Current Reading - May 2024

I'll begin this month's thread with D-Day with the Screaming Eagles by George Koskimaki. Includes many firsthand accounts of the Pathfinders, Paratroopers, Medics, and Ministers who served with the 101st Airborne leading up to the beach landings on D-day. I appreciated the packing list explanations, participants' description of tactics, and the author's emphasis on the communication and logistics at both the big and small levels.

I've started Giles Milton's Soldier, Sailor, Frogman, Spy as well.

Finished The Brotherhood of the Flying Coffin. The author merely wants to write the story of brave men, but doesn't seem to realize that he was necessarily writing operational military history, and that he might as well get good at it; I expected somewhat more considering that the book was published by Osprey.

Just finished reading The French and Indian War: Deciding the Fate of North America by Walter R. Borneman. A very good overview of the war not only in North America but around the world. Lots of maps as well.

Wrapped up The British Pacific Fleet, which while valuable, didn't quite meet my expectations for operational coverage. As one might expect with Hobbs, the book is very focused on naval aviation, and I was left feeling that the surface component was somewhat slighted.

Finished Operation I-Go, another of Michael Claringbould's typically excellent studies of air warfare in the Southwest Pacific.

Started reading The Persian Expedition by Xenophon.

Completed (finally) Torpedo: The Complete History of the World's Most Revolutionary Naval Weapon by Roger Branfill-Cook. A rather encyclopedia look at the subject, similar to the kinds of books done by Norman Friedman, although not as detailed.

Wrapping up the month with Dornier Do 217; something of a return to form for Chris Goss, as his book for Crecy on the Do 17 seemed a bit shallow.