Books I've been reading this week

I thought for this post I should show some of the books that I am currently reading for school. They are all really good, and I would encourage anyone to read them. They range from civilian style such as Journey to Topaz and Anne Frank to more political and millitary subjects like the book Hitler and Parallel Journey. The only one I have not read is The Upstairs Room, because I got it yesterday as an early birthday gift, so I have not had time to sit down and enjoy it.  It looks like it will be a good one though. On my next post I shall do a book review on it.

Probably one of my favorite books on World War II, this is a true story of two children from different families. Born just a few miles away from each other in Germany,they took drastically different paths. Alfons was a loyal and proud Hitler Youth leader. Helen  was sent to a concentration camp. After the war they went on many talk shows and helped people to understand more about Hitler and the Second World War.

Of course one of the most influential books to be written during the war, the diary of Anne Frank is the story of a girl who lives in hiding until her family is discovered.

This book exposes Hitler and his regime and how a poor, failing  artist rose to power and shook the world to its core. Find out  how and why he hated Jews so much that he put into motion one of the most unimaginable crimes ever invented.

This book is about the internment camps for Japanese -Americans during WWII. 

Not a WWII book but still a favorite this book shows the badges and patches of American Armed  Forces. Great for hstorical drawing and reference.

post by Artist

School books

One of my favorite things to do in the winter is to read. I read all sorts of books ranging from histories of Greece and Rome, fantasy such as Artemis Fowl, Lord of the Rings, and Eragon. Also I enjoy  novels like Tom sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, and the Henty books. With each book I learn something new and fascinating.

Here is a list of books I am currently reading for school.

 

TAKING BACK ASTRONOMY By Jason Lisle, This book is from a Christian stand point and tells how scientific discoveries in space actually support creationism and show the flaws in many of the evolutionist theories.

 

WORLD WAR 1 By Brigadier General S.L.A Marshall, This is a fascinating account of the First World War vividly describing all the major battles and events from the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in1914 to the final peace treaty of 1919 and everything in-between.

 

UNDAUNTED COURAGE By Stephen E. Ambrose This book tells the story of the famous Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the northwestern territories recently acquired by the U.S in the Louisiana Purchase.

 

AMERICA AND VIETNAM By Albert Marrin In this book you will find plenty of information about the war that proved to be the most controversial war in American history and the war that divided us most.

 

THE HINDENBURG By Michael M. Mooney The Hindenburg was one of the greatest air disasters of all times and this book gives a behind the scenes account of the last voyage of this flying monstrosity.

 

THE BOMB IN THE BASEMENT By Michael Karpin This book tells the story of the development of Israel’s first nuclear weapons and the politics behind it.

 

BEYOND THE MOON By Paolo Maffei, This book takes you on a fascinating tour of the solar system with in-depth information on all of the planets as well as the sun and stars.

  Well here they are and they are just my school books. As a just for fun read I am going through Homers original Iliad. Our family  has bought up several copies of Hamlet and we plan to read thought it this month each taking parts. I am hoping I can be Hamlet or the Ghost of his father. 

post by Bear

 

Destroying the V weapons

 last night  we watched a movie about the photo interpreters (or PI as they were commonly called) and the roll the played in World War Two. The PIs were a top secret group of Royal Air Force officers who spent their day studying pictures taken by Spitfire spy planes behind German lines. They were trained to look for anything that might be part of the German war effort such as hidden factories, airfields, warships, supply dumps, fortifications, and any thin that seemed unusual  or out of place. They were equipped with for the time High Tec machines such as the stereoscope which allowed them to see in 3D, and the Wild(pronounced vilt) Machine which allowed them to accurately measure height, width or length critical information when cartographers  built models of the targets for pilots to study.

     One day in the spring of 1942 a Spitfire pilot flying a photo reconnaissance mission over the town of Peenemunde on the cost of the Baltic Sea saw something quit odd. On the ground were three large circles of concrete surrounded by out buildings. What were they for? No one knew for certain but it was believed by some that it was nothing more than a sewage facility so the photo was numbered, filed and soon forgotten.

     Later that summer the British secretly recorded a conversation between two German generals that they had captured in North Africa in 1941. In the conversation one general mentioned that something must be wrong with the German Rocket program because he had not heard any of the explosions of the rockets when the crash into their targets.

      At once the British ordered more aerial reconnaissance photos to see if The Germans really were building rockets to fire at England. The PIs studied these new Photos and many of the old ones to find any evidence of the rocket program. One of these photos was the one the spitfire took over Peenemunde several months before. Close examination revealed that on the center of each circle was a small tube. These tubes turned out to be V-2 Rockets.  Also in the picture they dicoverd a small airplane shaped object siting on a ramp this turned out to be the V-1 buzz bomb also Known as the Doodle Bug. The Allies immediately launched operation Crossbow to destroy the V-1/ V-2 launch sites. Thanks to Allied air power the sites were destroyed  though some rockets were launched and possibly shortened the war by as much as 2 years.

