Perhaps, but perhaps your civilization is merely the sewer of an even greater society above you! I feel like I was mauled by Jesus. Stop! Don’t shoot fire stick in space canoe! Cause explosive decompression!…
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Harrier 809 by Rowland White
The story of the Falklands War has quickly become a part of the British mythos. A hastily thrown together Task Force, with two small carriers and twenty even smaller fighters taking on the might of the Argentine Air Force and Navy. It was a close-run thing. In Rowland White’s latest book, Harrier 809, he returns to two of his previous subjects, the Falklands and 809 Naval Air Squadron, and shows us that things really were, at times, upon a wing and a prayer.
Arnhem: Ten Days in the Cauldron by Iain Ballantyne
In September 1944, 10,000 airborne soldiers were dropped 64 miles behind the German lines and were required to hold the vital bridges at Arnhem. What would happen would go down in legend. Iain Ballantyne crafts a breathless look at the men on the ground and the civilians who found the war entering every room in their homes.
Normandy ’44 by James Holland
D-Day can tend to be remembered by the beaches, the bocage and the Tigers. In his new history of the Normandy campaign, James Holland looks at the myths of the campaign and reminds us that without the incredible logistics machine supporting the tip of the spear, the liberation would never have gotten very far inland at all.
Freefall by Robert Radcliffe
Robert Radcliffe returns with the second part of his Airborne Trilogy, Freefall. Theo Trickey’s war takes his to North Africa and some of C Company, The Parachute Regiment’s fiercest battles. In Germany, Daniel Garland is experiencing the reality of total war on the civilian population and piecing more of Trickey’s life back together and his connections to the late Erwin Rommel. As Arnhem looms, the battle to get there will be just as brutal as what is to come.
On Battle Scars
Half a year late, but I finally get round to writing about Battle Scars. Which is odd as it is a podcast that pops to mind regularly. Thom Tran’s chats with veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are funny, moving and, more often than not, a little shocking. Battle Scars is a podcast of the highest quality that, I hope, these few (delayed) words will hopefully get you tuning (downloading/streaming/whatever) in and have these amazing experiences stay with you. In a good, uplifting, way.
The Deadly Trade by Iain Ballantyne
The submarine is one of man’s greatest, and most deadly, inventions. In The Deadly Trade: The Complete History of Submarine Warfare from Archimedes to the Present, Iain Ballantyne takes us from the theory of the underwater warship, through Jules Vern to the U-Boot and today’s Intercontinental Ballistic Submarine. Where Ballantyne’s superior work excels is to look at the development of the submarine through the eyes of the men who took them to war and who, mostly, never came home.
The Last Battle by Peter Hart
The final few months of The Great War have rarely got the focus of those that proceeded them. The final offensive that finally silenced the guns and ended the slaughter was one in great contrast to the static game of inches of the years before. In The Last Battle, histoian Peter Hart superbly manages to show us the great scope of Foch’s great offensive while putting us in the mud with the men tasked with marching to the “green fields beyond”.
Breakout at Stalingrad by Heinrich Gerlach
After 60 years languishing in the Russian State Military Archive, Heinrich Gerlach’s novel of his experiences in Stalingrad is finally published. Uncompromising and oppressive, Breakout at Stalingrad is a remarkable testament to the horror war and the affect on the men caught up in it.
The Earth Gazers by Christopher Potter
The race to go faster, further and higher has intoxicated man since before Icarus took to his wings. In the 20th Century, man didn’t just take to the air, but slipped it’s confines for space. A very select few (a total of 24 men) were able to gaze back and see our home in all it’s glory. With The Earth Gazers, Christopher Potter looks how those men got up there and how what they felt was as important as what they saw.