Hanging Out The Washing (Two Stars)

I want to begin this review by talking about what is RIGHT with this book.

First, it is about Ingrid Price, who has an excellent story to tell. Price grew up as Ingrid Scheil in Nazi Germany. She had the extreme misfortune to be "liberated" by the Red Army in 1945 (i.e., raped) and was sent by the Red Cross to a psychiatric hospital in England. Having overcome the horrors she was subjected to she was fortunate enough to fall in love with a British soldier and start a new life.

Second, it is about parachuting, a great sport and one few people will ever even try. The trials and tribulations of skydiving make for great stories.

Finally, it takes place in 1960s Africa, when there was a lot of social and political changes taking place. It would be hard to find a better backdrop for a story.

Unfortunately, we now have to talk about what is wrong with the book. Grammatically, there are numerous examples of punctuation missing or misused. Spellings of some words and proper names are inconsistent or simply wrong. Paragraphs are not consistently spaced or formed. Some words and phrases are italicized for no good reason that I can identify. Overall, the text feels as if it was written as a "stream of consciousness."

Not only that, but several magazine articles from Sport Parachutist are reproduced in total. This would not be such a big deal but the text of the articles are often already incorporated in the narrative, giving the reader a distinct feeling of deja vu.

The layout reuses several photos at different points in the book. Photos do not have consistent captions. Some photos are of too poor of a quality to be reproduced. The covers, however, are excellent.

I believe that at the very least this should be a 4-star book. For that to happen would require the following:

1. Editing the existing text.
2. Reorganize the book so it flows better, perhaps with the 1st chapter taking place in Nazi Germany and "liberation," the 2nd chapter in England and the full story of Ingrid's first jumps, and so on.
3. Background information on the different parachutes used at the time, how students were trained with static lines, delayed openings, how new sport parachuting was at the time, etc.
4. Good background information on the state of Africa at the time, the rise of the "presidents for life," etc.

I sincerely think this is a great story waiting to be better told.

These Chivalrous Brothers (Four Stars)

The main focus of the book is the disappearance of a small team landed in the Sinai during the Anglo-Egyptian War. The mission was to buy the allegiance of the elusive Bedouin tribes who lived east of the Suez Canal, in order to provide security for this vital lifeline in the face of Egyptian nationalists.

Sunderland provides much information regarding this short war and the circumstances surrounding it. He also provides biographical data on many of the key people involved in this conflict, most especially Professor Edward Palmer, a man who would have been called a "Orientalist" in his own time and an eccentric character in his own right.
I lived in the Sinai for 13 months and recognized the place-names even without a map: Nakhl, Tor, Ayun Musa, Qantara, Dahab, Aqaba, Ismalia, el Arish... all important landmarks in the region. I also recognize the Bedouins in the story from brief encounters with them on the road or at official functions. Sunderland's writing puts almost everything into context. I don't know why he continuously refers to "the monastery at Mount Sinai" when the proper name is Saint Catherine's.

Hardly a murder mystery, the story is still interesting for the War, the Palmer Expedition and the efforts taken after hostilities ended to determine the truth of what happened. A good window into this part of the world. If the book has a defect it is that the author strays way too far from the main story in some cases. Also, there are some typos. The one that irritates me the most is "court marshal," repeated several times (even though the correct spelling manages to make an appearance here and there).

Hopefully my reviews will begin showing up on IndieView!

Wild Wolf: The Great Civil War Rivalry (Four Stars)

Kentucky attempted to remain neutral but that didn’t last long. A so-called “border state,” Kentucky became a land of divided loyalties. Although a slave state, it remained in the Union. Despite its pro-Confederate governor, its legislature would ask for Union troops. Even the soldiers initially raised for its defense were divided between pro-southern State Guard and the pro-Union Home Guard. It would have been a wonder had guerrilla warfare NOT broken out in Kentucky.

