1. Fallschirmjäger-Division/Christensen

[pasoleati]

Anyone seen those two new books from Schiffer yet?

[Goffredo]

Hi,

just received the first volume this afternoon. With a first quick read it looks pretty nice. It is the usual Schiffer quality printing job (paper, imagery, etc.) and seems like a nice mix of unit history with accompanying veteran narratives.

Besides one or two mislabeled images (e.g. calling a Soviet Lend-Lease Sherman tank a T-34), the images look pretty good. I have only been studying FJs for a year or so (and have many times taken advantage of my Univ. inter-library loan program), but it seems to have quite a few images that I haven't seen published yet.

I'll comment more when I get a chance to do a closer read.

Jeff

[Fallschirmjaeger]

Wish i had this

I wish i had a copy of this for shure,its gots lots of pictures,maps too?,stats on units etc...,there layout,men,weapons too?,You are going to get the 2nd part too of course.And how much did it cost you,as its quiet dear,like in NZ dollars its in the hundreads if remember right.

[pasoleati]

Any more comments yet?

[Fallschirmjaeger]

Wish i had it

I had a thread on the FJ section and mentioned this book and none replied i think with info on the book,or maybe just did not have it yet.And threads been forgotten now,if they did get it maybe they would make a thread on it?.

[pasoleati]

Book threads should be kept at book subforum. Anyway, perhaps Jeff has now more info?

[Goffredo]

Hi all,

I'm only up to about pg 100 so far (with the holidays, slowing things down a bit).

I believe the book is a good start to having a history of the 7. FD/1.FJD and plan on purchasing Vol.II. The inclusion of the campaign histories told through the book's author and the veterans themselves help bring strategic and tactical into the same picture. And the inclusion of pictures of the veterans the author quotes (when available) is nice, gives the story a real feeling rather than just some out of body story.

Having said that, it has typos, misspellings, maps that are (in my opinion) wrongly placed in order that they go with the text. Just one e.g.: saying that Willi Zahn (the modern collector) was a famous wartime artist (pg 21), when on the opposing page it correctly states that the famous wartime artist was Wilhelm Fulda. For a book that costs $60.00 and from a supposed professional publisher, I'm a little surprised. There are problems that seemingly should have been taken care of by the various editors, along with the author.

I haven't written a book (yet), but this author (whose 1st language is not English) includes his personal opinions on personalities and campaigns, something I don't fits this book's theme. E.g. "...Rundstedt, one of the ablest officers on either side of the war,..." (pg. 37) and his views on the Polish govt. and military who "felt invincible." (pg. 36). He also makes a number of statements without citations, e.g. Hedyte part of a 1943 anti-Hitler plot, dummy parachutists used throughout the war, etc. How am I to believe him, without telling me where he found that information.

Again, having said all the above, it is nice to have in one (well two) books a history of the 7.FD/1.FJD. The photos are nicely done (athough not all match the text), quality paper, etc. The value will probably only go up over time for these books.

Jeff

[Robert Shoaf]

I have not seen these books, but the shoddy editing, and mistakes have become all too typical of Schiffer Publishing the last few years. I have at least 15-20 Schiffer military history books, and none are without editing errors, or omissions; this in many cases with books that have very little text, mainly illustrations. For as expensive as their titles are, with little discounting as well, for example at Amazon, I expect better.
In my opinion, for 20th century military history, it's tough to beat the two French publishers; Histoire & Collections, and Heimdal. Heimdal in particular can be expensive, and their Third Reich out of print books command a hefty premium, but they are first class, and usually offer english translation. I believe in general, they offer better value than comparable Schiffer titles.

Bob Shoaf

[pasoleati]

What titles have you had? You obviously have picked the most "picture heavy" ones, for e.g. the word count in e.g. Wolf´s B-29, Dean´s AHT or Whitney´s Allison book beat any Heimdal or H&C I have seen by a wide margin, including thick Heimdals like the Afrikakorps by De Lannoy.

Interestingly, invariably all H&C title reviews tend to mention the rough translation. On the very expert u-boat.net one H&C u-boat book (by Dallies-Labourdette was shot down in pieces).

Why should they have heavy discounting at amazon? Amazon is the worst event ever for specialist publishers as they demand so heavy wholesale discounts that many small military publishers sell through them at loss.

[JYN]

Just received volume 1 & 2 at the bookstore.

Books could have been done in one. Too expensives. It looks like more a book made by a packager who expect juicy business....

I am not quiet dead yet and I have been already recognised as a good author if I see the amount of personal accounts or photos which are coming from my two books.

First thoughts but I have to read it now...

Jean-Yves NASSE

[Goffredo]

Hi Jean-Yves,

I thoroughly enjoyed your two books on FJs (or at least the two I have read that are in English). Both are informative and provide mix of visual and textual information.

I have only been seriously reading about FJs for the last year or so, but have been an avid reader/researcher of US airborne forces for some twenty-five years. It seems, and I think this is what you are refering to, as in the WWII US airborne history texts, the same veterans are used repeatedly for their accounts. For example, P. Nordyke's new books are really just the repackaging of of elements of several other books. If you are new to the field, perhaps this is helpful and, as with the case of these two new volumes on 7.FD/1.FJD, it has the advantage of covering the history of the division through the entire war in more than a largely picture format. Perhaps this is not unique in texts in other langauges (German perhaps, French?), but it seems to be in English anyways.

Is it the case with most FJ accounts in print (in English at least) that the same accounts are used repeatedly?

Thanks,
Jeff

[JYN]

Hello Jeff,

First of all Happy New Year 2008.

Well to use other people work in including few phrases in the appendixes at the end of the book as quotations for further reading is fine but every FJ enthusiasts are expecting more specially with expensive books and get probably the funny feeling of read the same story or annecdotes again and again.

No veterans or even me have been in contact with the author. I had a lot of work finding vets and specially get interesting accounts that have not been read before. They gave me the permission concerning using their stories... I started contacting vets in the 80s, I clearly understand that now it is not so easy to get in touch with vets and a bit frustrating to do not have the possibility to include accounts in a work... but very soon readers are going to be bored with duplicates.

JYN

[pasoleati]

Hmm, last spring (2007) mr. Christensen told me that he did have contact with numerous veterans. If I may ask, how do you know he didn´t contact any veterans? Do you know them all?

[JYN]

He certainly did but if you look at the appendixes you will find references to my books and specially parts he used.

JYN

[pasoleati]

Well, the reason I am asking for comments here is that I don´t have the books nor any "pre-purchase" access to them.

Regarding price, I believe H&C´s FJ books had 144 pages for the cover price of $38. Christensen´s FJ book (vol. 1) should have 304 pages in slightly larger format (about 10% more area) for $80. Do the math.