Roscoe C. Blunt's Foot Soldier: A Combat Infantry's War in Europe. Blunt was a soldier in the 84th Infantry Division and a souvenir hunter par excellance. He was trained in explosive ordnance (mines, booby traps) and was transferred to an anti-tank unit after he fell out from a forced march.  One time he decides to search a building and it didn't occur to him until after he captures the first of twenty one Germans that all he had was a minesweeper which he waves menacingly at them.

Another time he volunteers to go out on a night patrol to the German lines. He gets separated from the lieutenant and winds up in front of a German sentry whom he knifes. Unable to go back because of daylight, he observes the Germans set up some artillery and tanks. At night he crawls back but now the password is changed. The sentry calls out, "Buck" to which Blount replies, "Roger." Nope. Some cussing follows and after being grilled instead of drilled, the sentry lets him in. The lieutenant finds him and had written him off for lost as he was missing for over 24 hours. Anyway, the intelligence is passed on and the artillery score a direct hit on the Germans.

During the Battle of the Bulge Blunt and 17 others who were made into truck drivers were captured by an SS panzer unit. They are forced to march behind the retreating Germans and fed very little. One German secrets a loaf of bread to them and explains he was from New York. He is shot by his comrades for that. Later the Germans discuss what to do with them and it is decided to shoot them. Blount then speaks up in German and asked to talk. Surprised, the German major accedes. Blount explains that he is part of the 84th Infantry and that they teamed up with the 2nd Armor, Hells on Wheel. He promises that if they surrender, that their lives will be spared. The Germans asked for proof and Blount points out two mountain tops and says that American observers are watching them from it and can rain down artillery on them at any moment if they delay. Suddenly an artillery barrage opens up on them. Blount dives beneath a panzer for safety and when the barrage lifts, no one, German or PoW is injured. The major agrees to surrender and the column reaches American lines where Blount writes out a note in english stating that he had been captured and received good treatment. The major salutes him (nazi style) and shouts, "Heil Hitler!" Blount ignores this and doesn't return the salute.

They liberate a concentration camp and he meets one prisoner who gives him a tour. Later on Blount is assigned as a temporary MP and is told to guard some prisoners including a Gestapo man. He beats the man up and throws him several times into a manure pile. Mock executions begin to unnerve the Gestapo man. Finally, Blount tells him in German that he saw the camp and pointed to another American and said, "He is a Jew. He has also seen the camp." The "Jew" then proceeds to wreak havoc on him too.

Darn good book and there's plenty more in there including the time he got to play sniper Blount wasn't a good shot but managed to hit an artillery spotter at 500 yards. Earlier, the spotter saw him and landed a shell in Blount's makeshift hideout so it was payback.

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I haven't read much about WWII. The only book I can think of was The Forgotten Soldier, which I loved. Anything similar to that? Anything about how the Germans dealt with the French underground or insurgency type stuff in the countries they conquered?

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Stephen Ambrose

The field telephone rings, and a marine picks it up.

From the other end a thin voice comes through the receiver. "Hey, is Mace around?"

The marine who picked up the phone looks over his shoulder, sees me, and then shouts over, "Hey, Mace!"

"Yeah, what?"

"C'mere, you've got a telephone call. It's the mayor of new York. Wants to know if you've got a Purple Heart on."

"Yeah, sure. The mayor. Lemme see if he can get us the f*ck outta here."

"Hello, this is Mace," I say into the field telephone.

"Say, Mace." The voice comes through the other end. "Boy, have I got some dirt for you." I recognize the voice of PFC Verga, one of the new guys in Leyden and Bender's Platoon.

he continues, "Listen, ya might be able to do somethin' with this. It's about Leyden, right? This Okinawan dame is coming up the road - a nice-looking' honey- and somehow Bill and this broad work out a deal. Leyden gets some tail and this sugar gets... I don't know what she gets in return, but anyhow, the next thing you know, Leyden has her up against the side of the hill, bangin' away at her - an' a lot of the fellas are crowded around just watchin', trying' to sneak a peek, ya know? It was the damnedest thing!"

