Showing posts with label France. Show all posts
Showing posts with label France. Show all posts

16 March 2009

New & Forthcoming - 16th March

I've received some information on a few recent and forthcoming books from The History Press and Stackpole books:

Red Star Under the Baltic: A Soviet Submariner in World War II by Viktor Korzh (Stackpole Books).

The author served on a Soviet submarine during the war, and this memoir describes his experiences hunting German shipping in the shallow waters of the Baltic
. Originally published in Russian in 1966, this is a rare book that covers the war from the angle of a Soviet submariner. The author died in 1993.

Available from:
Amazon
Pen & Sword (UK Edition)



Burma 1942: Memories of a Retreat
The Diary of Ralph Tanner, 2nd Battalion The Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
by Ralph Tanner and David Tanner (The History Press)

Burma 1942 is taken in part from the diary and maps kept by Ralph Tanner, who served as a Second Lieutenant with 2nd Battalion The Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry during the fighting retreat to the Indian border, and from the official Battalion war diary by Major Chadwick. It includes information on the Battalion in 1941, who they were, their equipment and what they were trained for, and considers the series of disasters at Moulmein, Sittang, Toksan and Yenangyaung which left them increasingly unable to fight as a unit. It serves as a tribute to the strength of the men of the battalion - most of whom were conscripts - and of whom a fifth were killed and have no known grave.

Available from:
The History Press


Armoured Guardsmen: A War Diary from Normandy to the Rhineby Robert Boscawen (Stackpole Books)

Shortly after D-Day, Robert Boscawen, fresh from Cambridge and Sandhurst, found himself in Normandy with his Coldstream Guards tank unit. During the months that followed, he kept a diary recording the Guards Armoured Division's almost constant activity in France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany until, having already had three tanks shot from under him, he suffered severe burns and had to be evacuated, one of only two survivors of his crew. Following a lengthy convalescence after the war and a career in business, he served in Parliament from 1970 to 1992.

Available from:
Amazon

8 March 2009

Memories of World War II - Volume 2

Memories of World War II - Volume 2 is a collection of first hand accounts from members of the Dorset 84 Branch of the Normandy Veterans Association. Published in 2004 it contains approximately 40 stories of varying lengths, all of which describe experiences from D Day to VE Day in Europe.

They include the story of LCT 628 at D Day by a member of the crew; the experiences of a soldier with the 53rd Medium Regt Royal Artillery & 3rd Regiment RHA at Dunkirk, North Africa, Salerno and in Normandy; memories of a tank commander on Gold Beach with the 114th Royal Armoured Corps; a description of Operation Varsity (crossing the Rhine) with the 6th Airborne Division; and the story of a member of the RASC from Normandy to the end of the war in Germany.

A number of the stories in Memories of WWII are quite brief, however the stories listed above go over several pages. The book is a paperback, in A4 format, and contains a small number of photographs, mostly of the authors. It also contains a nice fold out map of the landing beaches and the order of battle on D Day & during the battle of Normandy.

If you have enjoyed reading books from the 'Forgotten Voices' series, then Memories of WWII will be of interest to you.

Available:
Believed to be out of print.
As the book was locally published, the cheapest copies will probably be found in Dorset secondhand bookshops. Online, it is available at:
Abebooks
Amazon

Further reading:
Return to Normandy - a story by a member of the Dorset 84 Branch of the NVA