Discover Legally Popular Titles Full Audiobooks in History, Military

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Title: Tirpitz

Subtitle: The Life and Death of Germany's Last Super Battleship

Author: Niklas Zetterling, Michael Tamelander

Narrator: Pete Larkin

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-29-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 23 votes

Genres: History, Military

Publisher's Summary:

Whilst the Kriegsmarine's surface fleet, restricted for much of the period after 1919 by the terms of the Versailles Treaty, was relatively small in comparison to the Royal Navy, it did possess a number of highly potent battleships and other capital vessels that could - and did - pose a major threat to British interests in the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean. Amongst the most powerful were the two battleships - the Bismarck and the Tirpitz. The awesome power of the former was demonstrated by its destruction of HMS Hood in May 1941, although it was itself to be sunk shortly afterward. For Royal Navy planners and tacticians, the close monitoring of the other German capital ships was a pressing need, particularly if the Germans were ever to pose a serious threat to the all-important convoys across the Atlantic and to Russia. Moreover considerable effort went into trying to neutralize the threat either by keeping the German warships penned into harbor or by sinking them.

Members Reviews:

A great and compelling saga, wonderfully read

This book uses the great German battleship Tirpitz as the focal point for the story of naval warfare in the North Atlantic in WWII, and does it brilliantly. Much of the book isn't about the Tirpitz per se, although the mighty battleship is like a powerful chess piece lurking in the backgroundinfluencing events by its mere existence and deadly possiblities.

Generally, the book focuses on Allied supply convoys in the North Atlantic, bound for both America, and significantlyalso for Russia. It reveals the naval strategies and political maneuverings which governed the use of naval resources on both sides of the conflict.

Essential to the story, the book gives a detailed description of "Operation Chariot," the successful attempt by the Allies to destroy the dry dock at St Nazaire in German occupied France.

Overall, this is a thrilling and wonderful bookfascinating from beginning to end.

Furthermore, Pete Larkin's narration is really great. He brings the story to life with clarity and professionalism. His reading style is remarkably consistent from first to last. It's his narration that turns this story of WWII naval strategy into a great and compelling saga.

Sadly, the companion book to "Tirpitz," "Bismarck," by the same authors, is not nearly as well read. Where the narration of "Tirpitz" keeps the action flowing and makes it exciting to listen to, "Bismarck" comes across as stilted and confusing. If nothing else, these two books highlight the huge difference that narration can make.

Captivating Read

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this to anyone who has an inquisitive mind into the full story of the Tirpitz & the role it played in the Arctic convoy battles. This book delivers.

What other book might you compare Tirpitz to and why?

By the same author: "Bismarck: The Final Days of Germany's Greatest Battleship" This book contrasts the other side of the Atlantic convoy battles.

Which scene was your favorite?

Most definitely the scene where the midget "X" submarines are attempted for a daring attack on the battleship.

Any additional comments?

The narrator does a superb job of parlaying this historical story.

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Title: American Guerrilla

Subtitle: The Forgotten Heroics of Russell W. Volckmann

Author: Mike Guardia

Narrator: Jason Huggins

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-29-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 18 votes

Genres: History, Military

Publisher's Summary:

A main selection of the Military Book Club and a selection of the History Book Club.

With his parting words "I shall return," General Douglas MacArthur sealed the fate of the last American forces on Bataan. Yet one young Army Captain, named Russell Volckmann, refused to surrender. He disappeared into the jungles of north Luzon where he raised a Filipino army of over 22,000 men. For the next three years he led a guerrilla war against the Japanese, killing over 50,000 enemy soldiers. At the same time he established radio contact with MacArthur's HQ in Australia and directed Allied forces to key enemy positions.

