Newly arrived ...

Over the past week or so, a number of parcels containing military history-related books and DVDs have been delivered.

The first to arrive was a DVD entitled THE WINTER WAR: THE TRUE STORY OF A BATTLE AGAINST ALL ODDS. This is a fictional account of the 1939 - 1940 war between Finland and Soviet Russia, and judging by the excerpts I have seen already, it appears to be fairly realistic.

The film tells the story of a platoon of reservists from Kauhava in Southern Ostrobothnia who are serving in the 23rd Infantry Regiment of the Finnish Army. The makers tried to ensure the film was as authentic as possible and used as much genuine (or accurate replica) military hardware from the period as possible, including T-26 light tanks, a Tupolev SB fast bomber, and Polikarpov I-16 fighters.

This was followed a few days later by WARSHIP 2011. This is the thirty-third volume in the series, and I own every volume.

This issue contains articles about:

• The US Navy's Lexington Class Battle Cruiser designs
• The Cruiser Dupuy-De-Lôme
• The Battle for Casablanca November 1942
• The Croiseur de Battaille de 37000 Tonnes
• Modern Amphibious Assault Ships
• Battle at Valparaiso 1866
• Bussei's Hydrofoil
• Russia's First Ironclads
• Small cruiser designs for the RN between the wars
• The Tomozuru incident
• The grounding and destruction of HMS Effingham

There is a lot in this volume for anyone interested in naval history to get their teeth into ... and I am particularly interested in the articles about the Battle at Valparaiso and the Russia's First Ironclads.