I just purchased a small library of books about celestial navigation (about 60 titles). So, I will be expanding my knowledge in that area quite a bit in the near future.

Just finished another one from the campaign series, Smolensk 1943. I agree with the author this was the begin of the destruction of AGC as some books say the Soviet summer offensive of 1944 was. Good period covered post Kursk, always refreshing to read about a neglected area.

Looking forward to starting on this in the coming week.

https://i.imgur.com/KlDrarL.jpg

Moving on to a good book I read some years ago and worth re-reading.



Sledgehammers: Strengths and Flaws of Tiger Tank Battalions in World War 2

by Major Christopher W. Wilbeck

Just bought Normandy 44 by James Holland got it from my local Tesco £12.50 a real indepth look at the Normandy Campaign.
I had something silmilar in papper back in the 1980's read it many times untill it fell to bits this book is on a par with that jam packed with info maps black and white photos a must for any world war II Nutjob like me


http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/pict...ictureid=10390

I have been reading through the Pacino series by Michael DiMercurio. Current book: Piranha Firing Point

https://kbimages1-a.akamaihd.net/d71...ring-point.jpg

https://www.amazon.com/Live-Bait-Squ.../dp/9461532601

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Just came in from Amazon! Britain's greatest submarine disaster of 1914; the death toll was greater than "Lusitania", and almost exactly that of the "Titanic"...over 1400 dead.

Interesting bit of trivia: one sailor, "Kit" Wykeham-Musgrave, survived all three sinkings! He was stationed on the "Aboukir", rescued by the "Hogue" before it sank, and then rescued by the "Cressy" before it too sank - finally a fishing boat took him to shore.

Not only that - he cheated death AGAIN...After his rescue, Kit was assigned to the battleship HMS "Vanguard". In 1917, "Vanguard" blew up, killing 843 men with only 2 survivors - miraculously, he had been assigned shore duty that day. :o He lived a long life well into the 1980's, and in fact was one of the last survivors of the Aboukir/Cressy/Hogue disaster.

Just finished reading all 500+ pages Battleship Bismarck: A Design and Operational History yesterday. Okay, I haven't finished reading the appendixes yet, but you can read my review of it here: https://www.amazon.com/review/R1WDYM...SIN=1526759748

Supreme Commander: MacArthur's Triumph in Japan
(https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...reme-commander)

With those "masterminds" currently ruling the world, I often think how lucky the world was after the WWII catastrophe to have the "right" man doing the job, being it Adenauer, Churchill, Truman or MacArthur...

Started to read...

Panzer Leader
Heinz Guderian

His second book on his career in WW2.

The Dunkirk Perimeter and Evacuation 1940: France and Flanders Campaign (Battleground Books: WWII)

https://i.imgur.com/5vQrPPx.jpg

I've been chipping away at Norman Friedman's The British Submarine in Two World Wars. It's one of his better books from the last decade, although it does require a lot of patience and careful reading. It has a lot of excellent plans from John Lambert and from the archive of the National Maritime Museum, including some foldout color Admiralty draughts. Just be sure to have a magnifying glass!


Moving away from anything maritime related (although you could make a strong case that the Nostromo is a giant tugboat...)I also recently finished J.W. Rinzler's The Making of Alien. It's a big coffee-table style account with stories from seemingly everyone involved in the production, packed with concept art, candid on-set photographs, storyboards, set blueprints, etc. Awesome book if you're a fan of the movie. You can read my review (with photos) of it here: https://www.amazon.com/review/R19VRP...p_perm?ie=UTF8

Just finished a used copy of the Harpoon II Strategy Guide, an excellent resource for CMANO players

Been slowly chipping my way through the new "Famous Russian Aircraft" while wrapping up a few other books. I enjoy Yefim Gordon's books, but this one is a 700-page brick and I'm kind of struggling with it.


I also finished British Submarines in Two World Wars, and you can read my review here: https://www.amazon.com/review/R11IMB...SIN=1526738163