When General Yamashita finally surrendered, he made his initial overtures not to MacArthur, but to Volckmann.This book establishes how Volckmann's leadership was critical to the outcome of the war in the Philippines. His ability to synthesize the realities and potential of guerrilla warfare led to a campaign that rendered Yamashita's forces incapable of repelling the Allied invasion. Had it not been for Volckmann, the Americans would have gone in "blind" during their counter-invasion, reducing their efforts to a trial-and-error campaign that would undoubtedly have cost more lives, materiel, and potentially stalled the pace of the entire Pacific War.

Second, this book establishes Volckmann as the progenitor of modern counterinsurgency doctrine and the true "Father" of Army Special Forces - a title that history has erroneously awarded to Colonel Aaron Bank of the ETO. In 1950, Volckmann wrote two Army field manuals: Operations Against Guerrilla Forces and Organization and Conduct of Guerrilla Warfare, though today few realize he was their author. Together, they became the Army's first handbooks outlining the precepts for both special warfare and counter-guerrilla operations.

Taking his argument directly to the Army Chief of Staff, Volckmann outlined the concept for Army Special Forces. At a time when U.S. military doctrine was conventional in outlook, he marketed the ideas of guerrilla warfare as a critical force multiplier for any future conflict, ultimately securing the establishment of the Army's first special operations unit - the 10th Special Forces Group.

Volckmann himself remains a shadowy figure in modern military history, his name absent from every major biography on MacArthur, and in much of the Special Forces literature. Yet as modest, even secretive, as Volckmann was during his career, it is difficult to imagine a man whose heroic initiative had more impact on World War II. This long-overdue book not only chronicles the dramatic military exploits of Russell Volckmann, but analyzes how his leadership paved the way for modern special-warfare doctrine.

Members Reviews:

A great book about a great man. A truely inspiring read

The author makes an excellent and well documented case for Volckmann as a truely unsung hero. He was the leader of a Philippino resistance movement and was instrumental in getting MacArthur information which saved very many American lives. It is estimated that his troops killed 50,000 Japanese while loosing only 2,000 of his men.He authored 2 athoaitive manuals on guerrilla warfare and because they were Army manuals he could not get credit for them.

Found this book very interesting. I did not know ...

Found this book very interesting.

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Title: The Drive on Moscow, 1941

Subtitle: Operation Taifun and Germanys First Great Crisis of World War II

Author: Niklas Zetterling, Anders Frankson

Narrator: Dave Courvoisier

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-29-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 74 votes

Genres: History, Military

Publisher's Summary:

At the end of September 1941, more than a million German soldiers lined up along the frontline just 180 miles west of Moscow. They were well trained, confident, and had good reasons to hope that the war in the East would be over with one last offensive. Facing them was an equally large Soviet force, but whose soldiers were neither as well trained nor as confident. When the Germans struck, disaster soon befell the Soviet defenders. German panzer spearheads cut through enemy defenses and thrust deeply to encircle most of the Soviet soldiers on the approaches to Moscow. Within a few weeks, most of them marched into captivity, where a grim fate awaited them.

Despite the overwhelming initial German success, however, the Soviet capital did not fall. German combat units as well as supply transport were bogged down in mud caused by autumn rains. General Zhukov was called back to Moscow and given the desperate task to recreate defense lines west of Moscow. The mud allowed him time to accomplish this, and when the Germans again began to attack in November, they met stiffer resistance. Even so, they came perilously close to the capital, and if the vicissitudes of weather had cooperated, would have seized it. Though German units were also fighting desperately by now, the Soviet build-up soon exceeded their own.

The Drive on Moscow: Operation Taifun, 1941 is based on numerous archival records, personal diaries, letters, and other sources. It recreates the battle from the perspective of the soldiers as well as the generals. The battle, not fought in isolation, had a crucial role in the overall German strategy in the East, and its outcome reveals why the failure of the German assault on Moscow may well have been true turning point of World War II.

Niklas Zetterling is a researcher at the Swedish Defense College. Along with Anders Frankson he has previously written Kursk 1943: A Statistical Analysis and The Korsun Pocket: The Encirclement and Breakout of a German Army in the East, 1944. Both authors currently live in Sweden.

