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CLIVE as ever very interesting 1932 more so as l have the report of the war office experimental convoy form CAIRO

to JUBA the four vehicles used were a CROSSLEY six wheeled lorry 30 CWT a COMMER four wheeled 30 CWT lorry

a MORRIS-COMMERICAL 15 van and a RILEY 9hp car

 

WALLY

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CLIVE

I have a number of these reports covering the period 1920 to 1938 there were a number of these [ experimental convoys ]

carried out by the military and civillians . The information gleaned was to be invaluable during WW2 the war office felt that these convoys were a great success. here are two pages from the convoy CAIRO to JUBA

 

WALLY

c&j 2.jpg

c&j 1.jpg

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Would a manual to a Tatra 813 count? its quite thick but it does have pictures (not ones I can colour in sadly)

 

Having the joys of a manual that is in german that was translated from Czech so some things seem a bit.....peculiar when I translate them back into English

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Would a manual to a Tatra 813 count?

 

Yes of course it does, if you are reading it & enjoying it. If you come across any points of interest that are unusual, worth passing them on & certain peculiarities of translation can be amusing.

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Yes of course it does, if you are reading it & enjoying it. If you come across any points of interest that are unusual, worth passing them on & certain peculiarities of translation can be amusing.

 

Mostly just that on the Dash although it has a fuel gauge the manual just says "Not connected" which is amazingly useful so I am assuming the large gauge that has fuel gauge, air pressure and warning lights was just nabbed from a different Tatra vehicle

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Just re-read a book from the collection 'The Diary of a Desert Rat' by R L Crimp published Leo Cooper 1971,

ISBN 0 85052 039 8

I believe there is a second edition by Pan books.

 

Excellent read for anyone interested in the North African campaign written from the first hand diary account of a British signaler in an infantry company. The narrative covers the 8th Army actions in the desert and the move into Tunisia followed by the eventual collapse of the Africa corp.

Full of detail and a recommend read.

 

I had a look on Amazon and copies are still available

Pete

Edited by Pete Ashby
addition of ISBN No
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  • 3 months later...

Just got another in the series of WO Lists, the trouble is most book dealers & book selling search engines are obsessed with pointing me to Army Lists which are entirely different publications.

 

Scan0040.jpg

 

Wartime publications of any type usually command a high price, but publications outside a wartime period are poorly regarded, which is fine for me because it means they are cheaper. Although, not so with this edition as I paid more than I wanted, but maybe my rival bidders knew that there were 8 pages devoted in detail to the changes in WO structure 1914-18.

 

The complex organisation of all branches & their sub-sections with their respective responsibilities are concisely defined for the given time period. e.g.

 

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The War Office was largely staffed by civilians although some had had extensive service careers like this one. With such experience it makes me wonder whatever happened to him?

 

Scan0042.jpg

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The War Office was largely staffed by civilians although some had had extensive service careers like this one. With such experience it makes me wonder whatever happened to him?

 

attachment.php?attachmentid=125571&stc=1

 

Prime Minister 1940-45, In Opposition 1945-51, Prime Minister 1951-55, Died of a stroke 1965. ;)

 

Andy

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  • 1 month later...

This has just arrived. There is always a lot of interest in WW1 & WW2 documentation, nice to get definite information from outside these periods.

 

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A good insight into Medical Forms and what you should do with them!

 

Scan0060.jpg

 

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Simples

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Went to Hay on wye today, Oooooops ! Spoilt for choice 😀

 

 

 

attachment.php?attachmentid=121767&stc=1

 

I don't think you'll be allowed back there anytime soon!

 

Currently reading the following courtesy of Bob Grundy of this very forum...

 

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Not come across John Weeks before.......... if you know the book it was prompted by seeing a German training film for infantry

 

This film is actually available (which I came across by accident) from the National Army Museum online shop..

