The Book Topic.

[Deleted member 5496]

ASSIGNMENT TO CATASTROPHE. Major-General Sir Edward Spears.

Churchill's envoy to the French Cabinet at the time of the German invasion of France up to the Capitulation of France.

He tells of what went on in both the British & French cabinet & other meetings. It is an incredible insight into the chaos on one side & the steady nerve & determination on the other.

Spears was ordered back by Churchill for a meeting. Spears records how he went into No 10 gardens, very traditionally English where he was greeted by Churchill & others. He describes the absolute tranquility & determination compared to the chaos in France.

At a meeting in Villacoubly just below Paris he records this scene as Churchill arrived at the airport to come home to London. I wish I had been there. My gained info gives me to think they were Hurricanes.

On the aerodrome I saw a picture and received an impression of beauty unequalled in my life. The nine fighter planes were drawn up in a wide semicircle round the Prime Minister's Flamingo.

Very slight they seemed on their undercarriages, high and slender as mosquitoes. Churchill walked towards the machines, grinning, waving his stick, saying a word or two to each pilot as he went from one to the other, and,
as I watched their faces light up and smile in answer to his, I thought they looked like angels of my childhood.

A great book which I have read 4 times. Spears was a scholar & wrote superbly. I have one of the originals with paper which is as thin & smooth as silk ( you can get them fro about £6 ).

Laurie

 

[Deleted member 5496]

Missed a bit. Spears on the way back after the capitulation was accompanied to the airport at Bordeaux
by General De Gaulle. The aircraft started to move & they hauled De Gaulle into the aircraft.

Just a bit more. The aircraft landed at Jersey Airport to refuel. It was reported he was whisked of for dinner some where in the Island.

 

[JR]

The first one that says 'Fifty Shades of Grey' is banned....
Revelation - Ned B. Ricks (Novel of the Vietnam War)
Fighter Pilot - Christina Olds & Ed Rasimus (Story of Robin Olds - even funnier and more colourfull in real life)
The Heights of Courage - Avigdor Kahalani (A tank leaders war on the Golan)
Take These Men - Cyril Joly (Western Desert war)
Tank Across the Desert - George Forty (The war diary of Jake Wardrop)
Just a few in my collection.

You didn't mention Hoppity Skip Hop !

 

[Isitme]

You didn't mention Hoppity Skip Hop !

That is in the fiction section under skippity hop hop!

 

[JR]

That is in the fiction section under skippity hop hop!

Sorry of course it is, under the subsection of PE for beginners .

 

[Isitme]

Sorry of course it is, under the subsection of PE for beginners .

"Bend it like Race..."

 

[Tim Marlow]

Isn’t that “Bend it like wreck ‘em” Mike?

 

[JR]

"Bend it like Race..."

That is indeed right, unfortunately I seem to bend some parts the wrong way

Isn’t that “Bend it like wreck ‘em” Mike?

Quite correct Tim.

 

[dave]

A few more, I haven’t seen mentioned:

Carrier Pilot, Norman Hanson
Wings on my Sleeve, Eric Brown
Where the Iron Crosses Grow - Crimea 1941-1944, Robert Forczyk
Helmet for my Pillow, Robert Leckie
With the Old Breed, E.B. Sledge
Tank Commander - From the fall of France to the defeat of Germany, Bill Close
ChickenHawk , Robert Mason

 

[Tim Marlow]

+1 on chickenhawk…….fantastic book!
One for the fiction aficionados…

The film is pretty good, but the book is on another level!

 

[Gern]

I just gotta add a couple of fiction stories from my collection:

The Bone Collectors - Brian Callison. A story of the Russian convoys.
The Rhinemann Exchange - Robert Ludlum. Political skullduggery at its worst.

 

[Tim Marlow]

….and this series is superb….they are so well written it’s like you live through every one….

The film is great, but is based on the characters and settings, not any of the books…..