Members Reviews:

Add the maps, lose the accents

Would you consider the audio edition of The Drive on Moscow, 1941 to be better than the print version?

No due to absence of maps available for the audio edition.

What did you like best about this story?

Detailed research

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

I really wish narrators of historical nonfiction would not adopt cheesy accents when reading quoted first person accounts. Just read. Save the acting for fiction titles,

Please Remove the Silly Accents

What made the experience of listening to The Drive on Moscow, 1941 the most enjoyable?

The story is told in an interesting manner, without sacrificing detail.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Dave Courvoisier?

If he just would drop the ridiculous accents on Germans and Russians, there would be no reason to change narrator.

Good review of an important battle

Like most military books I listen too, not having maps available to understand the shape of the battle was challenging. However, the reader did a fine job of pronouncing Russian and German names which helped keep the story clear.

Choppy but excellent overall

What made the experience of listening to The Drive on Moscow, 1941 the most enjoyable?

The book in its entirety. Parts were weak.

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Title: With Musket and Tomahawk Vol II

Subtitle: The Mohawk Valley Campaign in the Wilderness War of 1777

Author: Michael Logusz

Narrator: Dennis Johnson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-29-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 52 votes

Genres: History, Military

Publisher's Summary:

A comprehensive look at the brutal wilderness war that secured America's independence With Musket and Tomahawk is a vivid account of the American and British struggles in the sprawling wilderness region of the northeast during the Revolutionary War. Combining strategic, tactical, and personal detail, this book describes how the patriots of the recently organized Northern Army defeated England's massive onslaught of 1777, thereby all but ensuring America's independence.

Conceived and launched by top-ranking British military leaders to shatter and suppress the revolting colonies, Britain's three-pronged thrust was meant to separate New England from the rest of the nascent nation along the line of the Hudson River. Thus divided, both the northern and southern colonies could have been defeated in detail, unable to provide mutual assistance against further attacks.

Yet, despite intense planning and vast efforts, Britain's campaign resulted in disaster when General John Burgoyne, with 6,000 soldiers, emerged from a woodline and surrendered his army to the Patriots at Saratoga in October 1777.Underneath the umbrella of Saratoga, countless battles and skirmishes were waged from the borders of Canada southward to Ticonderoga, Bennington, and West Point. Heroes on both sides were created by the score, though only one side proved victorious, amid a tapestry of madness, cruelty, and hardship in what can rightfully be called "the terrible Wilderness War of 1777."

Members Reviews:

An excellent military history

An excellent history of a lttle covered campaign of the American Revolution in 1777. Highly recommended.

Well Done!

Any additional comments?

Exceptionally interesting, well written and read. I learned a lot about an aspect of the Revolutionary War of which I knew very little. Saratoga sucks away the attention for most when writing and studying this period of the war. This work goes far to give the siege of Ft. Stanwix and the Battle of Oriskany their proper due. Being an Oregonian I was also intrigued to learn more about "up-state New York" of which I have had little experience.

Chronologically of course this work should be Volume 1 instead of # 2 in Logusz's two volume set, so I listened to it first. But this work was so good that, even though I have studied the British debacle at Saratoga many times, I am moving on to Volume 1 (Saratoga) to see if I can learn even more about this event.

Mythology Masquerading as History

What would have made With Musket and Tomahawk Vol II better?

The "wilderness war" is problematic as the author never investigates the nature of the "wilderness" so critical to the story he is trying to tell. The Mohawk Valley was not the "howling wilderness" presented in this work, peopled with barbarous (and vanishing) Natives and freedom-seeking settlers. This was a complex yet relatively stable borderland between British North America and indigenous America. Layers upon layers of conflict and negotiation--ethnic, political, and economic--underlay Logusz's narrative.