We laugh. This really made my day.

"So," Verga says, "since you guys go back a way, I thought you might like to know. Ya know, give him the business about it, or somethin'."

"Oh, you bet I will!" I say. "Here, get Bill on the horn, willya? Oh, and Verga?"

"Yeah?"

"Tell him that Stumpy's on the line."

[Note: Stumpy is their nickname for their company commander]

I don't have to wait long until Leyden gets on the phone. He must have run right over.

"Yes, sir!" he says.

"Lowering my voice and make it sound a little gruff, I try to make sure that the South Ozone doesn't leak out, or he'll be onto me right away.

"PFC William Leyden?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Yes, PFC Leyden, I've been getting some terrible reports about you have something to do with one of those Okinawan girls? Is that correct, Private?"

A short pause, then "Ye---"

"And do you know what can happen to you"

"Well, I don't... umm, I don't, what can--? He begins to really stammer, and it takes every bit of my willpower not to crack up right away. I can just imagine the boys from the 1st Platoon crowding around Bill, eavesdropping on the conversation between Leyden and the company CO.

"Well, first of all, " I tell him, "what we've got to do is take a test!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Now, I want you to take out your pecker. Do it now, son! Check it out, squeeze it off, and see if anything comes out!"

"Ye... yes, sir."

"And what do you see?"

"Nothing. Nothing, sir!"

"Okay, good. now do you have any iodine there, or something like that?"

I hear a muffled, shuffling noise, telling me that he's ut his hand over the receiver, and in a faraway voice I hear the confused PFC say, "Iodine?"

He comes back on the line, clear again. "Yes, sir! Iodine, sir!"

"Good! Okay, squeeze that off again, and hold the end of your pecker, where that little opening is and put a drop or two of iodine in there. It might burn a little bit, but that's the best precaution."

"Yes, sir!"

"Are you doing it, Private?"

"Yes, yes, sir."

"You know, Private, I begin again - but I had better make this short, because I can't hold bak the laughter much longer. "I did have thoughts of making you corporal, but I have to think hard again about whether I want to do this. I can't have my corporals traipsing all over the countryside fornicating with the locals indigenes, now can I?"

"Yes, sir! I mean, No, No, sir!"

"Okay, that's fine, Leyden. Now, you take a look at your pecker every day, and if anything comes out of there, you go down to the aid station - and if you do? Well, "I'll put that in my report, and you can forget all about that promotion. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir!"

"That'll be all, Private." I hang up the phone, laughing so hard that I can barely catch a breath.

Soon after, Im sitting around with my fire team, telling them what I did, when I hear the most god-awful string of curse worse, followed by laughter, blasting from the direction of the 1st Platoon.

"That sonuvab*tch Mace! That dumb bastard, when I find him I'm gonna shove my foot so far uop his ass! Where is he?"

I knew his platoon mates couldn't hold back the gag for long. Someone would give me up, sooner or later. It's a good thing Billy and I are such good buddies - though I'm sure he's already hatching a scheme to pay me back, in turn.

"Gentlemen." I rise and bow to my fire team. "I regret to inform you that I'll be indisposed for the evening, so you'll have to carry on without me. In other word, I'm making myself scarce before Bill cathces up with me. So long, fellas. It's been good knowin' ya."

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"The Gathering Storm" by Churchill, great overview of the events that led to the European War, and how inaction and ineptitude allowed it to happen.

"American Caesar", Biography of Douglas McAurther

"War as I Knew It"  Patton

"Enemy at the Gates" The battle for Stalingrad, the movie was but a sliver of the book.

Probably all out of print........

