Unbroken Line: The 51st Engineer Combat Battalion - From Normandy to Munich

 

    Radford, Albert E. and Laurie S. Radford; John S. Radford, Editor.

Condition: New

Seller's comments: Direct from publisher.
Hardcover - 256 pages (May 2002), illustrated with 18 original maps, 98 B&W photographs

Cross Mountain Publishing; ISBN: 0971763801 

 

BACKGROUND of the Creation of "Unbroken Line":  In the late 1980s, Professor Radford and his wife Laurie participated in the writing of "The 51st Again!", which was published in 1992. They were not wholly satisfied with the result and commenced work on a different type of book, over ten years in the making.

"The 51st Again!" ably details the unit history of the 51st ECB and is an invaluable source and stands on its own. The new effort, "Unbroken Line", incorporates material from it, extracts from several other sources, and contributions from Battalion members. The result distinguishes itself from almost any other military unit history in several ways, which include the fine prefatory writing on the unit's training, seamless incorporation of extracts from hundreds of letters written from the field with the unit history, and a series of high quality maps to help tie everything together. Some 100 black and white photographs greatly enhance the text. Coated paper stock was used so as to print the maps and images at photographic quality.

The new writing, collation of letter extracts and gathering of source material was almost wholly the work of the senior Radfords. Gradually, in the late 1990s, John Radford picked up editing chores and got obsessed with design ideas and map-making (the maps in "The 51st Again!" were by and large sadly devalued by bad printing).

With the acquisition of a decent computer and peripherals in 1998, the design and professional level work needed for a book worth publishing became possible. After half a dozen drafts and exhaustion of most avenues of procrastination, a printer and bindery were found and other details of self-publication were dealt with resulting in final publication in late May of 2002.

ORDERING a brand new, professionally shipped copy may be done Direct From Publisher or from Amazon Marketplace (click on "More Buying Choices").  At "Amazon Marketplace", Amazon does not stock copies but merely handles the charges and payments, for a 15% fee; you pay shipping. Though a wonderful bookseller service, Amazon.com (not "marketplace") takes about 60% of the list price when they ship copies from their warehouse supply. [Printing and binding alone cost over $22 per book.]

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