Colonel Frank Wolford was commissioned to lead the 1^st Kentucky Cavalry (Union) and became one of the premier cavalry commanders in Kentucky. His opposite number was John Hunt Morgan, who had organized the 2^nd Kentucky Cavalry (CSA) and who would launch several raids into Kentucky in support of regular Confederate efforts to place the state under the control of a “government-in-exile.” Fighting would bring Wolford into pro-Union east Tennessee and Morgan into Indiana and Ohio. In between both commanders would fight guerrillas.


Wolford, however, became a controversial figure. Although a Unionist, he had grave doubts about President Lincoln’s circumvention of civil liberties in order to prevent sedition, and he publicly criticized efforts to enlist African-Americans into the Union Army, believing that this was turning the conflict from a War for Union to a “war against slavery.” He was removed from command by the President in 1864.


Today many people remember Morgan’s Raid. Relatively few know of General Wolford, despite his successes.

The book is well-written and well-illustrated with photographs. Blair works hard to provide the reader details about the key battles involving Wolford, as well as anecdotes which illustrate the nature of the Civil War in Kentucky.

Top-Hats in Tobruk (Four Stars)

This book is based on the diary of Kenneth Rankin. a junior officer who served in a Territorial antiaircraft artillery unit which was shipped to Egypt to serve in the Western Desert. The "Top-Hats" were sent in the wake of the 1940 British advance in Libya but found themselves under siege in Tobruk when an Axis counterattack isolated imperial troops there. Rankin, whose entries discuss everything from the proper method of AAA engagement (gun-laying as opposed to barrage fire) to his observations of the morale and capabilities of imperial troops to the debris left behind by the Italians.

The book is slow at some parts, and there are some passages which seem irrelevant but it's understandable since it was meant as a day-to-day log. There are a few typos that could have been caught and, strangely, the map included in the book shows the Sinai as belonging to Saudi Arabia. There is a glossary in the front of the book, which is absolutely vital unless you are familiar with Royal Artillery gunnery practices.
The imperial troops trapped in Tobruk were unique in modern warfare in that their fortress (a salient, really) was unable to provide fighter cover for its own defense, despite having an airfield. Attacks by the Luftwaffe reduced and eventually eliminated Tobruk's own fighter force and the fortress was too far for the RAF in Egypt to provide top cover. The air defense would almost entirely be provided by antiaircraft artillery, and the Top Hat gunners began by providing a barrage over the vital harbor. When Ju87 dive bombers began attacks and clearly intended to eliminate the AAA sites in order to systematically reduce the fortress then the gunners improvised a mutually-supporting Vital Point protection scheme, using the firepower from other sites to protect the gun site under attack.

The Royal Artillery had both short-range and long-range early warning radars, yet the defenses seem to be taken by surprise all the time. Gun-laying radar should also been available, but this is not discussed by the author at all.

The British men who fought in the Western Desert fought under incredible conditions and those trapped by Rommel in the Tobruk Fortress even more so. This book puts you right in the center of the action, in an antiaircraft unit defending Tobruk against the worst that the Luftwaffe could pound it with.

Justice or Atrocity: General George E. Pickett and the Kinston N.C. Hangings (Four Stars)

In early 1864 General Pickett CSA was put in charge of moving his troops to Kinston NC and then launching an offensive against the Union enclave at New Bern. With any luck, the Yankees might be pushed all the way out of coastal North Carolina.

The Confederate offensive went awry from the very beginning. The rebels got within sight of the town but did not dare attack the formidable works around it. Pickett, who had failed at Gettysburg, was now a failure at New Bern. But if he didn't have the town he still had Union prisoners, some of whom were North Carolina volunteers. Some of these soldiers were accused of being Confederate deserters.

Patterson's book looks at a single incident which occurred in a theater of the Civil War considered a sideshow by many. The execution of POWs for being traitors to the Confederate cause raises many questions, such as whether or not a person can be a traitor to the cause of rebellion, when treason is actually loyalty to the established government. Even if one can be a traitor under such circumstances, can former officers of the U.S. Army, now wearing Confederate gray, judge OTHERS for treason?

