Featured battle : Ashdown

Part of Viking Invasion

Date : 08 January 0871

The Danes formed into two divisions and the Saxons formed two columns to match them. The Danes were formed up on higher ground than the Saxons and Alfred, fearful of the impetus they would gain by charging downhill, took the initiative and attacked first. His brother Aethelred, was hearing Mass and was late in bringing his column into action. Two Viking kings and five earls were killed along with a large number of their men. The Danes retreated in disarray into their earthworks at Reading. This battle was only a temporary set back to the Vikings during this phase of the campaign.

Great Naval Battles of the Pacific War

John Grehan
If ever a book needed maps, and plenty of them, this is one. The masses of well researched information is all about position and movement which the reader can only fully comprehend if they have a map to hand. Modern atlases sold in this country don’t usually have the detail of the Pacific islands which is required. I am lucky that I have the Times atlas of the Second World war but even so it meant reading at my desk rather than propped up in bed.
The big positive of this book is the quantity and quality of the information about the five major actions of the naval war in the Pacific . The content is ‘all meat and no gravy’, no opinions or personal accounts just the facts. Both Allied and Japanese sources have been used. It is interesting to note how both sides ‘slurred’ the information about what was hit and how badly for bragging rights or propaganda purposes.
I can see this book as being very useful to work from on a map table with ship models. In spite of the difficulties afore mentioned in reading in comfort this book really does reward the effort.

Frontline Books, 2022