Guadalcanal

Reading first hand accounts of battles is a two edged sword. On the one hand the author has a unique insight into what went on, but on the other can get bogged down in the minutiae of what they did. Robert Leckie in Challenge For The Pacific. The Bloody Six-Month Battle of Guadalcanal never falls into the second of these problems.

As a marine of the First Marine Division Leckie was in the thick of the fighting on Guadalcanal, but he never lets that overpower his enthralling description of the campaign. Leckie gives equal time to Japanese and American Admirals as well as marines and Japanese infantrymen as he builds his detailed picture of what happened in this crucial campaign of the Pacific War.

Overall this book was an amazing read. Leckie has a deft hand and is able to let the facts speak for themselves but is also not afraid to let a dry humour come through as well. After finishing this book I felt that I had learnt a lot about the battle and now realise why it was such a big deal.

(On a separate note viewers of The Pacific may recognise the name Robert Leckie, or 'Lucky' as he was called by his squad mates, as being one of the main point of view characters in the series.)

6th June

Antony Beevor has written a very readable account of the D-Day landings and the bloody battle for Normandy in his latest book D-Day. You might think that another book about WWII is redundant but Beevor has done a good job of making the material and sources seem fresh as he delves into the experiences of the soldiers and commanders on both sides.

Beevor starts by looking at the planning behind the invasion and the build up of forces before the big day. We are then shown how tough the landings were especially on the American side. The expansion of the beachhead and the gradual advance into the bocage make up the bulk of the narrative as Beevor gives us an insight into the tough and brutal fighting that developed. Beevor also looks at the tensions between commanders on both sides.

I like reading military history and have read I don't know how many books on the battle for Normandy, but I still enjoyed this new book. One for history fans and WWII buffs, or people looking for a very readable introduction to D-Day and what went on after it.

Desert War

Reading Robin Neilland's Eighth Army has given me a greater appreciation of what my grandfather did in the Second World War.

My grandfather lowered his age and joined up and was sent to training in Palestine, before fighting against the Vichy French in Syria, and the Germans in North Africa. My grandfather was a stretcher bearer, and the Australian forces he served with were part of the Eighth Army.

Neilland's book follows the Eighth Army from its beginnings in North Africa until the end of the war in Italy, and focuses on the battles it fought in, and the units that made it up.

One of the great things about the Eighth Army was its multicultural nature, units from Australia, England, Scotland, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Poland, France and Italy all fought in it at one time or another.

This has been a great read, that has plenty of interviews with soldiers involved with the Eighth Army which helps to bring out the character of this important moment in World War Two history.

WWII

The bombing campaign the Allies undertook during the Second World War has been coming under scrutiny lately. A recent example of this was Keith Lowe's book Inferno. The Devastation of Hamburg 1943, which tells the tragic story of what happened when this port became a target for American and British bombers.

In the summer of 1943 the allies raided this city for ten days and dropped 9,000 tons of bombs on it, causing fires that burnt for a month and could be seen 200 miles away.

This book is full of first hand accounts from both sides and deals with the tragedy in an even handed way. Lowe is willing to let the facts speak for themselves and they are so bad that they do not need unnecessary commentary.

Read this book and be reminded that the Axis side wasn't the only one to commit atrocities.