Ill Gotten gains From Brecon Books

 Hello There! Here are the book I managed to find in Brecon Books.

These were a welcome addition to my Napoleonic library

A couple of basic additions to the American civil war

I do not have anything on the air war in Normandy. also the Le Paradis book caught my eye as I had an uncle who was at Dunkirk and knew some of those executed at Le Paradis.

The Zulu Rising book would be useful as I have little on the Colonial period. The Ancient Armies is full of illustrations from Angus McBride

These cheaply filled a few gaps in my Campaign collection.

As did these.

Overall a very worthwhile visit. Search for 'Brecon Books' on the internet and they will come up.

Brecon Books

 Hello There! While away I found this secondhand book shop.

With such shops you have no idea what to expect and can easily find a very small selection of a military nature. Here there was not only a large selection of a broad range of subjects but these were spread over many shelves and areas. But more surprisingly there was a 'Wargaming' section which was also extensive. Many subjects did cross over between sections but it was worth the time to search.

Highly recommended for the wargamer and military historian as there is a lot to look through.

Minster Gate Book Shop, York

Hello There! I have visited York a few times in the past and have always tried to visit the Minster Gate Bookshop.

The stock has varied considerable from year to year but always seems to have something of interest on their shelves. This year was a very good year!

I found that they had a number of plates and pictures on offer. After flicking through a number of trays I found this. As I am painting Front Rank French Napoleonic Legere at the moment, I took that as a good omen and rescued this plate. 

I have a couple of publications by James Holland so this was a nice surprise to find. Especially as his style of writing is easy to read.

I have seen this book used as a reference on a number of occasions, by other authoritative publications. This is the first time I have seen one available. Although I am not greatly interested in the sieges of this period I have listened to a few podcasts about them so thought I would pick this one up.

I have a few books on the Marshals of France and Marshal Ney has always been of interest to me.

I have heard that this has been a bit of a contentious volume in the past so I thought I would read this. So much of this battle and campaign has been related in a very Anglo centric way that I would like to see what this has to say.

My Grand father missed this debacle but was out in this theatre afterwards.

This is that last volume from Adkins that I wanted to purchase having already obtained Waterloo and Gettysburg.

This bookshop is certainly worth visiting if you are in the area.

Book Review - Surtees of the 95th Rifles

Hello There! I have finished reading my latest book. It was bedtime reading and it proved an interesting read!

The book describes the experiences of William Surtees who started off serving in the militia, then the 56th regiment and then on the end of his enlistment joined the 95th Rifles. He became the Quarter Master Sergeant.

He served in Holland, Bremen, Denmark and the Peninsular. The book starts with his enlistment into the 56th Regiment and finishes when he returns to England after Napoleons first abdication.

In the Peninsular he was involved in the Corunna Campaign, Barrosa, just missed the storming of Ciudad Rodrigo, was present at the siege and storming of Badajoz, where he lost friends in the fighting, present at Vittoria, Vera and a number of other skirmishes in the Pyrenees.

He eventually received a commission and became paymaster of the Battalion.

The book gives a good idea of the contempt that the British Army held for the Spanish and Portuguese soldiers and civilians. However there are many favourable mentions of Portuguese troops in battle.

A point of local interest for me was that his unit landed at Great Yarmouth twice during his career.

Once ater serving in Holland and marching through Norwich and another in October 1805 after campaigning in Bremen from October 1806 to February 1806. He landed in Great Yarmouth and marched through Lowestoft to Woodbridge, where his battalion was barracked.

The narration was clear and included many 'adventures' and casual references to the more notorious behaviour of the British army in the Peninsular.

This was an easy book to keep returning to and did not need a map to continually make sense of the narrative.

If you wanted to look at some of the more less glorious actions of the Army, which was none the less important, then I can recommend this book.

Birthday Gifts

Hello there! Already a month has passed since my last post and it seems to have gone by very quickly! I have been occupied with obligations at work and have been plodding along with a number of, (probably too many!), projects simultaneously.

Coupled with my gas stove dying and a replacement being so complicated to replace I would find it easier to train as an astronaut instead this has all concluded to rob me of painting time.