 

http://books.national-army-museum.ac.uk/men-against-tanks-dvdgerman-anti-tank-tactics-c-368-p-43-pr-44350.html

 

John also wrote some of the Profile publications.... which are available here

 

http://www.boxartden.com/gallery/index.php/Profiles/AFV-Profiles

 

http://www.boxartden.com/gallery/index.php/Profiles/Small-Arms-Profiles

 

OK, not current publications but plenty of early photos of CVRT's, FV432's etc. which I thought might be of interest....

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The Weeks book is very good.

 

If you need the background on BATs it is more informative & accurate than the drivel you get from online encyclopaedias that is passed from site to site without further research, "weapon of magnesium" for goodness sake! :nono:

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Manual of Driving and Maintenance for Mechanical Vehicles (Wheeled) 1937 published by His Majesty's Stationary Office 31st January 1938 a slim tone of 612 pages of text illustrations and fold out charts and diagrams covering such items as Mounted Drill and Cross-country driving and Normal sequence of operations and driving maxims - riveting and there is a section on that as well

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The Weeks book is very good.

 

If you need the background on BATs it is more informative & accurate than the drivel you get from online encyclopaedias that is passed from site to site without further research, "weapon of magnesium" for goodness sake! :nono:

 

Perhaps we ought to start a thread for debunking urban myths?

 

10 68

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I was going to say perhaps give greater reliance to the printed word, rather the on line word. But that particular magnesium myth has been harvested from the net & appears in a recently published book. :nut:

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I was going to say perhaps give greater reliance to the printed word, rather the on line word. But that particular magnesium myth has been harvested from the net & appears in a recently published book. :nut:

 

I think that pre-supposes that the printed word is somehow more reliable. I am not sure. The same myths existed before the arrival of the internet and some of it will have found its way there from paper in the first place. The trouble is, there is so much information available these days, and so many different people offering views and opinions which may or may not accurately reflect the reality and so little of which can be verified.

 

Even when it comes to official documents there can be problems - an official order being issued from Whitehall was no guarantee that it would be implemented by a minor unit in a distant theatre for a multitude of reasons. I d, though, accept, they are the probably the most reliable source - at least as far as top-level thinking on a subject was concerned. Even recollections of those who were there can be very tricky - think of siblings' shared memories of their childhood - often varying markedly one from another. And mere presence at an event does not of itself guarantee an understanding of the big picture, while at the same time, a higher headquarters' war diaries may not reflect precisely what happened, only what they thought (and had been told?) happened.

 

And then there was the official secrets act - for example, biographies of famous leaders from WWII written prior to the revelations of wartime SIGINT in the early 70s will generally credit leaders with more skill in outwitting their axis opponents than those written later. But, at the same time, those written thirty years and more after the events they describe, will have memory faults and probably b written by those who did not live through the events they describe and struggle to put them in context - so neither can be taken as gospel.

 

Of course, much of this doesn't matter, as truth will always be a touch subjective and rely on interpretation. One thing I would say, though, as far as modern commercial publications are concerned, and that is that most would benefit from far more rigorous proof-reading, particularly in getting photo captions to match the narrative, or compiling lists of abbreviations. As you say, the WOMBAT howler goes on and on, but it isn't alone. I tend to annotate my reference books, correcting errors as I find them - but I only ever use pencil as, from time to time, I find that I have been wrong myself! And, I am sure there are many who served in the military for years who would swear blind that MT stood for Motor Transport, but it didn't!

 

10 68

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  • 2 months later...

Just finished a war novel:

 

From The City From The Plough

 

Alexander Baron ISBN 978-0-9482238-44-4 first published Jonathan Cape Ltd 1948 republished with additional historical notes and critique with notes about the Author 2010 Black Spring Press. The book is available from the usual on line sources for not very much money.

 

I'm not a huge fan of novels but this is based on the authors experiences and observation of a real front line infantry Battalion just prior to D Day and in action up to and including the the Mont Picon action. The names are fictitious but based on real people and real events in the correct time frame and settings.

 

Highly acclaimed when first published in 1948 and I would suggest 40 years ahead of it's time in terms of character portrayal it is a highly detailed study of the ordinary British infantry man of the period.

Highly recommended

Pete

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