Troops Books

An account of military campaigns on ski in Finland, Russia, Norway, the Alps, and the Balkans during World War II. The author served as an instructor for the British Olympic Team in the 1950's.

THis book is a day-by-day account of all the declassified spec ops the military has conducted since the inception of the special force services.
I would have LOVED to have seen color pictures, but all the photos are just black and white. That's why the 4* stars instead of 5.

Still, this makes for an interesting read, as the author includes recipients of medals for valiant and courageous action against our enemies, and briefly talks about the equipment the spec ops teams utilize on their covert missions.

Personally, I like to go through the book daily to "see what happened today", much like a calendar. It serves to keep me realizing that somewhere in the world, brave soldiers are putting it ALL on the line for the name of freedom.

I am always fascinated by personal narratives. "Trial by Combat" is no exception. I know from past reading that personal narratives can from time to time be inaccurate due to a number of reasons. However, to get up close and personal and to feel the human element involved nothing beats personal narratives. They tend to be more in depth than battle histories. The down side to "Trial by Combat" is the frustrating sentence structure and punctuation. It is very distracting. The grammar is not the best either. That being said, I still enjoy memoirs and personal narratives because it is coming from the very soldiers who were there. "Trial by Combat" is still a good read.

This book is fascinating. It wasn't quite the book I was expecting it to be, but it was still great. It's the story of a young tank-troop commander in the Second World War and his trails and tribulations. Some of the things he writes are blackly funny - like the time he chewed out a general from driving his car right up to the pit he was hiding in, giving him away to German artillery. Some of the things he writes about, common to most honest war accounts, aren't funny at all.

It is a great book, and hard to describe as anything but an honest war account from a perspective rarely attained. Tank-troop commanders don't generally write books, and this is the finest example I have found of the rare breed that does.

I recommend this book to you.

This book takes you there, Vietnam, that is. Christopher talks about what it is like to be on the sharp tip of the spear day after day after day, with little rest. Leadership in such circumstances takes its toll. He survived somehow despite all of his close calls. A Ranger and Cavalryman both, he was a great soldier and a good man in a bad place, but he kept his man alive.

If you are or were a soldier, especially cavalryman, read this book!

This is a human and well-written memoir of the Great War by a young Irishman serving with the Household Cavalry. Mr. Lloyd recounts his pre-war entry into the Army, his training as a cavalryman, and barracks life in general sprinkling it with humorous anecdotes. When the war begins, he's assigned as orderly room sergeant, to be part of the cadre to train and assemble another squadron (battalion) from reservists and volunteers. All his mates have departed and, although he longs to be with them, he completes the task he's been given. In 1915 this squadron reaches the Western Front and he serves in various capacities as Quartermaster and staff NCO, all the time longing to do nothing but be a "simple troop Sergeant", in his words. Lloyd soldiers through the misery of the Western Front always seeming to do his best in difficult and even impossible situations.

Lloyd's memoir is not that of a hero. He definitely does not see himself as such. He is a serving soldier, with a deep respect for the Army and an abiding warm feeling of comradeship for his Regiment.

An excellent memoir and I highly recommend it.

Good book, you should definantly get this if you are considering becoming a UDT SEAL.

I had read a fair bit on the German airborne arm, the legendary Fallschirmjägers, but I had read very little on the American version until this book by Gordon Rottman. It contained a number of surprises for me, first and foremost the debt owed to the famous Billy Mitchell. In October 1918, as a Colonel in the US Army, he put forward the plan to train the US 1st division in parachuting techniques, and to be dropped behind German lines by heavy bombers as part of the planned 1919 Spring offensive. The end of the war in November 1918 put paid to this plan, however the seeds were planted for the future. Colonel Mitchell had the forward looking idea to supply these men by air-dropping supplies, and using ground attack aircraft to prevent German use of approach roads to the drop zones, enabling the 1st US division to fortify their bases.

It was Mitchell again, now a Brigadier General, who conducted the first US Army airborne experiment, on 29.4.28. He had three volunteers from the 2nd Division parachute onto Kelly Field in San Antonio Texas, where they set up and fired a machine gun as part of the demonstration. Progress was slow, however, and it was not until 1933 before an entire battalion was air-lifted. With the stunning success of the German parachute, glider and air-landed troops at the start of the campaign in the West in 1940, the Army activated it's first parachute unit, the Parachute Test Platoon, on 25.6.40. On 16.9.40, the first US Army parachute battalion was activated, the 501st Parachute Battalion. The Army Air Corp began glider trials in July 1941, and the book describes the wrangling within the Army about the structure and function of the airborne units, leading up to the declaration of war on 8.12.41

The book then runs through the creation and formation of the various US Army and Air Corp airborne units, the success' and failures of these units in North Africa, Sicily and the Pacific, leading up to D-Day and Market Garden, followed by the Ardennes and through to Germany's surrender on 8.5.45. Next comes the years after the war, followed by Korea, Vietnam and beyond. The photographs are excellent, and as usual, Ron Volstadt has provided high quality colour plates. A great book for the casual and dedicated reader of military matters.

A top read!

I have had a copy of this book almost since it came out. As a historian of individual equipment I find it quite useful to reference the dates of usage of many items. Not being a history as such, there are a few minor descriptive errors but these do not detract from the book.

This book includes beautiful photography of WWII parachute gear, primarily British and U.S., supplemented by black and white pictures and line drawings. The book also includes a reprint of Technical Order 13-5-7, the U.S. Army's first publication regarding parachutes for use by airborne troops.

On the down side the book's text is less complete for allies like Poland and France, neither of which had done much with airborne troops prior to the war. It is significantly scanty on Soviet gear, an oversight which is harder to accept given the large-scale exercises conducted by the USSR in the 1930s. Nevertheless, the book is at a minimum an excellent visual reference.