Ian Isherwood’s The Battalion tells the story of the 8th Battalion, The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey) Regiment, a K3 Kitchener battalion that fought on the Western Front with the 24th Division during the Great War. Using personal letters, memoirs, and diaries from the battalion, especially those of one commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Hugh John Chevallier ‘Jack’ Peirs, the book seeks to explore how ordinary citizens became soldiers and coped with the harsh realities of war. The project originated when Peirs’ correspondence, held at Gettysburg College, Pennsylvania, in the United States, sparked interest among American academics. This is unusual, as the history of the Great War in the USA is largely unknown, let alone the activity of the British Army. Peirs’ letters formed the foundation for a digital history project (www.jackpeirs.org), and Isherwood’s book developed from this work, focusing on the battalion’s experiences in major battles like Loos, the Somme, Passchendaele,.. Read more
The Western Front Association

As the only candidate, before or since, ever to have achieved 100% in the tactics paper in the entrance examination for the army Staff College Eric Dorman-Smith ought perhaps to be better known to posterity, but as history is written by the victors, and as ‘Chink’ (nicknamed after the antelope mascot of his regiment) had managed to alienate most of them, it is not surprising that he has almost disappeared except to a few military historians. That while at the Staff College he ostentatiously burned all the precis compiled by one of the instructors, one Lieutenant Colonel BL Montgomery, would be remembered by a man who never forgot a grudge. There is only one good biography of him, ‘Chink – A Biography’ by Lavinia Greacen, published in 1989 and rightly lauded as a masterly account of the man and his times, describing his undoubted intellect and abilities while also recognising his flaws. It deservedly became a best seller and was translated into several languages. After that brief.. Read more
Aspects of History - Gordon Corrigan, author of Mud, Blood and Poppycock - Britain and the First World War, and The Second World War - A Military History

Author Jean Paul Pallud has done a number of books for After the Battle, and they remain among my favourites. This latest one is every bit as good, and as someone who has long been interested in the subject of the German V-weapons during WW2, this one has jumped straight in to be one of my favourite references on the subject. Some diagrams and the archive photos give detail on the V-2 units that will be especially attractive to modellers I think. For anyone interested in the V-weapons story, and in visiting the various sites in Northern France which are now museums to visit, I'd suggest this really should be on your bookshelf. Read the full review [link=https://www.militarymodelscenenew.com/book-reviews-1/vergeltungswaffen-the-third-reich's-v-missiles-then-and-now]here[/link]
Military Model Scene

Review as featured in Hihglight: 'if this stuff is your cup of tea, it’s a ‘must have’. It will interest students of gunmaking – this is a key addition to the corpus; gunmakers interested in the origins of their craft; mechanical and manufacturing engineers who perhaps do not appreciate that many of the techniques they have traditionally used arose in gunmaking; and those with an interest in 18th and nineteenth century firearms, especially military firearms,
Arms and Armour

Vincent Bertrand was conscripted into the 7th Light Infantry Regiment in November 1805 and remained with that regiment until 1815, by which time he had attained the rank of adjutant sous-officier. He served at Jena, Eylau, Friedland, Wagram, throughout the Russian campaign and at Dresden. He was wounded and taken prisoner when his battalion was destroyed in a rearguard action at Peterswald on 14th September 1813 and did not return to France until August 1814. During the Waterloo campaign, the 7th formed part of the Army of the Rhine. Bertrand joined the 1st Infantry Regiment of the Royal Guard as a fusilier in March 1816, regained his old rank of sous-lieutenant in 1825, was promoted lieutenant in 1830, transferred to the 43rd Infantry Regiment where he became a captain in 1836, and retired in 1839. His service in the Royal Army is not described in this memoir, published by his grandson in 1909, which has been translated into English for the first time. Ten plates – all but one in colour.. Read more
Miniature Wargames, Arthur Harman