Snow, Ice, and Sacrifice

[jwsleser]

Helion has another book on the Italian Army coming out in Spring 2022.

It is by the same authors as The Italian Army in North Africa. So possibly two books on the RE in the next few months.

Snow, Ice and Sacrifice | Military History Book | Helion & Company

Snow, Ice and Sacrifice - just one of the military history books available from Helion & Company.

www.helion.co.uk

 

[jwsleser]

The date I have for this book is 22 May 2022.

 

[1089maul]

Jeff,
Again thanks for the heads up!
When I first became interested in Italian military history some 47 years ago, there were VERY FEW books available. It is good to see more and more being published!
Bob

 

[jwsleser]

Latest date for this book is 7 October 2022 from Amazon. I thought I had seen a September date on the Hellion website, but now can't find it. I expect that the book will be available from Helion earlier than from Amazon in the US.

 

[jwsleser]

Now delayed until 9 January 2023.

 

[Bry]

Always felt sorry for those guys.Brutal conditions.

 

[jwsleser]

The book has been released. I have ordered. You can order from Helion with a 20% discount for the next few days. Shipping within the UK is free.

Pista! Jeff

 

[1089maul]

My copy has arrived. The front cover differs slightly from the above one posted by Jeff. A quick perusal shows that the book is big and thick with plenty of photographs. A small colour diagram section of equipment is included. A quick look at the Regia Marina’s section towards the rear of the book has highlighted a potential issue. A paragraph narrates a torpedo attack by MAS 548 which surprisingly is mentioned as being MAS 568 A couple of sentences later! I hope that this inaccuracy is not repeated elsewhere in the book. I look forward to read it! Regards to all, Bob.

 

[jwsleser]

Thak Bob. I will look forward to your comments once your have read the book. It will a few weeks before I have my copy. Amazon US won't have the book until 23 Feb, so I ordered from Helion.

 

[jwsleser]

Well call me surprised. My copy of the book arrived today. First impressions from a thumb through and reading a few pages.

Overall looks like a serviceable introduction on the Italian involvement in Russia. The format the two authors used in their Luck was Lacking book (overview followed by a detailed account) appears to have been abandoned for a traditional chronological flow. My sense is that this will be a better book because of that.

- The bibliography offered nothing new. No indication of any use of archival sources. Three of the official histories are listed, but not the volume on logistics. Comando Supremo is listed as a source (yeah!). Pretty much all secondary sources. Not expecting any new material from their research.

- Many excellent pictures, some I haven't seen before. Like Luck was Lacking, the pictures make the book worth buying if one has a strong interest in the R.E.

- Spotted two mis-caption photos on my first pass through. Bottom picture on p. 91 incorrectly states the soldiers are Monte Cervino (they are not, a common error). P.172 states it is a Breda machine gun, but is actually a Fiat (same picture is used on the cover). Possibly minor but frustrating.

- Light on footnotes, limiting the usefulness of the book for research. Many of the footnotes and background material that is not germane to the story.

- Maps are basically redrawn/modified from those in Le operazioni della unità italiane al fronte Russo. The map on p.81 has two errors and the errors indicates that the authors don't fully understand the Italian military maps symbols system.

More after a read through.

Pista! Jeff

 

[1089maul]

Jeff, I have now finally been able to read my copy! Whilst I am not an expert on Italy’s Russian campaign I have recently read three or four books on the subject. In my limited opinion, this is the best of them all. It is an easy to read book with shorts chapters And is well written. It has decent photographs despite the errors that you point out above. My only criticism once again is to do with maps. The book is made up of many engagements which result in advance or retreat. Not being familiar with the geography it is not easy to keep up with the movements unlike Greece or North Africa. Google maps did not help! I appreciate from your own book and those of others that publishers can have a say on what you can put in or not. For me, this book would have greatly benefited from map giving an over view of the whole campaign area, without having to go into great detail.Regards, Bob

 

[jwsleser]

Bob

Yes, agree on all points. The narrative is solid and is useful as a introduction to the campaign. The lack of footnotes is a major problem, but only for those that wish to delve deeper into the campaign. A better book than Luck was Lacking.

In regards to maps, the Italian official also suffers from this problem. These places are all unfamiliar to most readers, compounded by the fact that the names are either different on modern maps, or have a different modern spellings. Overview maps that cover the general area the following accounts will cover to place locations in relation to each other would have been great. I have spent many hours attempting to connect the maps in the official to each other to follow the flow of the narrative, but they have little overlap.

Pista! Jeff