What are you reading?
Select messages from
# through # Forum FAQ
[/[Print]\]
Goto page : Previous  1, 2, 3, ... 17, 18, 19  Next  :| |:
Close Combat Series -> The Mess

#21:  Author: Dima PostPosted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 9:53 pm
    —
Quote:
One of the fighters tore into a glider, and as it was breaking apart in mid air, he could see a jeep, some heavy weaponry and soldiers just falling out of it.

6th AARR had lost at least one Tetrarch same way even w/o LW. Doors have just opened in the air.

#22:  Author: RedScorpionLocation: Neverland PostPosted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 3:16 pm
    —
Im reading a new biography on Archimedes. Im still fascinated by him wanting to burn ships with big mirrors. Imagine if i ever worked? And he preceded Da Vinci with more than 1500 years! Those were the real masterminds of warfare Smile
It was also tried on mythbusters on discovery channel btw, but it didnt work really

#23:  Author: mooxe PostPosted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 5:00 pm
    —
I think they tried burning wooden ships with big mirrors on Myth Busters....

#24:  Author: PolemarchosLocation: Polemarchopolis PostPosted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 6:02 pm
    —
on bbc they built an arcimediean claw once...

the claw is dropped over a ship close to the stone walls of the harbour entry and
then it closed his knifes after pulling the rope attached to a crane like structure. Effectively the archeologists managed to raise a trireme 10 feet high and then just lets it roll over. Imagine a devise that flips over ships full with roman inf.

if i am not wrong he also invented also the stone catapult variation.

His palimphest ( a byzantine monch erased archimedes diary and used the paper for a bilble around 1229 AD) is now analysed with modern ultraviolet light...

here is the page. it mainly about mathematic thought...unfortunately no warfare machines blue prints have been found..
http://www.archimedespalimpsest.org/

#25:  Author: RedScorpionLocation: Neverland PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 11:58 am
    —
mooxe wrote:
I think they tried burning wooden ships with big mirrors on Myth Busters....


yep^^ and they failed, but idea is awesome.

#26:  Author: Badger-Bag PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 1:33 am
    —
I am reading, on and off

Churchill, by Roy Jenkins.
VERY very interesting, in that Jenkins both served in Parliament with Churchill, and was in high office himself, once Chancellor and Home Secretary of G.B. , so not only did he have access to lots of facts and opinion from people that knew Churchill, he knew what high office was.
His style is very revealing of the sort of pressures Churchill dealt with, and the aspects of his life that might not occur to a purely military biographer.

QUITE interesting how much of the behind the scenes dealings of the "Anti-British Empire" USA apparachiks went on during the meetings between Churchill and Rooservelt, and how Churchill thought that we HAD to have the yanks on side, so he didn't really care about the concessions that were forced. He steamrolled people that tried to hang onto places like Deigo Garcia ( I think DG was part of it, anyway, the possessions the Yanks forced us to give up before they would give us worn out destroyers to fight the common enemy of freedom with. Wink ) by saying the Germans might get the lot.

When you read of some of the cold blooded jockeying for position AFTER the war, by various "Allies", it really does make one think, that actually no country has allies, just varyingly murderous and rapacious enemies.

It is slow reading though, because the man was such a surpreme writer of English, each sentance has multiple thoughts embedded in it, you are forever casting your eyes back up the page, and re-reading something, and going Ahh, I missed that the first time. EXTREMELY enjoyable.

#27:  Author: BlackstumpLocation: Hunter Valley Australia PostPosted: Sun Jan 21, 2007 2:51 am
    —
good book... i like how they set up and dealt with joe kennedy

#28: The Forgotten Soldier Author: mooxe PostPosted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 3:14 am
    —
I am 3/4 my way through The Forgotten Soldier. The authors descriptions of his experience are breathtaking. This is a very good book, as he states in his book that he lacks the knowledge to describe certain events in words, I can say the same about how I feel about his book.

The events he describes with Paula are equally as good as the battles. He already said he wouldnt see her again, but I keep hoping he does. This book has me immersed in the Eastern front.

There is controversey about the book being fact or fiction. It seems some of the book is proven fact, and some not - but not proven fiction. I know the detail in the conversations quoted have to be made up because nobody can remember that much detail.

This is a book where I cannot wait to read the next chapter. I reccomend this book to everyone who appreciates military history.

#29: Re: The Forgotten Soldier Author: chocoleibniz PostPosted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 1:14 pm
    —
mooxe wrote:
I am 3/4 my way through The Forgotten Soldier. The authors descriptions of his experience are breathtaking. This is a very good book, as he states in his book that he lacks the knowledge to describe certain events in words, I can say the same about how I feel about his book.

The events he describes with Paula are equally as good as the battles. He already said he wouldnt see her again, but I keep hoping he does. This book has me immersed in the Eastern front.

There is controversey about the book being fact or fiction. It seems some of the book is proven fact, and some not - but not proven fiction. I know the detail in the conversations quoted have to be made up because nobody can remember that much detail.

This is a book where I cannot wait to read the next chapter. I reccomend this book to everyone who appreciates military history.


Ah Paula! You had to remind me of Paula....

#30:  Author: Blackhole PostPosted: Fri Feb 02, 2007 6:52 am
    —
Didn't read the whole list so I don't know if this was mention but The Beardless Warrior by Richard Matheson was absolutely amazing, I ended up not being able to put it down and reading it in a day. The author served in ww2 and wrote this inspired by that (methinks it could be his way of talking about what happened and use fake names etc., just a hunch) and covers about two weeks in December as the Americans are preparing to cross the Siegfried Line and advance into Germany. Worth anyone's time if you ask me.

