Current Reading: June 2022

Finished The Recollections of Rifleman Bowlby.

For many years I have had this book on my list of Second World War memoirs to revisit, if only I could find a copy. First published in 1969, I read a library copy over 30 years ago. In 2021 it was finally re-released, essentially as per the 1989 edition, which was topped and tailed with an introduction from historian John Keegan and an epilogue from the author. The book covers the author’s experiences as a young rifleman joining a regular battalion of the Greenjackets after the victory in the Desert, and destined to fight the remainder of their war in the Italian campaign. Re-rolled from motorised to ordinary infantry, and with many of the long serving regulars of the battalion having been rotated home after years of overseas service, the battalion’s steadiness and morale seems often on the cusp of crisis. The author himself is a somewhat unusual individual… perhaps the best description, giving a hint as to the flavour of the book, can be taken from John Keegan’s forward to the 1989 edition:

"Alex Bowlby, though a genuine private soldier, who apparently never aspired to rise above the rank of Rifleman, was a gentleman. He was not, however, one of Kipling’s ‘gentlemen rankers’, one of those declasse Victorians who enlisted as a desperate escape from social failure in civilian life. War and conscription took him into the army and, once established in his platoon, he seemed content to share its company and observe and record the experience of fighting from a worm’s eye view. The result...is one of most unusual of all books about the British army in the Second World War".

Having survived the war, Alex Bowlby went on to have a life in advertising and writing that took him around the world and back to England. Something of an eccentric in later life, he suffered from what we now call post traumatic stress disorder, and ended his days in relative obscurity, dying in 2005. Sadly his book appeared to have slowly sunk into obscurity as well, and its re-release is most welcome.

Just finished Robert Harris's excellent novel V2. It's fiction, but as with many of his books, he has done a lot of research and it is based on fact. There is an impressive bibliography at the end. As the title suggests, it's about the V2 ballistic missile campaign against London in the closing months of the war. He recounts some actual impacts, including one in Ilford, where I grew up. A quick google tells me that 35 V2s landed in Ilford, apparently the most V2 strikes of any of the London boroughs. We used to play around a pond which was a V2 crater on a piece of waste land near my childhood home, although it was a different one from the one mentioned in the book.

Finished up Silver State Dreadnought, a quite entertaining history of USS "Nevada."

>2 John5918: I think I read somewhere once that Londoners of the time were divided in whether they were more frightened of the V1's or V2's. I gather the V1's sound was very distinctive and the motor cut-out filled people with dread, whilst the V2's coming from a supersonic parabolic trajectory hit you before you even knew what happened.

>4 Shrike58: And given what I read on Wikipedia... one tough ship to kill!

Or Watching, as the case may be... They were not Divided

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0DHr0ZEKAA

Finished Learning War, an argument, that, on the whole, the USN was very effective in terms of incorporating modern technology and concepts into its way of war-fighting into WWII. I found it pretty convincing, but Hone probably engages in too much management-speak for the average history reader. It should be noted that there's actually a fairly narrow focus to this monograph, as from the introduction of semi-automated fired control to the creation of the "combat information center," the focus is on getting accurate information to the commander to allow for incisive decision making.

Finished an interesting Climax at Buena Vista: The American Campaigns in Northeastern Mexico 1846-47 by David Lavender. The book actually covers the start of the war through the battle of Buena Vista, with a good look at the political wrangles between the leading generals and the president. Well written and fun to read.

Done with Holding the Line: The Naval Air Campaign In Korea; if you're looking for a recent account of the carrier war you could do a lot worse.

I just finished reading The Chance of Politics written by Sir Paul Hasluck who was a major figure in postwar Australian politics. The book is a collection of pen portraits written by Sir Paul over the course of his career, and it was his intention that they not be published until all concerned were safely long dead. It contains some incisive, sometimes complimentary and at other times brutal assessments of Australian political figures of the 20th century, some well known, others now largely forgotten. At first this might not seem to be much to do with military history, but as I read the book I realised that many of its subjects had served in either the Great War or the Second World War before entering politics. For my own entertainment I did some brief research on the military service of some of the individuals mentioned in the book, which turned out to be interesting enough that I thought I'd post below:

Archie Cameron (1895-1956) served in the 27th Battalion Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on the Western Front in the Great War, reaching the rank Sergeant and was severely gassed, later in life Minister of the Navy, Speaker of the House of Representatives;

Eric Harrison (1892-1974) served in the 5th Artillery Brigade, AIF on the Western Front in the Great War, reaching the rank of Sergeant, later in life Sir Eric Harrison, Minister of Defence, High Commissioner to the United Kingdom;

Howard Beale (1898-1983) served in the Royal Australian Naval (RAN) Reserve in anti submarine duties in the Second Word War with the rank of Sub-Lieutenant, later in life Sir Oliver Howard Beale, Minister for Supply and Australian Ambassador to the United States;

Wilfred Kent Hughes (1895-1970), served with the 3rd Light Horse at Gallipoli in the Great War where he was wounded, and later served in Sinai, Palestine and Syria, reaching the rank of Major, awarded the Military Cross and Mentioned in Despatches four times; rejoining the army in 1939 he was a colonel in the 8th Division, again Mentioned in Despatches and taken prisoner at the fall of Singapore, awarded the Order of the British Empire for his wartime service, later in life Sir Wilfred Kent Hughes KBE, MVO MC, Minister for the Interior;

Richard Casey (1890-1976) served in the AIF in the Great War at Gallipoli and on the Western Front, reaching the rank of Major and be awarded the Distinguished Service Order and Military Cross, later in life Baron Casey KG GCMG CH DSO MC PC, Minister for National Development, first Australian Ambassador to the United States, and Governor General of Australia;

Athol Townley (1905-1963) served in the RAN in the Second World War serving in the UK and later in New Guinea as a Lieutenant Commander on Fairmile Motor Launches, later in life Minister for Defence;

Shane Paltridge (1910-1966) served as a Gunner in the 2/7th Field Regiment at Tarakan in the Second World War, later in life Sir Shane Paltridge KBE, Minister for Defence;

John Gorton (1911-2002) served as a pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in the Second World War, reaching the rank of Flight Lieutenant, flying Hawker Hurricanes with 135 Sqn RAF over Singapore in 1942 then later P40 Kittyhawks with 77 Sqn RAAF at Darwin; later in life Sir John Gorton GCMG AC CH, Prime Minister of Australia 1968-1971;

David Fairbairn (1917-1994) served as a pilot in the RAAF in the Second World War reaching the rank of Flight Lieutenant and being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, flying Mustangs with 4 Sqn and 140 Sqn RAF in Europe and later P40 Kittyhawks in New Guinea, later in life Sir David Fairbairn KBE DFC, Minister for Defence;

and finally....

Gough Whitlam (1916-2014) served as navigator in the RAAF reaching the rank of Flight Lieutenant, flying Lockheed Venturas out of Northern Australia with RAAF, later in life Gough Whitlam AC QC, Prime Minister of Australia 1972-1975.

Finished up Dornier Do 17, a very good operational chronicle of the machine in question. Still would have wished for a little more development history.