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The Tango War: The Struggle for the Hearts, Minds and Riches of Latin America During World War II by Mary Jo McConahay. Fascinating look at what was going on in central and South America during the war. Massive German colonies in Brazil, Mexican oil fueling u-boats, Orson Welles making an epic film that was suppressed, it’s a great read.
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Jul 9, 2021 06:31
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 04:01 |
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Comrade Blyatlov posted:Mark of the Lion Picked this up and it is excellent, thanks for recommending! Late in battle for Crete had a bullet in his leg, dysentery, and an arm wound and still led a group to scale a cliff near the evacuation beach to rain bren gunfire on a German advance party to take out like 40 guys.
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Aug 14, 2021 20:58
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Comrade Blyatlov posted:Speaking of oral histories, I'm reading The Good War. Its one of the most gripping things I can remember reading. Oh for sure, one of the best war histories ever. Especially as it came out in the mid-80s so far more figures were still around to be interviewed. Working is another masterpiece from Terkel.
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Jan 16, 2022 01:28
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Handsome Ralph posted:Yeah highly recommend The Good War. I think the thing I loved most about The Good War was that it did a really great job of hammering home that its easy to forget in hindsight how uncertain things were for the first year or two of the war. Terkel’s oral history on the Great Depression, Hard Times, is quite good as well. Oh for sure. Lots of political histories pre-war are fascinating when they discuss how strong the isolationist movement was or how FDR had to be clever about aiding the UK. I liked in the Truman book how they mention immediately after Pearl Harbor how one of the previously non-interventionist senators had a dismayed expression as he quickly voted in favor of all war legislation.
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Jan 16, 2022 04:32
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gohuskies posted:It is a great book. It's so interesting to see the perspective of somebody absolutely convinced that they are winning and he's serving in the baddest-rear end navy on earth, and slowly realizing that these Americans might know what they are doing and that we might be, uh oh now we definitely are, losing. I wonder if for a time like 39 to early 41 he could objectively have been considered to have been in the baddest-rear end navy. Overall I’d guess the Royal Navy was still stronger but I remember reading in Shattered Sword how for a time the Japanese navy’s carrier strike force was the strongest weapon around. Kinda related but a great thing about these forums is being able to drop in the military history thread in Ask/Tell and get expert answers without being made to feel stupid.
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Jan 16, 2022 06:48
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Burning Beard posted:Coldest Winter is great because of the non stop dunking he does on MacAurthur I just finished Ian Toll's Pacific Crucible and learned that despite having nine hours advance warning after Pearl Harbor, nearly all of MacArthur's air force in the Philippines was destroyed anyway as he was too disorganized/incompetent to take steps to prepare for the incoming Japanese. Also he went with a "repel them on the beaches" strategy which was absolutely the wrong call as they didn't have the set up for it and led to many defenders being wiped out.
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Jun 20, 2022 18:36
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Handsome Ralph posted:lol was about to quote and say the same thing Heck yeah “currently reading The Conquering Tide buddy”  just got past the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.
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Jun 21, 2022 04:23
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Hyrax Attack! posted:Heck yeah “currently reading The Conquering Tide buddy” Just finished this one, highly recommended for helping make the events in the pacific easy to follow. A standout part was a summary of a major Japanese airplane factory not being built near an airfield or rail line so oxen had to haul planes dozens of miles, and when 20 of the 50 oxen died it caused slowdowns. Meanwhile the US mega fleet is having 80 or so planes make water landings after a successful night attack went beyond fuel limits, and nearly all pilots were recovered and quickly in fresh planes.
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Jul 5, 2022 14:21
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elsanto posted:A while back, someone in one of the GiP threads posted a link to an account by (I think) a Wehrmacht combat engineer who was an eye witness to the Warsaw Uprising. The Dirlwanger assholes figure prominently. Anyone know what I'm talking about? You may want to ask in this thread, they know everything: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3950461
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Aug 15, 2023 03:01
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