Brothers in Arms: Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry

I'm on a bit of a Second World War kick at the moment. After quickly finishing the book covering the Madagascar campaign I found our local library has this book on their listings, so put in a request. 

Although I'm not quite at the half-way mark I can definitely say it's a brilliant read, quite gripping in its account of the regiment's actions in Normandy. Holland does have an excellent sense of narrative, making the men and the scenes - all too many of which are harrowing - come alive to the reader.

So far the book has covered some actions fans of the Too Fat Lardies' Chain of Command rules are familiar with - especially Operation Martlet, with the fighting around Fontenay and beyond, which is covered by their pint-sized campaigns book. Recommended. 

On a personal note, I'm slowly reaching the sunlit uplands of health after fighting off the worst of Covid. Paxlovid medication helps, but of course anyone who has had to take this stuff should be familiar with one of the side-effects - a semi-permanent taste in your mouth that makes you feel you've licked something like this, all over...

Rusty the Sherman says Hi!

Some sick bay reading

Covid has sunk its nasty claws into my wife and me yet again. I feel like ten miles of rocky road. Thankfully I have a couple of books to cheer me up while I get over this crap.

The first is A Strange Campaign: The Battle for Madagascar. Detailing the move by the Allies to occupy the French colony to prevent it being used as an advanced base by the Japanese, it saw heavy fighting against Vichy French forces. It served as a test bed for seaborne assault techniques, which stood the Allies in good stead during the Normandy landings.

The second book is Shanghai 1937: Stalingrad on the Yangtze. 

This covers the long drawn out battle for the city between Chinese and Japanese forces during the 1937-1945 war that led to the rise in Chinese nationalism against the Colonial powers. An excellent and epic movie was made about the defiant defense of the Sihang warehouse by eight hundred men of the Chinese army against relentless Japanese attacks, all under the astonished gaze of the Westerners across the canal. 

Certainly worth a look.

 

Library Haul

Our local library service held one of its book sales this past week. I scored these three books - Churchill's biography for a few dollars, the Ballard books for free!

Ballard's discovery of the Bismarck needs no explanation. He also explored the waters off Guadacanal, the rightly named Ironbottom Sound, with a number of survivors of those 1942 battles aboard his research vessel. The book contains a wealth of photos of those sunken ships, their guns still eerily pointing at each other.

Violet Bonham-Carter's biography of Churchill covers the years from their first encounter in 1906 to 1916, which of course covers the First World War and the ill-fated Dardanelles campaign. Useful stuff for the insights to his life and career.

Sicily '43 by James Holland

 

I borrowed this from our local library, and it's a fascinating account of the Sicily Campaign of 1943 - the Allies' first assault on Europe - told from original records from both Allies and Axis. Holland doesn't spare any details: Some of the accounts are horrifying. 

I'm about halfway through, and it's a real page-turner. There are a number of accounts of engagements which would work well with Chain of Command. It's almost tempting me to begin a new period...