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Title: Tragedy at Dieppe

Subtitle: Operation Jubilee, August 19, 1942

Author: Mark Zuehlke

Narrator: John Wray

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-22-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 13 votes

Genres: History, Military

Publisher's Summary:

With its trademark "you are there" style, Mark Zuehlke's 10th Canadian Battle Series volume tells the story of the 1942 Dieppe raid. Nicknamed "The Poor Man's Monte Carlo", Dieppe had no strategic importance, but with the Soviet Union thrown on the ropes by German invasion and America having just entered the war, Britain was under intense pressure to launch a major cross-Channel attack against France.

Since 1939, Canadian troops had massed in Britain and trained for the inevitable day of the mass invasion of Europe that would finally occur in 1944. But the Canadian public and many politicians were impatient to see Canadian soldiers fight sooner.The first major rehearsal proved such a shambles the raid was pushed back to the end of July only to be cancelled by poor weather. Later, in a decision still shrouded in controversy, the operation was reborn. Dieppe however did not go smoothly. Drawing on rare archival documents and personal interviews, Mark Zuehlke examines how the raid came to be and why it went so tragically wrong. Ultimately, Tragedy at Dieppe honors the bravery and sacrifice of those who fought and died that fateful day on the beaches of Dieppe.

Editorial Reviews:

Mark Zuehlke has painstakingly detailed the Canadian armys involvement in World War II in his Canadian Battle series. Tragedy at Dieppe, the 10th book in the series is a chronicle of the raid on Dieppe in which Canada suffered greater losses than any other battle. Zuehlke was able to scour countless firsthand records that John Wray brings to life with his impassioned and journalistic performance. The writing truly gives an insider's perspective and the performance puts the listener right into the tragic events. Anyone interested in the history of World War II and one of its often overlooked and disastrous confrontations will find this audiobook informative and absorbing.

Members Reviews:

great

great to see such a good reminder of the struggle the Canadian army faced. lest we forget

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Title: Battlefield Medicine

Subtitle: A History of the Military Ambulance from the Napoleonic Wars Through World War I

Author: John S. Haller Jr.

Narrator: Todd Barsness

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-16-13

Publisher: University Press Audiobooks

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 6 votes

Genres: History, Military

Publisher's Summary:

In this first history of the military ambulance, historian John S. Haller, Jr. documents the development of medical technologies for treating and transporting wounded soldiers on the battlefield. Noting that the word ambulance has been used to refer to both a mobile medical support system and a mode of transport, Haller takes readers back to the origins of the modern ambulance, covering their evolution in depth from the late 18th century through World War I.

The rising nationalism, economic and imperial competition, and military alliances and arms races of the 19th and early 20th centuries figure prominently in this history of the military ambulance, which focuses mainly on British and American technological advancements. Beginning with changes introduced by Dominique-Jean Larrey during the Napoleonic Wars, the book traces the organizational and technological challenges faced by opposing armies in the Crimean War, the American Civil War, the Franco-Prussian War, and the Philippines Insurrection, then climaxes with the trench warfare that defined World War I. The operative word is "challenges" of medical care and evacuation because while some things learned in a conflict are carried into the next, too often, the spasms of war force its participants to repeat the errors of the past before acquiring much needed insight.

More than a history of medical evacuation systems and vehicles, this exhaustively researched and richly illustrated volume tells a fascinating story, giving listeners a unique perspective of the changing nature of warfare in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Members Reviews:

Dry history, presented dryly

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I read/listened to this book as part of my research for a project involving World War I. I found the information I needed within this book. The facts of war and battlefield life-and-death are presented in a very workmanlike way, and I wondered if this was written as a paper for a university course or thesis.This is very dry material and does not give the narrator much to work with. Having said that, I knew I was a bit in trouble when, within the first few minutes, Todd Barsness pronounced the word "havoc" as "have-oak." Later on, he pronounces the term "noblesse oblige" as "oh-blyyj" rather than its proper form of "oh-bleej."Small issues, but as the saying goes, God is in the details. I would not expect the print version to have typos. These mispronunciations are akin to audio typos in my mind.Just sayin'.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Yes. See above. And again, in his defense, the material is very dry, very much a research tome than a thrilling adventure back into history.

