Gyrene Posted 13 August , 2007 Share Posted 13 August , 2007 Has anyone read this book or his volume on Tanga? http://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Front-Ross...8035&sr=8-2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushfighter Posted 13 August , 2007 Share Posted 13 August , 2007 Gyrene ROGER affirmative on both. The small "The Battle of Tanga" is thorough, comprehensive & well-presented. "The Forgotten Front" is a hard read - done I think to obtain a degree - maps & indexing are totally inadequate & the narrative style is not relaxed. However it does contain some original information culled from German & Belgian archives & so has importance. There are better reads - Charles Miller's "Battle for the Bundu" is over 30 years old but still excellent. Edward Paice's "Tip & Run" is recently published & has been commented on in GWF - it's probably the best choice for a first book on the campaign. All of these books become hard to follow in the second half, & I think that is because the proposed second volume of the Official History was never published due to the author's death. Without the Official History as a guide other authors' attempts to describe the mobile warfare of 1917 & 1918 become clumsy. Regards Harry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 13 August , 2007 Share Posted 13 August , 2007 I agree with Harry's comments on both books. Having recently read Isabel Hull's book, which touches on the campaign in German East Africa, I suspect there are more German sources that could have been used. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyrene Posted 13 August , 2007 Author Share Posted 13 August , 2007 Thanks for the replies. I would like to read Anderson's book on Tanga but the price of a used copy is extraordinarily high. Do any your book recommendations discuss the Portuguese contribution at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lassuy Posted 14 August , 2007 Share Posted 14 August , 2007 You might try Byron Farwell's The Great War In Africa. It's a bit dated, but a very readable account of the African campaigns. He dwells mostly on British vs. german, but does include information on Belgian and Portuguese forces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushfighter Posted 14 August , 2007 Share Posted 14 August , 2007 Gyrene Anderson, Miller & Paice give about the same amount of space to events in Portuguese East Africa. Anderson has detail from the Portuguese Military Archives. Paice relates events to domestic Portuguese politics. Is there anything specific about Anderson's "The Battle of Tanga" that interests you - if so then please PM me. Regards Harry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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