I was lucky enough to receive these two books which have both recently been published. The Napoleonic tome complements the other three volumes from the same author and will be very helpful in compiling scenarios for the skirmish project.

The World War Two offering is a masterpiece about the Sherwood Rangers from Normandy to Germany. I found out about this book after listening to the podcast 'We Have Ways of Making You Talk' which can be heard here.

A recent episode on this podcast sadly reported on the loss of one of the veterans who was one of the sources for this publication. The episode included a presentation by this old soldier and was a fantastic insight into what people went through during these campaigns. This rather 'sold it' for me and so far the book has not been a disappointment!

'New' Book

 Hello There. After working on some of my 1809 Austrian forces I found that the order of Battle of  Eckmuhl had a unit I was unable to find the uniform for.

They were the 'Mahr Freiwilliger Jager'. After looking through the Osprey books I have on the Austrians of the Napoleonic wars and my Rawkins publication I still drew a blank.

It appeared that they were also called something else and next I figured out that 'Mahr' was an abbreviation for Mahrisch which stood for Moravia. From there I placed a request on a few Napoleonic pages and someone posted a illustration of a group of uniformed figures. This illustration was in the same style as those in my Copies of 'Waterloo' and 'The Peninsular War' by Lachouque.

On further questioning I found that they had come from another book by the same author but this one had French text.

Here are pictures of the front cover, one of the many illustrations that I have not seen before and one of the many illustrations which fill this book.

After collecting many books on the Napoleonic period and many on the 1809 campaign I was surprised to flick through this book and see so many illustrations that I have not seen before.

I purchased my copy through Abe Books but from the book supplier here

Very well packaged and received very quickly indeed I would recommend looking at their Military book section on the internet.

Latest Purchase of Books

 Hello There! As a follow on to the Battle of Bosworth game and after a visit to Hay on Wye, (secondhand bookshop heaven!), I purchased a number of books, (the exact number of which is not available to my wife). One of them was this.

As mentioned before I know little of the medieval period let alone the Wars of the Roses. I have seen a number of semi biographical documentaries on the television, (Antonia Fraser comes to mind), over the years but have little idea of in what order it all slots together. I hope this book will clarify this for me. I am aiming for an overview of the whole war next.

Again this is intended to fill the gaps in my knowledge of the period. On the plus side I can visit the battlefields much more easily than any other period.

Lastly this tome covers the time from 1286 to the Wars of the Roses. The author links the more recent vote of Scotland for a devolved parliament to the history of this period.

I will review these books when I have had the time to paint them and add them to my 'read' list in due course.

W J Rawkins-Military Uniform Bookseller and Bookseller.

 Hello There! I have recently heard that Mr W J Rawkins has sadly passed away a few days before Christmas.

Mr Rawkins owned a military Book shop in St Giles Street and later in Pottergate in Norwich. As a teenage wargamer I would visit the Games Room in Elm Hill and W J Rawkins bookshop with my wargaming friend, John.

We were both into WW II and Napoleonics and 'Rawkins' was the highlight of the day. In the days before the internet you had few alternatives. You could either write off for a catalogue from Hersant Books or go to Salute, at Kensington Town Hall, once a year.

Among the fantastic range of military books on offer were a substantial range of Napoleonic books. With these were a series of softback pamphlets on uniforms of the Austrian army, The Duchy of Warsaw and many Confederation troops. The amount of research that went into these was very large indeed. In the eighties the Osprey books on French Line and Light infantry and the first publications on the Austrian army, from Osprey, had not arrived yet.

Rawkins publications offered all you needed to know about the subject with an easily remembered tall text.

Since then the books shops have now long gone and I discovered W J Rawkins again on the internet under 'The History Book Man'. The publications had now been greatly expanded and the subjects covered had expanded to over twenty volumes.The French Regiments Etrange and Confederation troops now included many different volumes and they were all available on CD.

As I find it difficult to read directly of the screen I have to print off each publication but you can see that each CD can come with a self adhesive label. These CDs are completely revised and now have many colour illustrations as well.

I cannot put into words the amount of research that has gone into these works. I feel he has made a massive contribution to the wargaming world and I hope his work will again be available.