The V-1 Buzz Bomb or Doodle Bug

 

 

The V-2 High altitude rocket .

Watch the NOVA video 3Dspies of World War Two

 

Post by Bear. Both photos by Wikipedia

 

War Art

                War Art or Wars as recorded by me By artist

As you have probably guessed,  art and WWII are my favorite subjects  for personal studies. I draw quite a lot of pictures of soldiers and equipment for my own reference. One technique I like to use is the “quick and line” style. This style was used by war correspondents and artists during WWII while in the field. I like this style first because it looks realistic, and second it perfectly captures the feel and look of a hurriedly drawn sketch, perhaps because the correspondent is under fire! I use this technique mostly when I am outside. It’s good to quickly record nature for my journal and any battle that we happen to be reenacting. Actually, most of these pictures are inspired by our battles. So here are some pictures I have drawn, some more detailed than others ,but still the same.

This is the beginning of a study I did of Paratroopers and their equipment.

Here is the same picture as the above one, but fully detailed and colored.

This one is the original that inspired me to do the two above. The face looks a lot like my Grandfather when he was in the Air Force,except he was  not a paratrooper.

This picture illustrates some of the equipment that a paratrooper (or as shown here a trooper of the 82 Airborne)would carry before being dropped into Normandy 1944. The cricket and Thompson were the most fun to draw and shade.

ICE STORM

We have been having some ice storms over here and it is all over the trees and grass. It is actually very pretty. The temperature has been about 30 -35 degrees so except to go get pictures we’ve stayed inside playing games, listening  to music, watching movies, and reading library books. Here are some pictures.

Looks like  Narnia under the reign of the White Witch doesn’t it?

 

The pine trees covered with ice.

 

 

Just a close up of an icicle quit pretty don’t you think?

Ice around the leaves of a …I don’t know  a weed I guess?

 

Just a view from the back yard.

 

 

Post by Bear

 

IWLCM

MORE  ARTIFACTS FROM THE IWLCM(Imperial War Library Collection & Museum)

This post is about some of the artifacts we keep in the IWLCM. Our favorite method of collecting is to buy from flea markets. Actually, I would say some of our best quality items come from flea markets. And what’s best of all is hearing the stories the vendors tell about each piece. Well, back to the main subject. Here are some photographs of some of the military memorabilia we have collected so far.  

Air Force Jacket(left) and Army Air Corp crusher cap(right)

 

World War Two service bars. Allied victory bar, Europe service bar, and North Africa and Pacific service bars. A friend of ours gave them to us while we were visiting.

And here we have a WWII battle helmet. In the front you can see the Infantry Captains Pin.

This is a modern Kevlar helmet that a friend of my Dad’s gave to me. It has a reversible cover. On the other side it is a desert camo pattern.

First Army, First Ranger, and Allied Victory patch.

Vietnam service patch, Patton’s Third Army, and 91 Infantry.

And a lot of Marine Service  patches.  We got these for Christmas last year.

Of course, there’s always a new item on our collecting list. I for one would one day like to see some RAF flight gear in our museum. Bear wants an Austrian helmet  for the Helmets exhibit. In short we never can have too much in the IWLCM.  

Wood working

One of my favorite hobbies is woodworking and my favorite tool for woodworking is the band saw it is very good for making intricate cuts and making small toys. My band saw is a 62’ craftsman that my dad got me for my birthday last year right now I need to buy a new blade for it my last one hit a knot and bent out of shape. Here are some pictures of my projects.

 

Here is a family of gnomes I made this fall I let my mother, sister and brother paint them. I also have a set of Vikings with a long boat and a dragon but they have not been cut out yet but I will post them when they are done.

 

 

 

And here is another family of gnomes this time with a house and some animals. The animals were the hardest to cut out especially the piece of wood between their legs.

 

And here’s the inside of the house. Yes I know the floor is purple but their was no more black or blue

 

 

 

Ah ha! Here’s something good a sword from middle earth. This one I cut out of a piece of trim sanded it and then wood burned it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For serious Lord of the rings fans you should know what this means if you don’t read chapter two of The Fellowship of the Ring

 

 

 Last night dad and I put 743 (I counted) 1, 1/4x ¾ (I Measured) shingles on the roof of mommas doll house. It took us about two hours and a good deal of glue.

 

Just a note…

   as I’ve said before I like the lord of the rings but never bothered enough to save and by a set well two days ago at the library resale room I found a copy of the fellowship of the ring and the return if the king  both for 25 cents so naturally I bought them. When I got home I swapped my older brother a hard back copy of Eldest (also resale rooms buy) for his copy of The Two Towers.

Here is the set.

Post by Bear