Was Battlefield Medicine worth the listening time?

For me, yes, because it provided me important information I will use for my project.

Any additional comments?

This book offers a well-researched view into the primitive world of battlefield hospitals through the First World War. In particular, I was horrified to read the injury and death statistics involved in each war chronicled, particularly WWI. The author did a thorough, workmanlike job of writing a book on a topic that is pretty grim.

HORRABLE narration

Would you try another book from John S. Haller Jr. and/or Todd Barsness?

No.

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Title: The Phantom Army of Alamein

Subtitle: How the Camouflage Unit and Operation Bertram Hoodwinked Rommel

Author: Rick Stroud

Narrator: Steve West

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-15-13

Publisher: Audible Studios for Bloomsbury

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 15 votes

Genres: History, Military

Publisher's Summary:

In 1940 a group of artists, sculptors, filmmakers, theater designers, and set painters came together to form the Camouflage Unit. Led by Major Geoffrey Barkas and including among their number the internationally renowned stage magician Jasper Maskelyne, the unit's projects became a crucial battlefield weapon. At the siege of Tobruk the unit made a vital desalination plant appear to have been destroyed by enemy bombers; from then on they used their storytelling skills to weave intricate webs of deception, making things appear that weren't actually there, and things that were, disappear, to deceive the enemy. Their stage was the enormous, flat, and almost featureless western desert.

The unit's schemes were so successful that in August 1942 the Unit was ordered by General Montgomery to come up with a way to hide the preparations for the Battle of Alamein, the biggest battle the 8th Army had ever fought. "Operation Bertram" was born. In six short weeks two divisions, with armour, field guns, and supporting vehicles, were conjured from the sand, while real tanks and lethal 25-pound field guns vanished from sight. Then, on the eve of the battle, the unit performed the biggest conjuring trick in military history. Right in front of the German's eyes they made 600 tanks disappear and reappear 50 miles away disguised as lorries. Rommel had been bamboozled by an army made of nothing but string and straw and bits of wood.

The Phantom Army of Alamein tells for the first time the full story of how some of Britain's most creative men put down their brushes, pencils, and cameras to join the rest of the world in the fight against the Nazis and played a vital role in the winning of the war.

Members Reviews:

A Good History Book

This book tells the story of the British Army Camouflage Unit in the North African Campaign of the Second World War (1940-43). Surprising it is quite a page turner and does have great detail without being bogged down. If you are interested in the Second World War then this is a must, but if your thing is the North African Campaign with the 8th Army, Deutsch Africa Corps and lets not forget the Italians, then you need this book. Everybody gets a mention, South African Engineers, Australian Desert Rats, British HQ in Cairo or Rommel's adjutant. A good book worth the listen too.

NOT AS IN DEPTH AS I EXPECTED

Overall, this book is alright if you know nothing at all about the WWII battles in North Africa. I thought there would be much more about the Camouflage Unit itself. Instead the men and their work is just a "side dish" to Rommel, Montgomery, Churchill, Hitler, Eisenhower, et. al. Even Operation Bertram and the battle at Alamein is relegated to the last 45 minutes of the story. I'm a rabid war buff and had never even heard of this critical and important military unit. So, for that reason, I'm glad that this story was told. But I feel there are so many layers that have yet to be revealed here. Also, Audible really needs to provide listeners with PDFs of photos and/or maps included in the print copies.

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Title: Voices of the Foreign Legion

Subtitle: The History of the World's Most Famous Fighting Corps

Author: Adrian D. Gilbert

Narrator: Eric Brooks

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-27-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 33 votes

Genres: History, Military

Publisher's Summary:

From the archives of the British War Museum, a complete history of the most exciting and brutal fighting force in the world.