Another good book I partially read (1000+ pgs >.<) was In Mortal Combat by John Toland covering the Korean War. Very detailed and told from a day to day firefight to firefight point of view that really made it easy to digest the abundance of data he put in it.

#31:  Author: tripwireLocation: Florida - USA PostPosted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 5:53 pm
    —
I'm reading "Against All Enemies" by Harold Coyle. Just finished "The Bear and the Dragon" by Clancy.

#32:  Author: dgfredLocation: N.C., USA PostPosted: Tue Feb 13, 2007 4:34 pm
    —
'Flags of Our Fathers'

#33:  Author: MassivattackLocation: St Priest (France) PostPosted: Thu Feb 15, 2007 12:54 pm
    —
I remember a book named "Le piéton de Stalingrad" (The pedestrian of Stalingrad) by Francois Suliny. This is the history of a Polish man incorporated in Red Army as captain doctor because he had some knowledge in medicine...
A great tale that show how hard it was to be in soviet army

#34:  Author: mooxe PostPosted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 12:26 am
    —
Ok finally finished "Sniper on the Eastern Front" by Albrecht Wacker.

This was a pretty quick book. Only 178 pages. It is the memoirs of a German sniper. I liked it, although at times I wondered how much fiction was mixed in. This book probably had the most graphic depictions of wounded and dead soldiers I have ever read in a book. Also, the scenes descibed of torture and mass rape by the Russians was detailed. So detailed that it left me wondering if it was true. I can only assume yes since the book is non-fiction.

After reading three East front books in a row, my thoughts of them all run together sometimes. The end result is all the same though. Mass confusion , flying drumhead court martials, carnage on an unimaginable scale, and finally, fear of capture by the Russians. The endings of all these books were suspenceful. All the soldiers knew they had a better chance surrendering to the Allies.

Anyways, good book. Focused alot on the Gross Deutchland (sp?) regiment.

#35:  Author: US_NIXON PostPosted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 10:46 pm
    —
W.E.B Griffin Brotherhood of war ( sitll on the Captains )

#36:  Author: platoon_michaelLocation: Right behind you PostPosted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 12:01 am
    —
I am currently reading "The Lorraine Campaign"
by Hugh M. Cole written for the Center of Military History.

#37:  Author: Badger-Bag PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 4:01 am
    —
mooxe wrote:
. Also, the scenes descibed of torture and mass rape by the Russians was detailed. So detailed that it left me wondering if it was true. I can only assume yes since the book is non-fiction.


That's the problem with most memoirs, isn't it. We ALL only remember part of any event we see, failable humans in the first place, we can only see so much of an event because of limits like trauma, too much happening at once, and personal prejudice INEVITABLY making us look at any event we see, in a way unique in each individual. An American soldier (in those days) seeing a German civilian raped, sees a different event to a German civilian seeing it.

And in this case, obviously the German sniper couldn't possibly have SEEN the actual rapes and tortures take place himself, or he would have either been killed, or put a stop to them. So obviously he was reporting either secondhand reports, or on having seen the resuts, most likely.
Massed rapes did in fact take place in the East of germany, and it is pretty certain it was ordered by Stalin as a kind of warfare too, from all accounts. However, particular depictions of particular events in ANY work that isn't by either a Russian that did the raping, or a woman that suffered the rape, quite literally are secondhand at the least. Probably likely to be in essence perfectly truthful, but as you thought, I think, for them to be graphic AND detailed, they are obviously embellished after the fact.

mooxe wrote:
. After reading three East front books in a row, my thoughts of them all run together sometimes. The end result is all the same though. Mass confusion , flying drumhead court martials, carnage on an unimaginable scale, and finally, fear of capture by the Russians. The endings of all these books were suspenceful. All the soldiers knew they had a better chance surrendering to the Allies.

Anyways, good book. Focused alot on the Gross Deutchland (sp?) regiment.


What was the spur to read three in a row, mooxe?. Did you chance on a hoard on ebay or something?.

#38:  Author: Pzt_RasalomLocation: Brisbane, Australia PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:41 am
    —
Currently re-reading Willi Heinrich's "Cross of Iron"
Had scored movie off eBay so wanted a written refresher
Looking for more good recommendations....

#39:  Author: squadman45 PostPosted: Sat Apr 07, 2007 4:11 pm
    —
I finish "The battle of Diem Bien Phu" Erwan Bergot

For the napoleonic era i suggest you Waterloo, Alessandro Barbero, very good book, "La marcha de la muerte" Christopher Sommerville cover the british retreat to A Coruña in 1809...... aaa "The russian campaign" clausewitz.

#40:  Author: I_AM_LONO PostPosted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 8:21 pm
    —
Forgotten Soldier - Guy Sajer

Frontsoldaten - Stephen G Fritz

Blood Red Snow - ?Cant recall Author?

All three of these are excellent reads for those of you who are into the memoir style of ww2 books. They are written from the perspective of regular soldiers day to day experiences at the front. Blood Red Snow was just recently written but is one of the best books i have read in a while. It is about a machine gunner on the eastern front from the time of just before stalingrad to the end of the war. As far as i know these three books are mostly factual.
:Cool



Close Combat Series -> The Mess


output generated using printer-friendly topic mod. All times are GMT

Goto page : Previous  1, 2, 3, ... 17, 18, 19  Next  :| |:
Page 2 of 19