I would like to send my condolances to his family and hope they are not hindered in their mourning by the situation caused by the pandemic.

British Napoleonic Field Artillery Book

 Hello There! I am continuing with the Maida project which has brought me to painting some 28mm Front Rank British Foot Artillery. After looking at the uniform research sources I had I found myself with a number of unanswered questions about their uniform so after a quick search found the companion volume to this here. 

I found it to be the 'one stop shop' for British Foot artillery, Royal Horse artillery and drivers with many useful illustrations of uniforms, artillery pieces and equipment.

It includes adequate information so I can also build a Royal Horse Artillery limber team complete with the traces and reins rather than just have the models of the horses just standing infront of the limber with no visible means of attachment.

This edition is a soft back and is £10 off the cover price. This is common deal with Paul and he stocks both new and second hand books in his collection which constantly changes. It is definitely worth visiting his website regularly.

This book was promptly sent to me from here.  Paul Meekins books have been a very helpful and a well priced resource for military books. I have used his services for over 16 years now. With the lack of wargaming shows I have not made purchases in person but he did regularly attend 'Salute' and the 'War & Peace' show at Beltring in Kent.

I would recommend both this book and Paul Meekins Books to you.

New source of Information for the Peninsular War

Hello there! With the second lock down starting I have turned to the painting table again after spending a long while on some wargaming admin.

I have been translating, from Spanish, a book on the Battles of Alcaniz, Maria and Belchite.I have completed the translation of another book from the 'Guerreros Y Batallas' series of books on the Battle of 'Medina de Rioseco' the layout of which is reminicent of the Osprey Campaign series of books however the coloured uniform plates are more 'clinical' as opposed to the more 'artistic' illustrations we have coome to expect from Osprey. Also there are far more details in the form of  buttons, city/town crests present on various flags and musicians on each plate.

These do provide an alternative view to the Peninsular War, other that a solely British perspective, and is well balanced. It acknowledge that there were deficiencies in the Spanish Army but explains why they existed and what they did to try and overcome them. 

The text is, (or seems), well researched, which in the case of the Rioseco book includes details of the battlefield based on visits to the battlefield by the author. There is also relevant photographs of the battlefield and comments on parts of the battlefield which are significant to key points during the battle. The text also refers to deductions and judgements from other works in English, notably Oman, but also to some more modern reference, (Micheal Oliver).

I sourced these books from the internet, particularly Amazon and Abe books, the latter which has many links to overseas bookshops which is very helpful.

I use 'Deep L' for my translation, (here.) which does not require any payment to use and I have found it much better able to translate the context of Spanish as opposed to English. As you type the words in you can see the resulting text being switched around which saves a lot of time later.

Also if there is a word that seems out of place in the english translation you can click on that word and a drop down menu lists a number of alternative words that can be fitted into the translated text if you click on it. 

It does take a while to translate but if I am waiting to something to dry or set on the painting table it is a welcome break to do this and make available an alternative piece of research material for my hobby.

'Watching War Films with my Dad'

Hello There! With the 'Lock down' continuing I have had time to take some photographs and here is a book I have completed recently.

Something a little different from the normal 'wargaming' book but I did promise a somewhat eclectic mix of posts on this blog. Al Murray has an interest in military history and as well as introducing the programme 'D Day to Berlin' he is also co presenter on the podcast 'WE have Ways of Making you Talk', here.

This memoir struck a chord with me as I remember clearly watching a black and white film on a Sunday afternoon with my Dad, who was in the Second World War, albeit under age, caught and sent home.

He said to me once, when I asked him his first job, he said 'shooting', I asked him if  he was a game keeper and he said, 'No son, Japanese' 

Having seen 'A Bridge too Far' yesterday I recorded it to stop my wife listening to me going through all the corrections and addendum from the Issue of the 'After the Battle' details. This made me think of this book again. Reading the inner leaf it says 'Have you ever watched a film with someone who, at the most dramatic scene, argues that the plane on screen hasn't been invented yet? Or that the tank rumbling towards the hero is the wrong tank altogether?' Yeah, that's me.

If you grew up with Airfix, Action Man, Where Eagles dare and The Battle of Britain then read this book!