Archives for History - Page 18
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Book Review – In the Face of the Enemy by Ernest Powdrill
In the Face of the Enemy: A Battery Sergeant Major in Action in the Second World War by Ernest A. Powdrill My rating: 5 of 5 stars I borrowed this from the library and liked it so much that I bought my own copy. I found it very interesting because it is unusual for an other rank to write a memoir. Especially one where the author was a battery sergeant major who also had access to the battery clerk's notes. So, much of the 1944-45 campaign is very well documented with grid references for gun positions, ammo expenditure and times of moves. It is a fantastic reference book for WW2 operations of a Royal Horse Artillery battery in self propelled guns. There is also some of the human element to it as well. I was especially moved by the mystery…
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Book Review – Young Lions by Andrew Mackay
A book review of Young Lions by Andrew Mackay, the first in a series of four books featuring the two characters so far. Overview Young Lions is an alternate history set in a WW2 where Operation Sealion worked and the Germans managed to invade the UK. The book followed two teenage boys that are members of their school's cadet force and get involved in both the initial fighting and then the British Resistance to occupation. Book Review This is a boy's own adventure, with a horrific body count. Andrew Mackay is a history teacher, and it shows in the level of detail in the story. The history is very well researched and the detail ensures that the story remains consistent throughout and nothing jars the narrative flow. The Young Lions of the title are both teenage boys in their fourth…
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CLWG July 2013 Game Reports
There were five of us at July's CLWG meeting, myself, Nick, Mukul, Dave & John. There were three game sessions presented: I went first with a two part committee game called "The High Ground" about the consequences of cheaper surface to orbit space travel; Nick presented an economics card game for educating people about markets and the effects of money and credit; Mukul's session on the 1914 campaign on the Eastern Front. (more…)
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For Fuhrer and Fatherland: SS Murder and Mayhem in Wartime Britain
This was the first time I have read a prisoner of war story involving Germans as the POWs, apart from having read the official history of British Intelligence in WW2 (which only dealt with the captured German spies). I have, however read lots about the prisoners of the Germans. It was interesting that security in British camps seems to have been quite lax. Despite many apparently successful German breakouts there is only one well known instance of a German POW making a home run. This book comes across as having been well researched where it comes to its primary subject matter, although there is quite a lot of preamble with a summary of how WW2 went which is not as well researched as the main subject. This lets it down for those well versed in WW2 history. Once the preamble…
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Allies at Dieppe – 4 Commando and the US Rangers by Will Fowler
This is an excellent history of a small unit action set in the wider context of the war, and well explained for those not steeped in military history or the second world war. IWM caption : THE DIEPPE RAID, 19 AUGUST 1942 Lt Col The Lord Lovat, CO of No. 4 Commando, at Newhaven after returning from the raid. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The author starts with setting the background, explaining the grand sweep of the war and the events that lead to the formation of the commandos in mid-1940 and then a high-level overview of the commando training and the early operations so that you understand what commandos are all about, and the strategic context that lead to the assault on Dieppe in late summer 1942. The build up to the attack is well covered, based heavily on the account…