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I'm 'reading' With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by E.B. Sledge. I put reading in parenthesis because I bought the electronic audible version narrated with introduction by Tom Hanks. I do like hearing it read professionally while reading along.

Thanks K.G.

mo reb

I am currently reading Black Jack Logan by Gary Ecelbarger.

The Battle of Borodino: Napoleon Against Kutuzov by Alexander Mikaberidze. Interesting read but the Kindle edition seems to be missing a bunch of the letter "f" at the start of about words so sometimes the French are falling in droves facing withering Russian ire!

Has anybody got Rising Sun, Falling Skies, a book about "The disastrous Java Sea Campaign of World War II"?

If so I would be interested in any feedback. Thank-you.

The Stalingrad Cauldron by frank Ellis.

Blundering to Glory: Napoleon's Military Campaigns by Owen Connelly.

Recently finished The Shining. Started on two books: Dr. Sleep (the recently released follow up) and The Millionaire Next Door.

Having just finished Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe Series, I am now reading the Hornblower books by C.S Forester.
I am halfway through Mr Midshipman Hornblower.

Cheers

Jev

After Clancy's Red Storm Rising now read The Hunt for Red October

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Has anybody got Rising Sun, Falling Skies, a book about "The disastrous Java Sea Campaign of World War II"?

If so I would be interested in any feedback. Thank-you.

Not yet, but thanks for the tip. This is one of the most neglected campaigns of the Pacific War - to my knowledge there is no book available (be it English or German) which is focussing exclusively on the conquest of the DEI. You find a few bits and pieces (like the one you mention) but that's all.

Finished reading Corrigan's Blood, Sweat and Arrogance - the 1st third of the book, dealing with developments in the British Services between WW I and II, the rearmament of Germany and also to a lesser extent about French developments is the best part of the whole book.

One could stop reading the book at that point. Waste of time.


Started David Reynold's In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War - very good so far. Haven't finished E.B. Potter's Bull Halsey yet either - also a very good read.

ORIGINAL: Hotschi

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Has anybody got Rising Sun, Falling Skies, a book about "The disastrous Java Sea Campaign of World War II"?

If so I would be interested in any feedback. Thank-you.

Not yet, but thanks for the tip. This is one of the most neglected campaigns of the Pacific War - to my knowledge there is no book available (be it English or German) which is focussing exclusively on the conquest of the DEI. You find a few bits and pieces (like the one you mention) but that's all.

Finished reading Corrigan's Blood, Sweat and Arrogance - the 1st third of the book, dealing with developments in the British Services between WW I and II, the rearmament of Germany and also to a lesser extent about French developments is the best part of the whole book.

One could stop reading the book at that point. Waste of time.


Started David Reynold's In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War - very good so far. Haven't finished E.B. Potter's Bull Halsey yet either - also a very good read.

warspite1

Shame - always a bummer when you buy a book and soon realise you shouldn't have bothered....

I am reading Krysseren Blücher by Alf R. Jacobsen. A nice read so far but it does not seem to be available in English.

Flashman and the Mountain of Light by George MacDonald Fraser for my sofa read, and Wool by Hugh Howey for my commuting read.

Just started on President Fu-Manchu by Sax Rohmer, the 8th book in the classic pulp adventure series.

i´m reading Shogun by James Clavel - it talks about old Japan, war strategies and life besides. Like a movie Last samurai but so much better...

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Shame - always a bummer when you buy a book and soon realise you shouldn't have bothered....

It's curiosity! [:D] A couple of months ago I read another book by Corrigan, The Second World War: A Military History so I already knew his style of writing and his favourite topics of the war. In that other book he was already highly critical of Churchill and Montgomery, as well as uttering some questionable - at least! - positions (Most notably "By and large the Waffen SS behaved well.").... So I somehow knew what to expect.

Now in this book, Blood, Sweat and Arrogance with it's subtitle of The Myths of Churchill's War I expected some backing up of his earlier statements about Churchill's decisions, ideas and actions - but there hardly was any. It's just not enough to simply call WSC's ideas "idiocy", or to mention generally that he interefered too much in naval details, directing ships here and there. I want facts, not generalisations.

And again, in this book, he somehow writes oddly about the Waffen SS as having some "bad press". This writer, being an ex-infantryman with the Ghurka's, is either more relaxed about the issue, or, worse, more closely asspciated to the views of a notorious guy called - David Irving.

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Has anybody got Rising Sun, Falling Skies, a book about "The disastrous Java Sea Campaign of World War II"?

If so I would be interested in any feedback. Thank-you.

warspite1

Well I bought it anyway.

7 Chapters in and I have to say:

1. It's an enjoyable read. The author has a decent writing style.
2. Interesting to read about new areas e.g. the performance of the Dutch submarine force, MacArthur's response (or lack thereof) to the Japanese attack on the Philippines, the politics and personalities (Hart, Helfrich, MacArthur, Wavell etc) behind ABDA and the fact that all four nations had different priorities in how and where to stop the Japanese.
3. This is a subject I know little about in any detail and therefore if there are any glaring mistakes then I probably wouldn't know (I spotted a couple in the early chapters including when describing the Bismarck as having 16-inch guns) but nothing else so far.
4. I would love to read some reviews by people who know about this campaign (no reviews on Amazon yet) but regardless, this is a great introduction to this important and much ignored part of the Pacific War.

"The Tragedy of the Templars"The rise and fall of the crusader states.By Michael Haag.

I am currently reading To Rule the Waves by Arthur Herman.

Crusade in Europe by Dwight D. Eisenhower.