The French Foreign Legion has established a reputation as the most formidable of military forces. Created as a means of protecting French interests abroad, the legion spearheaded French colonialism in North Africa during the nineteenth century. Accepting volunteers from all parts of the world, the legion acquired an aura of mysteryand a less than enviable reputation for brutality within its ranks. Attracting recruits from all over the world, these new soldiers explain in their own words why they submitted themselves to such brutal training.Voices of the Foreign Legion looks at how the legion selects its recruits, where they come from, and why they seek a life of incredible hardship and danger. It also analyzes the legions strict attitude toward discipline, questions why desertion is a perennial problem, and assesses the legions military achievements since its formation in 1831. Its scope ranges from the conquest of the colonies in Africa and the Far East, through the horrors of the two World Wars, to the bitter but ultimately hopeless battles to maintain Frances imperial possessions.

Editorial Reviews:

Voices of the Foreign Legion cuts through the air of mystery and romance surrounding France's Foreign Legion to bring listeners firsthand accounts of what it's like to sign up, train, and fight in this notoriously tough unit. Military historian Adrian Gilbert has excerpted reports from the sound archive of Britain's Imperial War Museum (among other sources), which narrator Eric Brooks expertly brings alive in his deep, steady tones. From the colonial era until today, from the traumas of the battlefield to life in the barracks, Voices brings listeners closer to real life in the Foreign Legion than they are likely to get anywhere else.

Members Reviews:

A good, if not amazing listen

This was a decent audiobook; it's well done and will keep you interested.

Gilbert, a former Legionaire himself, really shines in talking about how one joins the Legion, the brutal training, and the unit's unique traditions and outlook.

The author does a great job of including first hand accounts of life and war in the Legion, dating back to the 19th century.

The latter part of the book, the Legion's wars and battles, is a hit and miss affair. It seems like Gilbert really rushed to cover everything. The Legion's role in Algeria (1954-1962) was especially abridged; fortunately Alistair Horne's ridculously good "A Savage War of Peace" is available here on audible as well.

I would love to see this book with a more detailed second half, and an updated one that includes the Legion's role in Afghanistan, and its return to North Africa in the Mali operation that is ongoing as I type this.

Strong men

great story about some hard men from various different backgrounds coming together to make one of the world's more Elite fighting forces what the Mystique of the French Foreign Legion this gives the reader a pretty good insight into the organization

interesting, but not well presented

gave me a good a good sense of the reality behind the mystique but the narrator sounded like he was marching through every word!

Hmmm, interesting & informative

Good reading. Good story and revealing. Lot of good stories.

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Title: Three Armies on the Somme

Subtitle: The First Battle of the Twentieth Century

Author: William Philpott

Narrator: James Adams

Format: Unabridged

Length: 26 hrs and 32 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-23-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 64 votes

Genres: History, Military

Publisher's Summary:

On July 1, 1916, British and French forces launched the first attack on the German armies lined up along the Somme in what was to become the defining battle of World War I. To this day, July 1 is often remembered for being the bloodiest day in British military history. Indeed, the British suffered some 62,000 casualties in that one day of fighting alone. As gruesome as that statistic is, it's just one of the many dark legacies left by the Somme Offensive. Among the others can be found all the sundry inhumanities of modern trench warfare: infantry lined up opposite machine guns; trench conditions in which vermin and disease were rampant; no-man's-land scattered with dead and dying; vicious gas attacks; soldiers rattled with shell shock. And yet, Philpott reminds us, without having fought and won this crucial battle, the Allied forces might never have prevailed over the Germans.

Here, Philpott boldly and convincingly breaks with the predominant view among historians, most of whom regard the Battle of the Somme as the worst of military tragedies. Three Armies on the Somme is an attempt to finally set the record straight: Many of the histories and memoirs written about this important battle - including those of the statesmen Winston Churchill and Lloyd George, both of which Philpott powerfully rebuts - recount the missteps of the British command but fail to account for the fact that General Haig was witnessing the spontaneous evolution of warfare as he marched his troops to battle.

