Reader's Query: Hell and High Water

[Bob Potter]

Hi Kids,

(Sorry, I'm in school )

I just saw in an advert in Military Modeling magazine a pictorial essay about Canadians in the Italian campaign called Hell and High Water. I was curious to learn from the readership any opinions, observations, caveats, criticisms, or whatevers.

Thanks a heap in advance.

Now to go read about HMAS Sydney.

Bob Potter

[sapper740]

Originally Posted by Bob Potter

Hi Kids,

(Sorry, I'm in school )

I just saw in an advert in Military Modeling magazine a pictorial essay about Canadians in the Italian campaign called Hell and High Water. I was curious to learn from the readership any opinions, observations, caveats, criticisms, or whatevers.

Thanks a heap in advance.

Now to go read about HMAS Sydney.

Bob Potter

Sounds like an Engineer story to me, got a link to post? Derek.

[Bob Potter]

Bought the thing. It was somewhere around twenty bucks (US, the sad thing) so I figured what the heck.

I'll review it for y'all. According to the blurb, it is a general photo collection of the Italian campaign done by a bloke who has done documentaries for CBC or some similar organization. Lance Goddard I think his name is.

Be back when I have something, or to ask more inane questions about Canadian Sherman camouflage in Italy.

Bob

[Glen]

I "bought the thing" too, and having skimmed it, it seems to me from first glance that it is a collection of pictures readily available from the National Archives, just that it has one guy putting a story to it. The story seems to be weaved through the interviews of what seems to be 3 or 4 veterans. It just seemed to me that you'd be expecting the next quote to come from someone else, but the same veteran would be quoted again and again from their interviews. Not to demean the testimony of these veterans, but the book seemed a little "thrown together' or basic to me. However, there does not seem to exist very much hardcopy literature on the Italian Campaign, or so my years of searching have told me, but maybe I just haven't found it yet.

Cheers,
Glen.

[Bob Potter]

I will be glad to have the thing, as the National Archives (of Canada, I assume) are a fair hike from my front door and with the only liquid whose price is increasing faster than gasoline being milk, I doubt I will be making a road trip to sunny Canada this summer, no matter how miuch the products of the Wellington Brewery call out to me.

I figure with my copy of Nicolsson, the books by Mark Zuelke (or however he spells his name, apologies for being lazy), and this photo collection, I might have a better understanding of the Canadian part of my father's war.

Bob

[Bob Potter]

Amazon came thorugh with bells on; my copy arrived today.

Unless I misread the description on the Amazon page, "Hell and High Water" ought not be described as a "pictorial history." There are good and useful photos right enough, but they are small. Words outnumber the photos, not making the net effect very "pictorial." But, aside from a large clanger on page 141 in which an M4A2E8 "roars across a field," the photos seem to belong here.

I am always glad to have primary sources, so I am happy to have these veterans' recollections and memories. I just wish that I did not have to use my magnifying glass to appreciate the details of the photographs.

In a nutshell, it's a keeper.

Bob