Any military history buffs here?

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World War II, mostly the Yank's side of the war. The development of the atomic bomb, the sinking of the Indianapolis, the P-38 fighter plane, and of course, their partnership with us in breaking the Nazi Navy codes. Also the Pacific campaigns, island by island fighting. Right now I think I'd like to find a good book on the Stalingrad attack.

Looking back with 20/20 hindsight Tigers were overrated. Yeas, it was said that an allied commander could send 5 Shermans out to take on a Tiger, and expect to lose 4 of them. at the time, this was not a big deal except to the next of kin. To the Germans, producing a replacement for that Tiger & getting it where it needed to be was a major undertaking. Also Tigers were mechanically unreliable, difficult to maintain and got very poor mileage. The tank I would have wanted to have would have been a M-26 Pershing.

P-51 iz bttr

I do have some interest military history. I like watching war movies and playing war games like Call of Duty and Medal of Honor.

^ HAX...

Also the P-51, the Yanks built highly maneuverable planes with good horsepower, and they were able to outfight the Luftwaffe whose pilots were more experienced.
Another sidelight, I enjoy reading about the M-262, and of course, our Gloucester Meteor.

By the way, wasn't it the Tiger that had rubber coated track wheels? They would freeze to the tracks, and the Russians would attack?
The Russian tanks were interesting too.

oh definately. Alternate history too. Since it's all fictional...here's some authors to keep you busy for quite a while..mostly in the Sci-fi section.

Harry Turtledove - just about anything... WWII series (fighting aliens), Confederates win series (which is about 8 books long now...maybe too much of a good thing, otherwise known as the 'Piers Anthony syndrome'... Spanish win the battle of the Armada, Japanese conquer Hawaii in WWII...all fairly current, and good stuff. Heck, even the Videssos series are loosely based on the Byzantine empire. Another good one is Agent of Byzantium (where they invent all sorts of interesting gadgets in the Dark Ages)

Eric Flint - a West Virginia town sucked into the 30 years war. Kinda 'republican' in spots, but a good read. 1632,3. and 4.

Harry Harrison - 2 of them; one where the Vikings develop civilization (Hammer and Anvil), another where the North and South conquer England (long story...3 books in fact...

Stirling - a series where Nantucket is thrown into 1250 BC. Another one based off of it, where all forms of high energy die, and the Northwest US (Oregon) winds up in a sort of low-tech Middle Ages.

then there's others; SS/GB, Fatherland (made into a movie), the Divide, If the South had won the Civil war (written back in the 30s, I think), and If it had happened Otherwise, which started the whole genre off.

Maybe I'm fixated on the stuff...but it's fun, nonetheless...

Harry Turtledove, I read most of his WWII series. Interesting, but the ending wasn't all that interesting.
I personally think that there are lots of books yet to be written about some of WWII.

Interesting question. As far as I know, all German tanks/assault guns then had synthetic rubber coated road wheels and return rollers. I had never heard of them freezing to the tracks -but anything is possible in a Russian winter. I do know that early German tracked vehicles had tracks that were narrow and limited their ability to maneuver in mud, ice, and snow. Now I am curious and I will see if I can find anything regarding this. If I do, I'll let ya know.

actually, one of the stranger problems for German tanks in Russia was that the mice would eat the insulation...I swear, there's probably a children's book done then or soon after about what the Patriotic Animals could do for Papa Stalin...

The Russians actually used to fly and drive with no oil if the temperature got low enough, because the oil would thicken so much that the engines wouldn't turn over.

I remember reading about some battle where the Germans neglected to idle their tank engines all night, but the Russians did. Only the petrol Tanks could get moving, as it was so cold the diesel jelled.

Much like the "lighting fires under the engine" trick in order to keep the various liquids in a liquid state (and its assumable the crews in a nice warm alive state)

I love the idea of the patriotic stalinist mouse.

Enemy At The Gates is a pretty good Stalingrad book (and not fiction, like the film.) Stalingrad (the german film) is a better Stalingrad film.

I didn't know Enemy at the Gates was a book (! !)

Thanks.

By the way, I saw the documentary "The Rape of Europa". Excellent show regarding how the Yanks rushed across the continent rescuing the art stolen by the Nazis. I cried. Some of the scenes are heart wrenching. It's just another facet of the War, and it's fascinating.

yep, into WWII, primarily aircraft in a sort of superficial way (I just love B-17s and Lancasters) but more into the strategic campaigns of the axis and allied powers (i.e., how they did what they did and what did and what did not work, and why).

duplicate post, sorry!

Last edited by Nan on 01 Dec 2008, 4:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.