 

[Ian M]

The only war novel I recall ever reading was:
Adolph Hitler and my part in his downfall by Spike Milligan. Maybe not the kind of thing most are after but bloody funny.

 

[Dave Ward]

….and this series is superb….they are so well written it’s like you live through every one….
View attachment 430781
The film is great, but is based on the characters and settings, not any of the books…..

A latecomer! I read the CS Forester Hornblower series when I was at grammar school in the 60's, didn't pick up on P O'B until the 2000s! ( after rejecting the Bolitho series by Alexander Kent as too contrived & derivative ) .
Dave

 

[BarryW]

I tend to prefer historical war fiction myself with my favourite book ‘series’ being the Sharp novels by Bernard Cornwall (also made into a very good tv series) and the Alexander Kent Bolitho books and I have read all the books in both series in order at least three times.

Dave: I did not get on that well with Hornblower and while POB were good I much preferred AK. Funnily enough I also read some of the Ramage series and dismisses them for exactly the same reason you dismissed AK.

Other war based fiction books I loved include
The Five Fingers by Gayle Rivers and James Hudson, a brilliant Vietnam war book. The Third World War by General Sir John Hackett a scaringly realistic novel by someone who knew what he was talking about. The Fighters by Colin Willock a brilliant novel of the air war in WW2 from both the German and British perspectives. It covers from pre-war period when the two central figures, one British and one German met, to the end of the war. Finally Man of War by John Masters, based on the Dunkirk campaign in 1940.

I am not sure if this counts as a war book but Tom Clancy’s Hunt for Red October is one of my all time favourites along with the rest of TC’s Ryan books.

Speaking of Tom Clancy he wrote a superb stand-alone novel that is much overlooked, Red Storm Rising, one of my Clancy favourites.

 

[Tim Marlow]

A latecomer! I read the CS Forester Hornblower series when I was at grammar school in the 60's, didn't pick up on P O'B until the 2000s! ( after rejecting the Bolitho series by Alexander Kent as too contrived & derivative ) .
Dave

I’ve read all three series Dave, and O’Brian is the master. I read Forester first, then Kent, and many years later O’Brian.
Forester was first, granted, but his books are not as well written or researched, and Hornblower seems to spend most of the time ashore…..
Bolitho was instantly forgettable as you say…..
Aubrey is the most believable creation of the three.

 

[minitnkr]

My son and I went through The Five Fingers so many times the book fell apart. We've loaned out a couple copies as well. Fields of Fire also a good VN. Have to agree Red Storm Rising was a sleeper. Read the Hornblower series in grammar school & again in college. Agree w/opinion on Sharpe. Big Boy Rules and Warrior Police are pretty good Iraq.

 

[Deleted member 5496]

A latecomer! I read the CS Forester Hornblower series when I was at grammar school in the 60's, didn't pick up on P O'B until the 2000s! ( after rejecting the Bolitho series by Alexander Kent as too contrived & derivative ) .
Dave

About the same Dave. Found them that age very enjoyable. Prior to that it was Biggles with Algy & Snowy. Probably 13 when I read the lot..

Prior to that, near off topic, waiting Friday morning for the Eagle to pop thro. the letter box. Dan Dare.

Laurie

 

[Dave Ward]

Biggles with Algy & Snowy.

Now, Now, Laurie, it was Algy and Ginger! Wasn't TinTin's dog called Snowy?
Tom Clancy's books have dated very quickly, and are weird to read now.
One very tatty book on my shelf is 'Tiger Squadron' by Ira Jones - the story of 74 squadron in WWI & II. Ira Jones was high on the list of WWI British Aces, 37 kills in 3 months! He also flew briefly on operations in WWII. I picked it up at a jumble sale when I was a kid...............
Dave
edit: Snowy was Dick Bartons' sidekick

 

[Tim Marlow]

edit: Snowy was Dick Bartons' sidekick

He was also Tin Tin’s dog! Pre-dated Dick Barton I think?