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.Nemesis: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45
City Travel Guides > Books > Origins
by: Max Hastings

October 01, 2007
At the Winchester Festival, reviewing his book, Hastings made a misguided and alarming remark, "that the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, other than Taranto Raid, played no significant part in WW2". It is therefore no wonder that he has omitted to include in his book the British Pacific Forces's successful attack on the Japanese oil refineries at Palembang (Samatra) in January 1945. Four British fleet carriers with 244 aircraft embarked disabled the refineries that were supplying Japan precious aviation fuel. He has also failed to document one of two VC's won my Fleet Air Arm pilots during WWII - Lt Gray with his plane on fire, pressed home his attack and sank a Japanese destoyer. Glancing through the book Hastings does not do justice to the Royal ... Read More:
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.Hitler, The Germans, and the Final Solution
City Travel Guides > Books > Origins
by: Ian Kershaw

June 27, 2008
At the Winchester Festival, reviewing his book, Hastings made a misguided and alarming remark, "that the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, other than Taranto Raid, played no significant part in WW2". It is therefore no wonder that he has omitted to include in his book the British Pacific Forces's successful attack on the Japanese oil refineries at Palembang (Samatra) in January 1945. Four British fleet carriers with 244 aircraft embarked disabled the refineries that were supplying Japan precious aviation fuel. He has also failed to document one of two VC's won my Fleet Air Arm pilots during WWII - Lt Gray with his plane on fire, pressed home his attack and sank a Japanese destoyer. Glancing through the book Hastings does not do justice to the Royal ... Read More:
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.Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions That Changed the World, 1940-1941
City Travel Guides > Books > Origins
by: Ian Kershaw

February 28, 2008
EVENTS, DEAR BOY, EVENTS

By IAIN FRASER GRIGOR

THE PRINCIPLES of warfare are really very simple. As codified by the military sages of antiquity and modernity, they can be reduced to two simple rules. The first is to win without having to fight at all. And the second is: if you have to fight, attack a small, defenceless and entirely unconscious enemy with devastating superiority of force and absolute surprise.

The great Prussian von Moltke knew this. But he was to add one great aphorism to the principles of war, to the effect that no plan survives contact with the enemy. So it was in the wars of his nineteenth century, after all, and so it would prove to be in the first Great War of Europe's bloody twentieth ... Read More:
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.The Third Reich: A New History
City Travel Guides > Books > Origins
by: Michael Burleigh

July 06, 2001
This brick of a book is truly excellent. The detail is superb & the writing is of the highest quality. Burleigh offers a fresh perspective on an extremely well documented period of history.
I found this book engrossing & difficult to put down.Charting the rise of Nazism & the decisions & dogma which shaped Nazi policies, this book is surely a must for those with an interest in the subject.
It is obvious why this book has won the plaudits it has. The section on the invasion of Russia is particularly well done, although the whole book is of the highest quality. A work of immense proportions.
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.The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia
City Travel Guides > Books > Origins
by: Orlando Figes

October 04, 2007
In this book, Figes has diluted and refined his mastery of the art of weaving historical sources together. These family narratives which, without this book, would certainly have been lost, provide a compelling insight into the reality of Soviet Russia - the 'historical' backdrop of dates and movements takes a back seat to the gritty honesty of real people's testimony of what living through this era was actually like.
A fantastic read.
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.The Bronze Horseman
City Travel Guides > Books > Origins
starring: Paullina Simons

April 02, 2001
Have to agree with the other reviews - this book is one of the best books I have ever read. I must have read it four or five times now and each time it never fails to move me. The reader's emotional connection with the characters is second to none. Yes, perhaps there are minor flaws in the book (including the plot device of Dmitri), but the writing is so REAL that you won't notice them much - if at all - because you'll be completely absorbed in what happens. Tatiana must be one of the most likeable female protagonists ever, and Alexander is just - well, you'll probably even fall in love with the way he smokes his cigarettes. The writing is evocative, lush, vivid, raw, beautiful.
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.Sisters In Arms: British Army Nurses Tell Their Story
City Travel Guides > Books > Origins
by: Nicola Tyrer

February 28, 2008
Finally a book that tells the story of the remarkable women nurses in WW2. From the first page the reader is immediately transported to the world that these women were part of. From their nursing training to the weird and wonderful details of their uniform.

If you think you know what nurses such as these did in WW2, then think again. The horrors they endured and the terrible situations they found themselves in will shock the reader and leave you with nothing but admiration for their spirit and bravery.

The book has plenty of quotes and paragraphs from the women themselves, and/or diary entries from that time. A few of the women are featured throughout the book, and the reader will find themselves taken vividly back to that time and seeing it all through ... Read More:
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.Five Chimneys: A Woman Survivor's True Story of Auschwitz
City Travel Guides > Books > Origins
by: Olga Lengyel

August 15, 1995
Buy this book is all I can say, I have read many books on the holocaust, and life within the concentration camps, and 'Five Chimneys' is one well worth reading......... it will stay with you forever, I also highly recommend 'Is this a man' by Primo Levi. God Bless all the survivors, and all those who died such tragic deaths, under such unbelievable, hellish circumstances. It certainly puts ones life into perspective!
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.Their Darkest Hour: People Tested to the Extreme in WWII
City Travel Guides > Books > Origins
by: Laurence Rees

June 05, 2008
The trouble with reading too many books about our dark periods of history is the lowering effect it can have on the rest of ones life. Loved ones become accustomed to lectures over breakfast on the iniquities of Nazi Germany. Squabbling children are reminded about the consequences of unbridled human aggression. Family shopping trips are punctuated by laments on the consumerist nature of today's culture. After a literary diet of "Auschwitz" and "Their Darkest Hour", it's back to the Moomintrolls and Clive James for me. That or I'll find myself banished to the Sunnydays asylum for over-serious wives and mothers.

But I digress. "Their Darkest Hour" is a fine piece of work and a very necessary read for anyone trying to understand the lessons that a conflict like WWII ... Read More:
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.Devil's Guard
City Travel Guides > Books > Origins
by: George Robert Elford

1995-03
I was a little nervous when going to read about a German SS officer,going into the French Foreign Legion to fight the Viet Minh,before the Americans entered the fray.It had me hooked from page one!The author,Hans Wegemuller describes his combat experiences in the final days of World War 2,and he with his comrades-in-arms fighting the new enemy in French Indo China,before it became Vietnam many years later.He's an interesting character.Totally ruthless when so desired,but also a warm,and decent human being too.That took me by suprise,as I've read many accounts of the SS in battle,as being really cruel enemies.I'm pleased that I've got this book.Its a timeless read,and I'm desperately trying to get the second book!
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