Recent reading material

During my 'break' from wargaming, I have been doing some reading. I have already mentioned that I intended to read 1864: THE FORGOTTEN WAR THAT SHAPED MODERN EUROPE by Tom Buk-Swienty.

Well, I have now read it ... and thoroughly enjoyed it, just as I did when I read it back in 2015. I might not yet be ready to refight the Battles of Dybbøl or Als ... but I hope to do so in the not too distant future.

I have also been reading two books about the Eastern Front/Great Patriotic War. Both were written by Charles D Winchester, who is a military historian and wargamer with whom I am very well acquainted. 

The first is OSTFRONT: HITLER'S WAR ON RUSSIA 1941-45 ...

... and the second is HITLER's WAR IN RUSSIA.

The second book is actually a very heavily revised edition of the first book and does not include the extensive illustrations and maps in OSTFRONT: HITLER'S WAR IN RUSSIA 1941-45. In fact, it is almost a complete rewrite, and I did not notice that the text of both books were at all similar.

I read these last two books because I have been sorting out and cataloguing my Eastern Front/Great Patriotic War collection and it seemed rather appropriate. In fact, they gave me lots to think about whilst I was doing this 'sorting the button box' exercise, and I am already developing plans in my mind to add some more vehicles, artillery, and figures to the collection. Perhaps my wargaming mojo is beginning to return ... which is no bad thing!

---

1864: THE FORGOTTEN WAR THAT SHAPED MODERN EUROPE was written by Tom Buk-Swienty, translated into English by Annette Buk-Swienty, and published in English by Profile Books in April 2015 (ISBN 978 1 781 25276 5). (It was originally published in Denmark in 2008 by Gyldendal, entitled 1864: SLAGTEBÆNK DYBBØL [which can be translated as ‘The Dybbøl Slaughterhouse’].)

OSTFRONT: HITLER'S WAR ON RUSSIA 1941-45 was written by Charles D Winchester and published by Osprey Publishing in 1998 (ISBN 978 1 8553 2711 5).

HITLER'S WAR IN RUSSIA was written by Charles D Winchester and published by Osprey Publishing in 2007 (ISBN 978 1 8460 3195 3).