The Falklands Guns: The Story of the Captured Argentine Artillery that Became Part of the RAF Regiment – Michael Fonfé

I knew there was captured kit after the Falklands War – some of it turns up in UK museums (like the Pucara at Norfolk & Suffolk Aviation Museum) – but I didn’t know about these Argentinian Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns. It sounds like an interesting story told from both the perspective of the Argentinian gunners who operated them, and the RAF officer who then incorporated them into the RAF Regiment for airfield defence.

The Liberation Line: The Last Untold Story of the Normandy Landings – Christian Wolmar

I had no idea how the railways in Normandy had been so integral to the plans for the invasion of France until I saw a historic photo in the Battle of Normandy Museum in Bayeux of steam locomotives being off-loaded from a ship in Cherbourg. Planners had realised that since the French railways, marshalling yards, rolling stock and locomotives were a prime target for the Allies during the invasion, they would be all smashed up when they themselves wanted to use the railways to supply their advance into Europe. So by the eve of D-day the Americans had amassed almost 400 steam and diesel locomotives and over 20,000 wagons in Britain, ready to be shipped over to Normandy.

On D+10, a battalion of 850 American railwaymen-soldiers landed on Omaha Beach, ready to restore rail transport inside the front, starting with the Cherbourg-Lison line, which, with help from French railwaymen, was back in service on 17th July.

Railway historian, Christian Wolmar, claims (rightly) this crucial part of Operation Overlord history has been shamefully ignored, and this book is his contribution to putting that right. It’s very definitely on my reading list.

The Walls have Ears – Dr Helen Fry

This is the WW2 tale of of British Intelligence’s successful attempt to bug the conversations of senior German prisoners of war at several sites – most famously at Trent Park where even the gardens were bugged! Many secrets were gleaned from the unsuspecting officers who talked guardedly with each other about German weapons, strategies, and morale.

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