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Stephen Ambrose

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"There's a War to be Won" - Geoffrey Perret

http://www.amazon.com/Theres-War-Be-Won-United/dp/034541909X

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if you're into tank battles;

The Rommel Papers ed. by Sir Basil Liddell Hart
Infantry Attacks by Erwin Rommel.  Rommel's account of his service with the Wurttembrug Gesbirgjager Battalion in WW I.  
Panzer Battles by Freiherr von Mellenthin.  Mellenthin was a staff officer under Rommel.
Panzer Gunner: A Canadian in the 7th Panzer Division by Bruno Freisen. It's a good read and gives insights into training of a tank driver and a panzer gunner. Freisen takes out T-34/85s and when he served in a Jdpz IV, a Stalin II.  BTW, the Germans were using mil-dot for their tank sights.
Order in Chaos by Hermann Balck was the commander of the 11th Panzer Div. and later the 48th Panzer Corps. He later commanded Armee Group G.  von Mellenthin served under Balck and thought more highly of Balck as a commander than he did Rommel.
Panzer Operations by Eberhard Raus.  WW I veteran Raus commanded panzer regt, then div. and then corps during WW II.  His methods were different from Balck but equally effective.
Panzer Commander by Hans von Luck.  von Luck commanded a panzer recce unit.  He was the officer at Operation Goodwood (British breakout at Normandy) who "persuaded" a Lutfwaffe officer to lower his 88s against the British and Canadians.  The British and Canadians lost almost 300 tanks.
Panzer Leader by Otto Hemming. Hemming served in a panzer recce unit and was in the Afrika Korps before being assigned to Panzer Lehr. He was captured April 1945. Good book if you want to read about a patrol sized unit equipped with Sdkfz 250/3 and 250/9.
Panzer Leader by Heinz Guderian.  Guderian was one of the creators of Gerrmany panzer force  He commanded a Panzer Army before being sacked.

From the other side of the hill:

Commanding the Red Army's Sherman Tanks by Dimitry Loza  Biased account, but interesting.  Loza talks about knocking out German tanks, but not about the three Shermans he had knocked out from beneath him.
T-34 in Action.  Various accounts by Soviets of their battles in the T-34.
Panzer Destroyer by Vasily Krysov. Krysov commanded a SU-100 platoon.  His platoon blasts a Panther at 800 yards and the crew bails out holding their ears.  Their shells had bounced off the front glacis but the ringing must have been horrrendous. One SU-100 dashes forward and captures the Panther and drives it back to Soviet lines.
Red Army Tank Commander by Vasily Bruyukov.  Bruyukov as a T-34 battalion commander..  .

Of course, you should read:

The Other Side of the Hill by Sir Basil Liddell Hart.  Hart interveiwed many of the German generals after WW II.
The Desert Generals by Cornell Barnett.  Barnett does an appraisal of the various leading generals who fought in the Western Desert.  If you hate Monty, this book is for you.

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I haven't read much about WWII. The only book I can think of was The Forgotten Soldier, which I loved. Anything similar to that? Anything about how the Germans dealt with the French underground or insurgency type stuff in the countries they conquered?

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Rick Atkinsons Liberation trilogy - Follows primarily the US army as it grew and matured throughout the war.

An Army at Dawn: North Africa

The Day of Battle: Sicily & Italy

The Guns at Last Light: Europe


Liberation Trilogy

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Max Hastings' more recent WWII books are amazing. I'm honestly a bit shocked not to find his works listed in this thread:

Armageddon (ETO)
Retribution (PTO)
Inferno (global narrative)

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Guadualcanal Diary

Brave Men

Here is Your War

Goodbye Darkness

At Dawn We Slept

A Triumph for Trumpets

The Last Battle

The Mauraders

With the Old Breed

Ghost Soldiers.

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Lots of good ones mentioned. A look at the war from the perspective of Germany is instructive.  Give "The Third Reich at War" by Richard Evans a try.  I'm pretty convinced that we nuked the wrong country.  Although, if you give "The Rape of Nanking" by Iris Chang a read, you may come away thinking that we got it right. There is true evil in the world.