Well-written, one of the few things I can say against the book is that it has no map of the action at New Bern... it's a little hard to keep track of what is going on when you don't know the geography.

Dusterman: Vietnam (Three Stars)

Army Private Joe Belardo started out as an Honest John missileman in the States but winds up as a Dusterman in Vietnam. His time as a duster antiaircraft gunner is both interesting and shocking.... his Duster unit was assigned to Marines near the DMZ and the tracked 40mm guns were used to escort convoys in this very active area. The twin forties could spew out hundreds of exploding rounds as quickly as the guns could be loaded, with devastating effect. Like some dangerous animal taken out of its natural environment and placed in one where prey hasn't got a chance, the duster turned out to be a true man-killer in the absence of enemy aircraft.

Belardo's writing might not have the polish many professional writers have, but his sincerity and his frankness over the impact of living in awful conditions, of using the guns to chew up the Viet Cong, of bringing back the dead and dying on the deck of the duster will grip the reader. And its not just his notations of the day-to day existence but of the thoughts that he puts down on paper.

Although I got this book because I was mostly interested in the duster as an antiaircraft gun and the unit which would become the 44th Air Defense Artillery I am sincerely grateful I read this. Truly an important book about men who had to do duty which guaranteed they would be ambushed, or to rescue Marines from tight spots when the action got really hot. I have met many duster-era soldiers (Colonel Tedesco being one of them) and was assigned to a National Guard unit transitioning over to Hawk. The crewmen loved the machines but with their open turrets and low ready ammo supply they were never meant to be in ground combat.

Dusterman many pictures and a few maps. If I could make any change with this book I would suggest a professional editor look it over and sharpen it up a bit in places, maybe adjust the layout. Chapters 8 and 9, both dealing with the 1968 major engagement near Camp Carroll, should be consolidated. I believe the story would be more effective.

Stinger Saga (Four Stars)

This excellent book focuses on the collaboration between Pakistan's ISI and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency efforts to provide the Mujideen with a means to counter Soviet airpower during communist rule in Afghanistan. This fascinating book looks at the training the Pakistanis received in the United States, the training mission for the freedom fighters and the employment of the weapons in Afghanistan.

The thing I liked best about this book is that the Stinger is neither treated as the "infallible" air defense weapon in the hands of the Mujideen, nor as an adjunct to overall story of Afghanistan's anticommunist insurgency. Rather, it provides information about the weapon's role in the long war there, the tactics employed by the insurgents when using it and the effectiveness of the weapon as compared to other antiaircraft systems available to the Mujideen. Mr. Mahmoud Ahmed is the perfect person to tell this story since he oversaw the training of the Afghans on the Stinger. This is a man who knows the difference between the gripstock and the missile.

Stinger Saga also looks at the effort made after the Soviet-Afghan War to recover the MANPADS used by the insurgents. Mahmoud's insights are most interesting, as well as his perceptions of the CIA.

I was trained on Stinger less than two years before Mr. Mahmoud was shown the Dome at Fort Bliss and can relate to a lot of the experiences he had with the weapon. The only downside to this book is that it could use another review by an editor to catch a few misspellings and misuse of some terms. With that said, it is still a very good book. Includes some black and white photos.

The Sharpe Companion (Five Stars)

This book serves to put into context the stories of the famous Sharpe series, which are set during the Napoleonic Wars. Adkin discusses the conduct of campaigns, recruiting, how British commissions worked, etc. It's a great book for someone interested in the Sharpe novels as well as someone who likes reading about warfare in the age of muskets and sword. It includes drawings and maps.

 

 

I have applied to get my blog added to the Indie View! I look forward to reviewing more books soon. See http://www.theindieview.com/

MASH Angels: Tales of an Air-Evac Helicopter Pilot in the Korean War (Five Stars)

I picked this up and just started reading to get an idea of what kind of book this was... and I couldn't put it down. I put aside all the other material I was reading so I could finish it all the way through.

