GOOD BOOKS

World War II - Multimedia WWII Books
#141

Some good suggestions for reads in this thread. Agree re. “Tigers in the Mud”, by Otto Carius. Carius has a somewhat stiff writing style but (at least in the Stackpole English translation) very readable. Essential reading for the tank-inclined. I might also mention “T-34 in Action - Soviet Tank Troops in WWII”, by Artem Drabkin and Oleg Shermet (team translators), another Stackpole publication.

Regarding “The Forgotten Soldier”, this memoir has been the subject of some controversy, owing to certain alleged “improbabilities” surrounding the circumstances of the author, and particular errors in the text (for example, over the sleeve on which “Grossdeutschland” soldiers wore their honor cuffbands, left or right). However, overall, making allowances for possible lapses of memory, “The Forgotten Soldier” seems to me both plausible and credible. It is certainly a very good read. Best regards, JR.

#142

Another recommendation that I’m halfway through at the moment - Britain’s War Machine by David Edgerton. So far it’s very good - I don’t agree with all of it, but it does for the UK economy what Wages of Destruction does for the German one. Reading the two together (and you can tell that Edgerton was heavily influenced by Tooze) and a lot of things suddenly make a lot more sense.

#143

I heard that author is pretty good right?

#144

You’ll be sor-ree! By Sid Phillips
Parachute Infantry by David Kenyon Webster
Voices of the Pacific by Adam Mako
Unless victory comes by Gene Garrison
If you Survive by George Wilson
Strong Men Armed by Robert Leckie
The last stand of fox company by Bob Drury and Tom calvin ( its the Korea war but its real good)
Band of Brother by (of course) Stephen E. Ambrose
D-day (and) Wild Blue also by Stephen E. Ambrose
Citizen soldier by Stephen Ambrose

#145

Good.Fictional one.Like it!

#146

Wow ! How easy is it to get banned around here - is this a record ? Or is there Something I Don’t Know … ? JR.

#147

[QUOTE=JR*;193573]Wow ! How easy is it to get banned around here - is this a record ? Or is there Something I Don’t Know … ? JR.[/QUOTE
'Tis the Spamming Season. Besides, a couple of mortal sins aside, it’s really not at that easy to be banned here.

#148

As mods, we are careful to distinguish between

spam0.jpg

and

bandeodor.jpg

#149

Wow that one new guy got banned pretty quickly, though I feel like it was a member from the site just making a new account to just spam till they got banned…

#150

To answer concerns, the banned party had placed Spam in their profile having to do with women’s clothing, it was not due to the post they made in this thread. Profile Spam shows up fairly often, and especially during the Holiday Season. The Site has had a rash of Profile Spammers of late. The Staff has the job of keeping it from polluting the Boards, and offending the delicate sensibilities of our members.
Since other Spammers will look up the exploits of their fellows, if they find other offenders have been banned, they may just pass us by.

#151

Neither one tastes very good, but the Ultra Dry does give one fresh breath. :mrgreen:

#152

Yes, I get it. Thanks. Regarding Spam (a sort of ham with beef compressed “luncheon meat” developed in the US shortly before WW2), opinions may be divided as to its taste, but it still sells. During the war, huge quantities of Spam were supplied for inclusion in soldiers’ rations, in the US and beyond. Some Soviet Red Army soldiers referred to cans of Spam (in the absence of more tangible manifestations up to 1944) as “Second Fronts”. Best regards, JR.

#153

The 50’s Dinner stand-by, (we had it often when I was very young) was really not bad tasting, but it did take a little getting used to. And was preferred by all of us over the other stand by, hot Tuna Casserole. In it’s current iteration, Spam contains Ham, Pork shoulder, salt, and some vaguely menacing preservative. I remember there were a few dozen cans of it, and lots of other things kept in the cellar during the Cuban missile crisis.

#154

I may have been wrong about the beef element; pork seems more … harmonious. Regarding canned tuna - you can do quite an acceptable pasta sauce with canned tuna, canned tomatoes, onions and a little garlic. I like a few sliced mushrooms in it, myself. It is one of our standbys … although perhaps not everybody would like the look of it. My wife describes it as “tuna mush” … Yours from the Depths of the Larder, JR.

