Where have all the bullets gone - spike milligan

A top notch read from the king of comedy who told charley boy he was a grovelling little bastard at the royal variety. Its volume 5 of his war diaries.

I also recommend any of Mike Asher's books, re-reading The Real B20 for about the 1200th time now, shoot to kill is probably his best

Selous Scouts: Top Secret War which has been updated and is now

Pamwe Chete: The Legend of the Selous Scouts

On a lighter note, although non-military, I suggest

Indecent Exposure - Tom Sharpe
Riotous Assembly - Tom Sharpe

I go wit hthe original book, In Deadly Combat:
I've read it myself and it's a fantastic book.
I got mine from Amazon.

Originally Posted by shortfuse

Ray mears book on the real heroes of telemark is a really good read , it doesn't hover on the "rub 2 boy scouts together" element , but focuses on the real story of the grouse/swallow operation , and the freshman disaster , it's staggering to think of the conditions , and the length of time these guys were up on the haardanger plateau , and still managed to carry out one of the best acts of saboutage of the war ..... and that's only when it REALLY gets going!!

Have to echo what SF said. I was gifted The real Heroes of the Telemark the other week and it's been a cracking read. Dont be disillusioned to this by Ray Mears Bushcraft stuff, there are no detailed instructions to craft cutlery from the knee cap of a caribou etc...

However if four blokes parachuting into the Norwegian wilderness, surviving it's gruelling conditions with only the basic equipment whilst tasked with a mission to prevent Nazi's building an atomic bomb sounds like your bag... then give this a go.

Ray Mears
The Real Heroes of the Telemark
ISBN: 0340830166

Originally Posted by PartTimePongo

Yes Please, anything at all on Irish Guards, from Normandy Breakout to Belgium, when my father left for commissioning at Bangalore. There must be a unit history somewhere, or personal diary or something.

I was researching my family history in the Archive Room at Durham Records Office when I stumbled across a microfilm of the War Diary of a Battalion of the DLI. It describes, for example, how this battalion was the nearest unit in the line to the hill where Michael Wittman of SS Schwerer-Panzer-Abteilung 501 destroyed a 7 Armd Div column in minutes then went home for breakfast. The DLI battalion suddenly found itself swamped with casualties, survivors of the action who had struggled back to their own lines.

All research went out of the window. If I didn't live 300 miles away, I'd be in there regularly to read the whole thing.

If you can find out where the IG War Diaries are archived, I commend them to you.

"Danger Close" - Michael Phillip Yon

"The Woman in Black" - Susan Hill. Nearly shit meself.

"Fortune favors the bold"-by James W. Walker: The story of a British citizen fighting with the 1/101st airborne LRRP in Vietnam.
"A wing and a prayer"- by Harry H Crosby: The story of the "Bloody 100th" bomb group of the US 8th air force in WW11

These books are not only good military stories, but they offer a unique perspective on the ongoing and eternal culture clash between Britain and the US (more so in A wing and a prayer).

The Ops Log - perhaps the most boring read ever, with the most repeated phrases: NFTR, NSTR, HOD, TOD, NFA

Originally Posted by PartTimePongo

"Sheik and the dustbin"
"McAuslan in the Rough"
"The General danced at dawn"

They're available as a single volume "The Complete MacAuslan" with an extra foreword and finally a confession from GMF that the "fictional battalion" was really Gordon Highlanders.

It also tells how GMF cannot go back to visit the scene of much of the action because the barracks was flattened by F111s about 1986 by the Septics' attempt to take out Ghaddafi. (sp)

It ought to be on the bookshelf of everybody who even thinks of visiting arrse.

Originally Posted by AlienFTM

Originally Posted by PartTimePongo

"Sheik and the dustbin"
"McAuslan in the Rough"
"The General danced at dawn"

They're available as a single volume "The Complete MacAuslan" with an extra foreword and finally a confession from GMF that the "fictional battalion" was really Gordon Highlanders.

It also tells how GMF cannot go back to visit the scene of much of the action because the barracks was flattened by F111s about 1986 by the Septics' attempt to take out Ghaddafi. (sp)

It ought to be on the bookshelf of everybody who even thinks of visiting arrse.

Seconded. An excellent read, which gives a wonderful insight into the character - and characters - of a British Army regiment ("Gerrawaywillye! Weez Scottish!" - Wee Wullie).

The chapters on Captain 'Erroll' and the golf match against the Royal Scots are particularly good.