The Fall of Shanghai by Noel Barber
Noel Barber’s The Fall of Shanghai is best read as a vivid popular history of a city in collapse rather than as a modern academic study of the Chinese Revolution. First published in 1979, it is a relatively compact book of about 248 pages, and its full title points clearly to Barber’s central interest: Shanghai…
Iron Coffins by Herbert Werner
Herbert A. Werner’s Iron Coffins is one of the most powerful personal accounts of the German U-boat war. It is not a detached operational history, nor does it pretend to be. It is a memoir written from inside the steel hull, from the perspective of a man who served in the Kriegsmarine from the period…
Black Powder Epic Scale Game
A Napoleonic game tonight for a change. Whilst not a fan of Black powder I really enjoyed this “Epic” version of the game. The British left flank. The Black Watch ready to take on those upstart froggies! Aye laddie! The French coming on in the “same old way………………only to be beaten in the same old…
A guide to the beaches and battlefields of Normandy by David Evans
David Evans’ A Guide to the Beaches and Battlefields of Normandy is the sort of book that sits somewhere between a battlefield guide, a memorial volume, and a concise introduction to the Normandy landings. It is not a grand operational history in the manner of the larger D Day studies, nor does it try to…
KNIL Light AA Gun (3)
The last of this platoon is now completed. Although I still have a lot more KNIL to paint it is a great feeling to have finished at least one component of it. The third Light AA gun, crew and mule team. Gun NCO Gunner 1 Gunner 2 Mule Team The whole 3 gun Artillery Platoon…
Jungle Warfare – With the Australian Army in the South Pacific
Every now and again on of these war time publications surface Whilst they are not rare or valuable T zt over seventy years old that are sfill hard to find. I was pleased to pick this one up. Jungle Warfare: With the Australian Army in the South West Pacific is a wartime Australian Army publication…
KNIL LIght AA Gun (2)
The company has successfully completed the assembly of two Light AA Guns, along with their limbers and crews. Additionally, a Twede Lieutenant has been appointed to oversee operations, enhancing the unit’s readiness and defence capabilities.
Review: The Terracotta Army by John Man
My interest in the Qin army did not begin with John Man’s book. It goes back to reading Arthur Cotterell’s earlier account of the First Emperor and the terracotta warriors, and to seeing the warriors in exhibition settings in Australia. My earlier visit to the Melbourne Museum gave me a direct sense of their physical…
Royal Australian Navy by G. Hermon Gill
G. Hermon Gill’s two volume Royal Australian Navy is one of those works that sits quietly but firmly at the centre of Australian military history. It is not a casual naval adventure narrative, nor is it simply a collection of ship actions. It is the official account of the Royal Australian Navy in the Second…
Review: Ancient Man in Britain by Donald A. Mackenzie
This is not a book I would normally have picked up. Prehistoric Britain is not usually one of my main areas of interest, and older works of archaeology can be difficult reading when so much of the scholarship has been overtaken by later discoveries, better dating methods, and a very different understanding of early human…
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