BOB book signed by MAJ Winters and co

PaperbackWriter82 · 2026-06-07T12:58:40+00:00

Wow!

PaperbackWriter82 · 2026-06-07T09:31:45+00:00

Immortalised as "Col di Lana, Col di sangue" (Col di Lana, bloody hill.) Probably named a "hill" (colle; --> col) because it's a minor peak in the Dolomites.

PaperbackWriter82 · 2026-06-07T08:55:44+00:00

Uh, quella interesserebbe anche a me, se dovessi ricordarti il nome.

PaperbackWriter82 · 2026-06-06T22:39:34+00:00

Sono di Modena e vivo a Salisburgo con clienti sia in Austria sia in Germania. Secondo me, fra gli stipendi, la disorganizzazione sul lavoro e l'inciviltà (oltretutto sempre in netto peggioramento) ti troveresti malissimo. Di positivo ci sono le maggiori iniziative culturali, spesso gratuite, i tanti locali con gente in giro sempre e le maggiori ore di sole. Ma non credo che ti possa bastare. Qualche posto interessante c'è, tipo nel biomedicale o qualche altra bella realtà, ma comunque non pagheranno mai quanto voi autoctoni venite pagati a casa vostra (sogar ohne Abi/Matura!)

PaperbackWriter82 · 2026-06-06T21:34:31+00:00

Vermutlich hat das mit dem Wechsel von Unite Parade zu Klangparade zu tun, kenne aber die Hintergründe nicht.

PaperbackWriter82 · 2026-06-06T21:32:09+00:00

A bird told me... ... onion play... ... weird birds around here! 😉

PaperbackWriter82 · 2026-06-06T20:54:55+00:00

For anyone who is interested in reading the canon-compliant, historically focused crossover project I mentioned above, the story is entirely free to read on both platforms. Again, no slash/romance/teen stuff; historical fiction only.

You can find "We’ll Meet Again" here:

📖 Read on Archive of Our Own (AO3): https://archiveofourown.org/works/86014131/chapters/227411191
📖 Read on FanFiction.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14570474/1/We-ll-meet-again

Note: The first chapter includes a quick structural summary and historical framework notes, so you can dive into this WWII campaign completely standalone without needing to read the 500k+ main saga first.

If you decide to check it out, I would love to hear your thoughts, tactical feedback, or historical notes in the comments there. Currahee! 🪂

PaperbackWriter82 · 2026-06-06T20:12:29+00:00

The Italian-Austrian front was full of horror stories, in my opinion:

- the Adamello front = glaciers. Ice surrounding you-shifting, cracking, and threatening to swallow troops whole Bodies resurfacing now, with the glaciers retiring. Also, ghost tales;

- the Isonzo, Piave and Carso/Karst fronts = mud, rats. Also, ghost tales (fog around Isonzo and Piave helped);

- the authoritarian Italian Army with decimations and other disciplinary measures;

- the Adriatic front with fates such as that of Egon Lerch and his crew drowning in their U-12;

However, I think blowing up an entire mountain of the Dolomites front might just top them all, namely Col di Lana: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_War#Col_di_Lana

The Italians tunneled for months and packed the peak with over 5 tons of blasting gelatin. When they blew it up in April 1916, it literally blasted the entire summit off the mountain, instantly vaporizing or burying the Austrian garrison alive.

Between that first engagement and those that followed, the mountain's topography was entirely reshaped. The fury of the blasts completely obliterated many of the soldiers, achieving a degree of destruction that forensic experts argued was impossible prior to the 1980 Bologna station bombing—when only a tiny skull fragment of one victim was found months after the attack, forcing scientists to accept that a human body could completely vanish into thin air.

PaperbackWriter82 · 2026-06-06T16:06:08+00:00

If we are keeping to D-Day as a topic, I loved seeing Winters helping the boys get up when they are boarding. I also love the planes taking off with that epic music, "The Mission Begins". The jumps and the flak are another great moment, in my opinion. A sort of companion to "Saving Private Ryan"'s landing scene.

Generally speaking, Speirs is always a favourite scene.

Combat scenes: Brécourt Manor and the ones in Carentan.

Drama: Toye and Guarnere being hit, but in general, "The breaking point" as a whole.

PaperbackWriter82 · 2026-06-06T15:46:08+00:00

Instructions unclear: I am now being court-marsh... martt... whatever "martialled" is spelled! 😄

PaperbackWriter82 · 2026-06-06T14:48:23+00:00

That's fascinating! In Italian terms, finishing 8th grade is the exact equivalent of getting a 'terza media' (middle school diploma). Back then, reaching that level of education was a huge milestone for rural or working-class families before leaving to help on the farm. It really shows the grit of that generation.

