#3343927 - 07/17/11 06:39 PM
Battle of Britain by James Holland
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ZG26_Emil
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Anyone else read this book? I just finished reading it and really enjoyed it. What I liked most was that it tried to cover everything that was happening including naval operations, submarine warfare, political developments etc. He makes some interesting and convincing arguments. For one he suggests that it wasn't quite the David and Golliath battle that has gained mythical proportions and that the Luftwaffe were actually much less able to withstand drawn out operations that people assumed. At that the RAF weren't really so outmatched. Anyhoo it whiled away a few days while I was at work
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#3344003 - 07/17/11 08:49 PM
Re: Battle of Britain by James Holland
[Re: NineLives]
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ATAG_Snapper
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IIRC Alan Deere (who wrote your namesake "Nine Lives") also mentioned that Neville Chamberlain was much maligned over his "Peace in our Time" -- he bought Britain another year to produce Hurries and Spits. Even then it was a closely run thing, with Spits only coming off the line in substantial numbers by mid-1940.
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#3344205 - 07/18/11 04:17 AM
Re: Battle of Britain by James Holland
[Re: ATAG_Snapper]
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ZG26_Emil
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IIRC Alan Deere (who wrote your namesake "Nine Lives") also mentioned that Neville Chamberlain was much maligned over his "Peace in our Time" -- he bought Britain another year to produce Hurries and Spits. Even then it was a closely run thing, with Spits only coming off the line in substantial numbers by mid-1940. Yep I feel sorry for the guy, he worked him self literally to death by Churchill's side. I've read so many books on WW2 but I learned something from this book and it corrected some misconceptions like the Luftwaffe knew about Radar but gave up attacking it because they felt it couldn't be put out of action for significant amounts of time. Ventnor was put out of action but they transmitted dummy signals so the Germans thought their raid was unsuccessful.
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#3344210 - 07/18/11 04:27 AM
Re: Battle of Britain by James Holland
[Re: Avimimus]
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ZG26_Emil
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There were only two spit assemblies correct? Or was it that final assembly of the Merlins only took place at two locations. Those would have been nice targets (if the German's had better spies) - could've disrupted production for a couple of weeks. They were setting up shadow factories to build more Spits as well. The luftwaffe (and everyone else at the time) were pretty unsuccessful regarding bombing specific targets such as factories. Getting bombs on target was virtually impossible back then without massive bomber formations that the luftwaffe simply didn't have. They know about the whereabouts of many factories etc. One thing the book has left me wanting is....Fairey Battle, flyable Defiant and the Blenheim Fighter
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#3344260 - 07/18/11 06:30 AM
Re: Battle of Britain by James Holland
[Re: ZG26_Emil]
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BKHZ_Furbs
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I enjoyed it, though not as much as i thought...2/3s of the book was about the build up and battle of France which while well written, it was not why i brought the book. I think "The most dangerous enemy" by Steven Bungay a better book and prob my fave book on the battle, and i have a lot.
Last edited by BKHZ_Furbs; 07/18/11 08:40 AM.
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#3344296 - 07/18/11 08:29 AM
Re: Battle of Britain by James Holland
[Re: BKHZ_Furbs]
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blackmme
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I enjoyed it, though not as much as i thought...2/3s of the book was about the build up and battle of France which was well written it was not why i brought the book. I think "The most dangerous enemy" by steven Bungay a better book and prob my fave book on the battle, and i have alot. As per my previous post I couldnt agree more, MDE is one of the finest books I have ever read let alone finest history or aviation. The balance between the grand sweep of technology and strategy down to the very personal stories is extraordinary. Several passages in the book moved me to tears. It's that good. Regards Mike
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#3344329 - 07/18/11 09:52 AM
Re: Battle of Britain by James Holland
[Re: BKHZ_Furbs]
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ZG26_Emil
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I enjoyed it, though not as much as i thought...2/3s of the book was about the build up and battle of France which while well written, it was not why i brought the book. Interestingly it was what I enjoyed most. I've read many books on the subject and in many ways the pilots tails like Derre et al are great but understandably only show their perspective. I think the point Holland was making was that the spectacular collapse of the French (and utter failure to manage their army properly) made the Germans over confident and led them to believe the UK was going to be a pushover. They hadn't even put much thought in to having ground controllers or increasing production of fighters and then went on to flip from one strategy to another without trying to see through the main aim of destroying the RAF. Cheers p.s I'll get The most dangerous enemy
Last edited by JG5_Emil; 07/18/11 09:53 AM.
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#3344358 - 07/18/11 10:49 AM
Re: Battle of Britain by James Holland
[Re: ZG26_Emil]
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Winny
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I like 'Most Dangerous' it's also a good book, my only (slight) issue with it is that Bungay comes through the text a little too much. Still powerful stuff, I just find Bungay himself annoying sometimes.
For anyone interested in just the air battle then Patrick Bishops "Battle of Britain, A day to day chronicle" is a great read too. It's a chronological day by day account telling who was where when and what the outcome was.
If you can find the hard back version it's allso full of great pictures and tables and period posters.
A must have for anyone interested in BoB.
Last edited by Winny; 07/18/11 10:52 AM.
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#3344752 - 07/18/11 05:51 PM
Re: Battle of Britain by James Holland
[Re: Freycinet]
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ZG26_Emil
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I agree about the historian bit (also mentioned cannon firing through prop spinner! massive fail) , his writing is also a bit poor also he must have used the word 'however' several hundred times. All in all it was a decent read. It still must have been a mighty bit of research. I looked at the link for the SimHQ library and man it has some great stuff. There is one about ww2 fighter tactics which could be really awesome. I have 'Fighter Combat: Tactics and Maneuvering' but it didn't really teach me that much, also it's geared towards jets.
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