It's often said that Haig was fighting a 20th century war using 19th century means. As Philpott shows, however, 20th century war as we know it simply didn't exist before the Battle of the Somme. New technologies developed, such as the machine gun and the armored tank; equally important were the technologies that couldn't develop fast enough: communications capabilities lagged far behind the commanders' needs for a battle of such scale. New methods of engagement were being drawn up along both lines, and as World War I raged on, it became clear that tactics aimed at attrition were the only feasible route to defeating powerful industrial nations that had made all their production and work force available in the name of war.

Allied forces initially billed the Battle of the Somme as a knockout punch to the Germans. Although this goal was almost certainly out of reach in 1916, the British and the French forces actually came much closer to defeating the Germans at the Somme than is popularly believed. At the very least, the Allies' hard-won victory in Picardy gave British and French soldiers the experience, confidence, and knowledge necessary to bring the Great War to an end.

William Philpott has given us an exciting and indispensable work of history - one that challenges our received ideas about the Battle of the Somme and about the very nature of modern warfare.

Members Reviews:

An insightful and exhaustive analysis of the Somme

This book, to put it quite simply, is a detailed analysis of the Battle of the Somme which took place in the latter half of 1916, and when I say detailed, boy do I mean it.

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Title: My War Gone By, I Miss It So

Author: Anthony Loyd

Narrator: Steven Crossley

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-01-11

Publisher: Recorded Books

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 32 votes

Genres: History, Military

Publisher's Summary:

With elegance and unsparing honesty, special correspondent for The Times of London, Anthony Loyd records this harrowing account of modern war. My War Gone By, I Miss It So exposes the unspeakable terror, visceral thrill of combat, and countless lives laid waste in Europes bloodiest conflict since World War II. Unsatisfied by a brief stint in the British army and driven by the despair of drug dependence, the author was searching for excitement when he set out for Bosnia in 1993. Nothing prepared him for the brutal life-and-death struggle he discovers there among the Serbs, Croatians, and Bosnian Muslims. As he writes of the shocking chaos, he finds a chilling purpose to his life as a journalist. Anthony Loyd has become an award-winning international reporter whose work is compared to the classics of war literature. With this powerful book, he takes an uncompromising look at the horrifying savagery and seductive power of war. British actor Steven Crossley masterfully conjures up the sights, smells, and sounds of a country being torn apart.

Members Reviews:

3 time reading / listening.

Reality of war. No bias just plain human experience. Anthony has made real historical record of Balkan conflict.

Fun book. Low anti Serb bias for an Anglo

Serbs were lambasted in the Western media. It was the whabbi Muslim separatists who started the killing. Just like Kosovo, Syria and Burma now. The US flew Saudi jihadists into Bosnia with military transport planes. As Clinton emails say, jihad is a volatile but usefull asset for the west.

The war in the Balkans, 1992-1995

An English journalist experience during the Balkans war in the early and mid 1990s. Also a brief stint in Chechnya. From reading this book, obviously war is hell.

Grim

Was My War Gone By, I Miss It So worth the listening time?

Loyds memoir of his time as a war journalist in Bosnia and Chechnya in the 1990s is an odd mix of war story, addiction tell all, and biography of a troubled upbringing. To Loyds credit, he interweaves the three threads in a back and forth timeline that works better than if the whole had been told in a linear fashion. But overall I found this audiobook grim and not terribly enlightening. There is extensive, vivid recounting of battlefield scenes of viscera and horror that loses all shock effect after awhile. Is this supposed to be the true confession of an adrenaline junkie, war fetishist, drug addict or all of the above? In the end, I wasnt sure. Though Loyd is undoubtedly brave, both in his exploits and in his willingness to bare all on the page, I found myself unable to relate to the person or the plight. For those who want a journalists unblemished view of the horrors of war, then this may be the audiobook for you, but it left me cold and frankly, slightly repelled.