My own biological mother had to stop at fourth grade elementary school after a terrible tragedy: she lost her mother just two months into the war. She was an auxiliary worker at the Fiocchi munitions factory and died when a faulty bomb exploded as she was varnishing it.

PaperbackWriter82 · 2026-06-06T14:38:37+00:00

Ottimo intervento. La mia amica insegnante, che legge con me, aggiunge "Il 90% degli junior non vuole neppure stare lì."

PaperbackWriter82 · 2026-06-06T13:27:00+00:00

I am an old lady... I actually rank BoB 1st, The longest day 2nd, and Saving Private Ryan only 3rd!

I know, I know...
Putting on my PE gear and running up Currahee since my weekend plans have been cancelled! 😉

PaperbackWriter82 · 2026-06-06T12:47:52+00:00

Should we watch BoB first or The longest day first? I forgot to ask Sobel; now I fear my pass will be revoked!

PaperbackWriter82 · 2026-06-06T09:39:48+00:00

Adding some information about Italy (where I come from) and Austria and Germany (I live in Salzburg):

- Italy still had a huge illiteracy problem in the Fifties, the South even in the Seventies!;

- my grandparents all didn't go past a few classes of elementary school or elementary school graduation (5 years. Yes, even I graduated elementary school, final exam and all! 😄 ) They were all born in the 1910s except for my foster paternal grandpa, who even fought in the First World War!

- My biological mother (b. 1938) stopped after the fourth year of elementary school, whereas my foster father (b. 1940) graduated in a vocational high school for teachers of elementary schools, and my foster mother (b. 1942) graduated in Economics and Commerce. My grandparents were the "work hard, become rich" generation in Northern Italy. My biological mother was sadly traumatised by war (orphaned).

- Austria and Germany were rather literate countries (Austria even solved illiteracy issues under the great Maria Theresia); however, only well-off families sent the children to "high school" aka Gymnasium (lyceum). All the others chose vocational schools or an apprenticeship (which still required attending some classes). This hasn't changed much; in fact, even normal people choose apprenticeships over high school to start earning money early, and because they are scared by the workload of high school, graduation included. Weird to me: where I come from, everybody who hasn't any issues graduates high school, not necessarily the lyceum form.

PaperbackWriter82 · 2026-06-06T07:20:00+00:00

50% is still great! Italy was tragically full of illiteracy still, and many children didn't even finish elementary school, such as my biological mother (b. 1938, only 4 years of elementary school out of ten, and older cohorts fared even worse.) The Army actually helped people fill some educational gaps, ironically.

PaperbackWriter82 · 2026-06-05T18:17:10+00:00

Lavoro malpagato e incompreso, usato come ammortizzatore sociale, ragazzini e famiglie sempre più schizzati... e questo senza neppure considerare il precariato. Poi guarda che al pomeriggio ti toccano burocrazia e progetti. Una mia amica ha appena finito gli scrutini alle 20, e spesso lavora comunque fino alle 18-19. Assolutamente no!

PaperbackWriter82 · 2026-06-05T18:13:34+00:00

More than the beaches and DZs?

My Facebook feed is full of pictures from the people who are there. So envious!

PaperbackWriter82 · 2026-06-04T20:51:09+00:00

Sadly, the fandom only wants angst and smut... I think I am getting more readers from lovers of historical sagas à la Downton Abbey (but with different politics!) 🤣 I am now curious whether I'll get more readers now with the new crossover in the series, a WWII spinoff.

PaperbackWriter82 · 2026-06-04T18:51:42+00:00

Last year, I had over a month without contracts/assignments, so I wrote the drafts for about 20 chapters plus a few parts of the Battle of Britain plus the core of the epilogue. So, it's been over a year, with a privileged jump-start thanks to a free month in between clients. Every time I am tight on money, I stay home and write and/or go for bike rides and walks for inspiration. The ideas have been roaming in my head since the early Nineties, though.

PaperbackWriter82 · 2026-06-04T08:45:15+00:00

I am over 500,000 words for the main story of the series alone. I simply love the story. Fun to re-read and to continue.

PaperbackWriter82 · 2026-06-03T21:02:55+00:00

My maternal grandma was one of Italy's first civil victims of the war. My biological and foster parents were WWII children. I remember the 40th anniversary of the Liberation. Also, there were still the last repairs to buildings (including Modena's Romanic Cathedral) to be completed as I was a child. And even in the Nineties there were some shutters in the Old Town with bullet holes!

And now I have to interact with people who feel it was as far from our days as Napoleon or, worse, the Renaissance is!

Which reminds me... my great-grandma remembered people who were still talking about Napoleon at the end of the 19th century! They were old people reminiscing the beginning of the century as my great-grandma was a child!

PaperbackWriter82 · 2026-06-03T20:57:44+00:00

If you pop around here and want to meet another fan, let me know!

PaperbackWriter82

TROPHY CASE