Featured battle : Chattanooga - Lookout Mountain

Part of American Civil War

Date : 24 November 1863

The first phase of the Battle of Chattanooga. Grant, now in command of all armies in the west sent Hooker to take Confederate outer defences overlooking the town on Lookout Mountain. He sent 3 divisions scrambling up the rocky slopes through the fog which later caused the battle to be known as the "Battle Above the Clouds". The 3 brigades of defenders were overwhelmed and fell back, by evening being driven back to the main positions on Missionary Ridge. Casualties were light, but the sign of a huge Union flag being unfurled at the top of the mountain the following morning dented further the moral of Bragg's Confederates for the battle to come.

The Shetland 'Bus'

Stephen Wynn
The regular small boat journeys between Norway and the Shetland Islands during the German occupation of Norway in WW2 is a fascinating and often forgotten aspect of the war in northern Europe. This book goes some way to addressing this. An interesting and slightly unexpected book, I was expecting a narrative of the journeys etc, but this book is more useful and of a slightly wider scope than that. It begins with chapters giving overviews of the Shetland Islands during the war and the creation of the Shetland 'Bus' service. These were semi-regular small-boat journeys between the islands and Norway, carrying refugees one way, and agents, weapons and equipment the other, initially using Norwegian fishing vessels, later using specially purposed boats. The book also gives useful overviews of occupied Norway and the Special Operations Executive (the clandestine organisation created to carry out acts of intelligence gathering and sabotage on mainland Europe). What then follows are detailed gazetteer-like entries of the Norwegian Agents who took part in operations, Allied military operations, and finally the boats and crews of the Shetland Bus service itself. A book that is both an interesting read and a valuable reference work for anyone studying 1940's Norway and it's close relation to the Shetlands.
Pen & Sword Military, 2021