrano, HMS Sheffield, Atlantic Conveyor, HMS Coventry.   These are all names that have passed into recent history and will always be a part of that 14-year-olds life and memory. The Falklands War was perhaps the greatest crisis in Britain’s post war history and with no social media, the news reports each day were hung on to with every word analysed and every image scrutinised.   I first read The Battle for the Falklands book in 1983 as I had received it as a present that year.   I have since read the book numerous times to check my understanding of events and simply because I like this book. The book is written from two perspectives, those of Max Hastings a journalist who travelled with the task force and was at the front line of the battle and Simon Jenki

  Here is the thing, the war in Afghanistan was and is very real.   A war of our time and with social media and 24-hour news you can have all the information you could ever need.   But what that does not give you is the reality of what is required, to be a part of that war on many levels. Apache by Ed Macy is one man’s story, a story of a man who thought his career was over through injury, who seized another opportunity to serve in the Army Air Corps flying one of the most technically advanced helicopters in the world.  The author takes you through what is needed to be the best of the best and to fly the Westland Apache AH MK1 from training and testing and all the anxiety that entails to the brutality and stress of making decisions in a war environment culminating in an astonishing mission.   For those that have not read the book I will not spoil that. This is a book about reality.  This is not a chest out, banging, I am a warrior type of book.  It is a book that shows the fragility of

Monty and Rommel: Parallel Lives is a fascinating book in many ways. I must admit I have a bit of a thing for Monty or to give him his full title:   Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO, PC, DL.  Having read his autobiography, and yes some of it you must step back from, I find him a complex interesting person who lived an interesting live. Of Rommel or General Field Marshall Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel I know less but an intriguing character all the same.  In this book Peter Caddick-Adams draws together the comparative biographies, into one book of each of these key generals from 2 World War.   The author explores the lives of both Monty and Rommel from their upbringing and experiences in The Great War, to their personal development in the interwar years and their impact in 2 World War.  The parallel lives they lead and their differing and similar philosophies.  These two men’s lives collide spectacularly, and both have an impact on eac

  Hay-on-Wye - A books lovers hell (in the nicest possible way) Where to start.  I had an opportunity to visit Hay-on-Wye, the home of books.  For those that do not know Hay, it is a small town in Wales but right on the border with England.   In the 1960s it established itself as the UKs book capital and holds a famous annual book festival.   The town has over 20 book shops and various other places you can buy books.  You can literally buy books on any and every subject there is. That’s where the problem starts. As an avid reader, and yes, I read books on a wide range of subjects apart from military history, this trip was going to be a treat, a proper day of browsing, thinking, and wandering.  The mistake I made was not sticking to the plan I set for myself. I knew I was in trouble immediately I stepped into the first shop.   I counted 17 shelves of books on 2 World War and add the 15 shelves on 1 World War and you can see where I’m going.   Right, discipline, you know what you

  Above Us, The Stars tells of the stories of the airmen of 10 Squadron Bomber Command, flying Halifax Bombers in the Second World War.  It tells the stories of those that flew, those that made it back, and those that made the ultimate sacrifice whilst undertaking missions over German and the constant fear of death that comes with these missions.  It also gives a new perspective about how those missions impacted upon civilians in Germany and how that affected the airmen. It tells not only of the missions themselves but brilliantly captures the human stories behind the aircraft, of how families coped and intertwines those family stories with the story of Flt Sgt John Clyde DFM,  a 20-year-old wireless operator and how it affected him and his family. Jane Gulliford Lowes beautifully captures the atmosphere and feeling of what these brave airmen and their families had to deal with throughout the war.   The book gives you a real feel of the commitment of these airmen and the sacrifices th

  Sicily '43 was this week released in paperback and does not disappoint.  The author James Holland captures not only the detail of the operation and gets inside the planning, preparation an execution but interweaves the stories of great leaders and soldiers on the ground, never letting one have more importance than the other.   The book  allows you to follow the operation through its brilliant story telling balancing excellent detail with the excitement of battles on the ground and the human stories that they involve. Using his extensive experience, first and second hand accounts and brilliant research the author captures the pace of war, at times the frustration of leadership and the shear hair raising feats that took place across these battles.  He does not shy away from showing the horror and desperation of war throughout the book. James Holland conversational writing, married with an eye for detail and the human element of war draws the reader into the story, allowing them to