I recently finished reading The British Army in Italy : 1917-1918, by John Wilks and Eileen Wilks. The obvious focus is on the British involvement in Italy, which is largely unknown by the general public. However, it's a well-researched, even-handed treatment of the last year (and a bit) of the war there, with the French garnering a bit of coverage, and with the authors going almost out of their way to recognize the Italian contributions to victory over Austria and their presence, small as it was, on the Western Front as well.
It's an easy read with plenty of details of interest to a wargamer and I recommend it highly. Warning: you will probably want to invest in some WWI British if you don't already have some in your Italian Front collection.
Or maybe that's just me.
Turning to the second of the World Wars, I've decided to move my attention away from the Eastern Front (as far as figure gaming is concerned) - where it has been firmly lodged for sometime - and spend some time with my smaller European Front collection. I try to avoid gaming with the Americans much, as I feel they get an outsized share of attention in the media productions, so that leaves my British airborne. However, I know almost nothing about their exploits beyond repeated viewings of A Bridge Too Far and The Longest Day.
As it turns out, there are only a few movies that feature them. (Most of my WWII research is just watching movies, not reading actual histories. WWI is almost entirely the opposite by necessity.) Last night, I watched 1953's The Red Beret, starring Alan Ladd. It's a little contrived to explain why a Yankee is in the British Parachute Regiment. And, like a lot of movies about war, there's a tired romantic subplot - although it does at least eventually serve some narrative exposition purposes in this one.
However, while it's no A Bridge to Far, and at times seems outright preposterous (the Germans just run in waves to their deaths like they never heard of machine guns before), it's entertaining and the two engagements it covers provide fodder for the wargamer. I wouldn't make a huge effort to watch it again, but if I turned on TCM and it was on, I'd watch it.
Had to look the film up! Ahh the old "lets slip the American actor in as a Canadian " (or disguised as a Canadian in this case) ruse.
ReplyDeleteI see its available on youtube, must watch it.
Always interesting to see war movies made when the actors, crew etc not to mention some of the audience had lived through the war in question.
The Devil's Brigade comes to mind as movie inspiration for a mixed force of Canadian and American parachute troops in Italy WWII.
ps looking through the credits and the openeing, neat seeing a younger "Lt Chard" from Zulu as a tough sergeant! Not to mention the ubiquitous Harry Andrews.
DeleteAh, I should have mentioned it's on YouTube - that's where I watched it, after striking out finding it on Prime Video. I'm always a little wary of watching full length movies on YouTube as the quality can vary significantly, but in this case it's good quality.
DeleteApparently, The Red Beret is one of Harry Andrews's first appearances on screen.
My preference is for movies made in the 40s and 50s generally, for reasons I have honestly never really thought about, but for WWII movies made in the 40s-60s - perhaps it is in part because there is such a close connection to the events depicted.
I absolutely love The Devil's Brigade! "What they did to each other was nothing compared to what they did to the enemy!" That is one I would rewatch in a heartbeat.
That looks like a great book John, very interesting! And Alan Ladd is great, but "Shane" is my favorite film that he stars in!
ReplyDeleteI have read "Shane" but never seen the movie. It is on my list to watch though, as the book was excellent (I had a western phase in the early 2000s thanks to the library's fundraising bookstore selling Westerns from the 40s and 50s for a dollar each.)
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