#155

Spam has been around since 1937, and given the times it faced, the recipe may have been changed from time to time. So it may well have had some beef in it depending on the times, or the market it was intended for. (kind of guessing at that, the official Hormel Spam site doesn’t address that.)
I’m a big fan of cold tuna salad, in sandwiches, and also the pasta version with sliced cucumber, and tomato. The Tuna pasta sauce might work though, I’ll have to try that on some Spaghetti squash.

#156

Maybe.

Australian version was ‘Camp Pie’. Read the ingredients and you’d find it was mainly cereal fillers.

Spent a very hot Scout camp in the early 1960s where we had camp pie for every lunch and evening meal (along with bread and jam for dessert and general filler) for a fortnight. Ugly, sweating, jelly like blobs of otherwise unsaleable offal and grease rapidly covered in the flies which weren’t busy shitting in the open jam tins, after a busy day of blowing the sheep. (No, not making the sheep smile, just laying maggots in the shit stuck in the wool on the back of the sheep’s legs, which was why sheep were sometimes mulesed which is now something well intentioned but ignorant people who don’t understand farming and have never had to put down a fly blown sheep think was a form of voluntary sadism practised on defenceless animals by evil farmers: http://www.petaasiapacific.com/featureMulesingAustralianWool.asp )

When my children were in primary school I had the brilliant idea of introducing them to fried camp pie, which I had vague recollections from post-Scout camp encounters as being edible, largely because of the crunchy outside. My children rejected it as soon as they put in their mouths. So, immediately afterwards, did I as soon as I put it in my mouth with a view to challenging their rejection.

I was probably of the last Australian generation which in our childhood ate foods which were common to earlier generations but which now would offend more delicate tastes, such as aged mutton, liver, kidney and other offal. I ate mutton routinely when I worked in the bush in the 1960s. I’d probably retch or even vomit if I had try to to eat it now. When I was a kid, mutton was common and lamb was a spring delicacy, while chicken was something eaten only a couple of times a year on special occasions such as Xmas. Now, chicken is spewed out of every fast food outlet on every corner while lamb is eaten occasionally, and nobody would eat mutton even if anyone was silly enough to try to sell it.

I need to check the shelves in the supermarket next time I’m there to see if camp pie is still stocked.

#157

I seem to recall that frying was a favored method of preparation for Spam - may even have done it myself, long time ago. Regarding mutton - it has been coming back into vogue with some chefs Over Here, who like its stronger flavor in stews, pies, slow-roasts etc, when compared to lamb. Mutton is actually quite hard to get here on the retail market. Lamb is regarded as a premium product both here and in our external markets (notably France), so few farmers have much interest in keeping a wooly long enough to be mutton. Interestingly, my father - who grew up in early 20th century rural West of Ireland - will not eat sheepmeat of any description. Not that he has no experience of the stuff - quite the opposite. His reason appears to be that, at the time and place of his upbringing, sheepmeat was regarded as “poor man’s fare”, which meant he got plenty of it. However, he no longer wishes to remind himself of the association … Yours from The Bog, watching the sheepishes … JR.

#158

I once had Lamb, (at least I was told it was Lamb) at a dinner given by my In-Laws many years ago. I was told that it was oh so good, and tasty, and that I would enjoy it. I was out of sorts for several days, and have not yet ventured to try it again. (In truth, I believe it was a fiendish plot by my In-Laws to get me out of the Family) :mrgreen:
Next time I visit the WalMart, I’ll look for some Spam, and fry it up, and give a comprehensive report of the experience. At least its not Bully Beef.

#159

I must confess that I am not very partial to lamb myself. But my wife is. So I end up eating (and cooking) more than enough of it. Mind you, while she grew up in a vastly less-than-wealthy household herself, it was in Newbridge, Co. Kildare (only 50 minutes drive from Dublin on a good day). I expect that the well-fed woolies of the Lilywhite County were too valuable to have been “poor man’s fare”. I must ask her what the Kildare equivalent was - cast-off racehorse, perhaps ? Yours from the Curragh, JR.

#160

We also have another version of “Mystery Meat” called either Mock Chicken, or City Chicken. Had lots of it while growing up, not the worst tasting thing, but nothing to write home about. This is the ingredients list.
"minced veal, pork, or other meat, molded onto a stick or skewer so that it somewhat resembles a chicken leg, then breaded and braised. " Somewhat resembles a Chicken leg is more than a little literary license, it was just a rectangular block of stuff on a round stick. (Still better than Lamb…)