Monday, July 17, 2017

Battle of Mount Falernus (90 BC)

The battle of Mount Falernus (90 BC) was a victory for the Italians over a Roman force under Pompey Strabo that was moving to besiege Asculum (Social War).

Battle of Teanum Sidicinum (90 BC)

The battle of Teanum Sidicinum (90 BC) saw the Roman consul Lucius Julius Caesar suffer a defeat at the hands of the Samnite leader Marius Egnatius (Social War), probably during an attempt to lift the siege of either Aesernia or Acerrae.

Sunday, July 16, 2017

Cherbourg 1944: The first Allied victory in Normandy, Steven J. Zaloga.

Looks at the entire Cotentin campaign, from the first battles to expand the D-Day beach head, through the advance west across the Peninsula, the attack on Cherbourg itself and the final mopping operations west of the port. A good account of this campaign, supported by a series of high quality campaign maps and well illustrated, and telling the story from both sides.
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Storming Monte La Difensa: The First Special Service Force at the Winter line, Italy 1943, Bret Werner.


Covers two unusual topics - an attack on an Italian mountain other than Monte Cassino, and a joint US-Canadian Special Forces unit. This was the only time the First Special Service Force was used in a truly Special Forces role, and it performed brilliantly, successfully climbing a cliff behind the German position and attacking them from above, in an attack that resembles many later war movies! [read full review]

Givenchy in the Great War - A Village on the Front Line 1914-1918, Phil Tomaselli

Traces the fighting that took part on the Givenchy sector of the Western Front during the First World War, following the village through the major battles of 1914-15 and 1918 and the quieter spells of 1916-17. Covers the fighting above ground and the massive mining campaign that went on under the front. An interesting idea that gives us a snapshot of the fighting on the Western Front as it affected a single heavily fought over location
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Saturday, July 08, 2017

Nachtjagd Defenders of the Reich, Martin W. Bowman.


A series of eyewitness accounts of the battle between German night fighters and British bombers between the start of the bombing campaign in 1940 and the battle of Berlin at the end of 1943. A bit repetitive in places, due to the vast number of accounts included, but as a result a useful source of information on the attitudes and achievements of the German night fighter forces
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In Pursuit of the Essex - Heroism and Hubris on the High Seas in the War of 1812, Ben Hughes

Follows two main participants in one of the more unusual naval duals of the War of 1812, the clash between the Essex and the Phoebe at Valparaiso on the coast of Chile. Follows both of the main participants on their long voyages from home ports into the Pacific, their attempts to find each other, the standoff after they met at Valparaiso and the eventual battle, triggered by an unsuccessful attempt by Porter to escape out to sea
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Fighters over the Fleet – Naval Air Defence from Biplanes to the Cold War, Norman Friedman.


A history of naval air defence from the First World War to the present day, looking at the systems used to control air defence, and the aircraft and weapons involved. Gets a bit bogged down in post-war aircraft design, but otherwise a detailed but readable account of a remarkably complex topic that has dominated fleet design since the Second World War, covering an impressive wide range of topics over a century of naval aviation.
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Thursday, July 06, 2017

Battle of Gabes or Wadi Akarit (6-7 April 1943)

The battle of Gabes or Wadi Akarit (6-7 April 1943) saw the Eighth Army quickly force their way past an improved defensive line occupied by the Axis forces after their retreat from the Mareth Line.

Operation Wop (16-23 March 1943)

Operation Wop (16-23 March 1943) was an American attack carried out in order to help Montgomery's attack on the Mareth Line, the key Axis defensive position in southern Tunisia.