Kirkland started out as a fighter pilot in WWII, then in peacetime found himself retrained as a helicopter pilot. Captain Kirkland found himself sent to Korea during the last phase of fighting, which saw 2nd generation helicopters used for rescue operations behind enemy lines, the evacuation of wounded soldiers for medical care and the recovery of Allied pilots who were shot down. These early machines were piston-powered, using cloth-covered rotor blades to create lift. They were underpowered and tricky to fly, but brave men did the job.

Kirkland was disappointed at not having the chance to return to the Air Force as a fighter pilot, ideally flying the new jets. But eventually he came to appreciate the importance of the mission he could do as a helicopter pilot. Well-written and illustrated with black and white photos this is a great book.

The Bush Blaster Battalion: Army Anti-Aircraft in New Guinea and the Philippines (Three Stars)

This is a collection of letters written by John Roy, a young draftee who was trained as a U.S. Army antiaircraft gunner and staff NCO. He entered WWII in the middle of the fight and was shipped to the Pacific to fight the Japanese. He saw action in the New Guinea and Philippine campaigns.

While the experiences of Roy are real and uncensored by PC considerations and postwar perceptions, it can be tedious at times to read through all the letters. Roy, being a typical GI who was writing to several different people at home, wrote about the same things to each of them and even asked back about things written before. I think the book would have been better if it was rewritten as a narrative using the material and additional background information. It is a 400+ page collection of letters that would make a fine 150+ biography.

The Battle of Wise's Fork (Five Stars)

This is an excellent book centered around the Battle of Wise's Forks, one of the last battles of the Civil War but one largely forgotten today.

Sokolosky and Smith set the stage for the reader, informing you about the strategic situation in North Carolina by March 1865. Sherman was already marching northward, having devastated Georgia and South Carolina on his way. General Johnston, CSA, had only the remnants of Confederate armies defeated on various fronts, including the Army of Tennessee (which had really defeated ITSELF under the command of Hood) whose epic journey from Mississippi to North Carolina is a story in itself. The Union also performed a miracle of logistics, moving the XXIII Corps from Tennessee to the Union bridgehead at New Bern by way of railroad and steamship.

The two sides met each other at Wise's Forks when the Union forces attempted a breakout at Kinston in order to meet with Sherman's army.

This book is well illustrated with photos and maps and tells the story through vignettes of the various commanders involved. A great book and a terrific addition to anyone's Civil War library.

The Kaiser's Mission to Kabul (Five Stars)

This excellent book looks at the efforts of the Central Powers to enlist the help of Afghanistan. It was hoped that by using Afghanistan as a base German and Turkish troops could attack the British in India, causing them to keep an inordinate number of Indian units on the subcontinent rather than committing them to the Western Front and Africa. The story of Wassmann, Neidermeyer and von Hentig is an amazing one... Neidermeyer and Hentig's efforts just to reach Afghanistan were the stuff of real-life advanture: dodging snakes and tarantulas, British agents and Russian patrols just to reach Afghanistan's borders. The story of this little-known episode of WWI and why it failed is certainly an epic tale. Includes a map and several photographs.

Judah P. Benjamin, The Jewish Confederate (Four Stars)

 

This book is a fascinating look at a unique American character, Mr. Benjamin, and his role in the CSA. Benjamin was not only the first Jewish member of Congress but also played several important roles in the Confederacy when his home state of Louisiana seceded. As Attorney-General he provided first-class legal advice to the fledgling CSA. As Secretary of War he managed as much as anyone could of the rebel's war effort. As Secretary of State he ran the Confederate Secret Service and plotted ways to draw in France and England into the war on the Confederacy's side.

This is a very thorough book. It is SO thorough that it has much to do with Jefferson Davis and the plot to kill Lincoln. It does go on at parts but it's worth it for the insights into the running of the Confederacy. The only question I was left with was what happened to Benjamin's wife during the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune?