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Posted: 1/21/2016 2:14:23 PM EDT
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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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. View Quote |
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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? View Quote Here is a view from the other front, and how the Russkies resisted Nazi occupation with thier partisan programs- a US Army report. pdf of The Soviet Partisan Movement, 1941-1944 |
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Time-Life series on WWII is pretty complete and can get the books cheap on eGay
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Brazen Chariots by Maj. Robert Crisp for WW II tank warfare in the Western Desert.
I Flew for the Fuhrer by Heinz Knocke. WW II areial combat by a Luftwaffe ace Company Commander by Charles MacDonald. Classic account of WW II infantry combat. Tigers in the Mud by Otto Carius. Panzer ace and Tiger tank commander Otto Carius' memoirs. Great read. Samarai - by Saburo Sakai & Martin Caiden - Zero pilot's account Japanese Destroyer Commander - Hara. Hara serfved under Tanaka and was co of the Yahigi when she was sunk along with the Yamato. Thunder Below! by Eugene Fluckey. Fluckey skippered the USS Barb and earned 4 Navy Crosses and a Medal of Honor. Shinano! by Joseph Enright. Enright skippered the Archerfish when she sunk the Japanese super carrier, Shinano. Shooting the War by Otto Giese. Giese was an officer aboard u-boats during WW II and was on U-234 when she surrendered her cargo of uranium to the Americans. Little Ship, Big War by Edward Stafford. Stafford servfed aboard DE-343. The Ghost of that Died at Sundra Straights by Walter Winslow. Winslow was the pilot for the heavy cruiser, USS Houston. WW II books on the USMC With the Old Breed by E. B. Sledge Semper Fi, Mac by Henry Berry Helmet for my Pillow by Robert Leckie Joe Foss, American. Marine pilot Foss shot down a bunch of Japanese over Guadacanal and was president of the NRA. I have his autograpehd photo. |
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Bloodlands
Book by Timothy D. Snyder 4.3/5 · Goodreads Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin is a book written by Yale historian Timothy D. Snyder, first published by Basic Books on October 28, 2010. Wikipedia Originally published: October 28, 2010 Author: Timothy D. Snyder Page count: 544 Publisher: Basic Books Subjects: Genocide |
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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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Wow! There are lots of good books listed here.
Thanks for the lists. |
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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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Battle Ground Pacific by Mace Sterling]
Sterling served in K/3/5 and fought at Peleliu and Okinawa. 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." View Quote Good book. Sterling describes the horrors of combat and night combat when they discover the Japanese are behind them. |
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"There's a War to be Won" - Geoffrey Perret
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The Filthy thirteen
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwSpB0LNgLs[/youtube] Epic book imo, and just about anyone that takes the time to read it. I had a signed copy as my wife met him and he and her both are from Ponca City, sadly some shit bag in Iraq wanted it more than I did apparently. A year before I ended up back out in this crap hole he died. I had hoped to meet the crazy old sob. R.I.P. McNiece, not sure you were a "hero" but you were a serious bad ass and killed lots of Nazi's! |
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Stephen Ambrose's books are good for entertainment. They have some educational value, but his reputation took a huge hit during the last years of his life and afterwards, when he was accused of both plagiarism and lying about his sources. (The accusations are backed by some strong evidence.)
If you read any of his books, enjoy them, but don't treat them as any sort of top notch scholarship. |
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Hitler's Bandit Hunters: The SS and the Nazi Occupation of Europe by Phillip W Blood.
A good read on anti partisan warfare. |
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Battleship Sailor - Theodore Mason was USNR radioman who went active for a year. He was aboard the USS California at Pearl Harbor. If you want the view of a young American before the war and at war's outbreak, this is a good read.
We Will Stand By You - Theodore Mason. From glamourous battlewagons Mason was transferred to ocean going (salvage) tugs. He was aboard the Pawnee when she was towing the cruiser Houston. Under attack, the Pawnee's skipper had to decide whether to cut his lines to save his ship or to remain with the Houston and risk going down with her. The skipper radioed, "We will stand by you." Even US Naval Historian Samuel Elliot Morrison was impressed by this John Paul Jones genre statement. The Colditz Story - P. R. Reid. PoW life in a hilltop German castle. |
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These are some books I haven't seen mentioned but great books none the less. Enjoy.
A Blood Dimmed Tide by Gerald Astor, a great book about the Battle of the Bulge Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, by James Hornfischer about Taffy-3 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor Top Guns of the Luftwaffe, about JG-26 one of the Germans best fighter wings in WW2 In Deadly Combat by Gottlob Bidermann, a German soldier fighting in Russia Five Years Four Fronts, by Georg Grossjohann a soldiers trek through all fronts With the Old Breed, by E.B. Sledge, one of the contributors to HBO's The Pacific The Longest Winter by Alex Kershaw, about an I&R platoon during the Bulge |
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The Rommel Papers by Liddell-Hart
Foxes of the Desert by Carrell Trail of the Fox by Irving AfricaKorps-self portrait , a photo insight, very interesting if you appreciate a lot of everyday kinda photos and what they reveal. Panzer Battles by von Mellinthin The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer |
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Lost Honour, Betrayed Loyalty. Herbert Meager Less his mother be sent to a concentration camp for her unflattering remark about Hitler, Meager, Belgian of German ethnicity (Per the Versailles Treaty, part of Germany was ceded to Belgium) is forced to volunteer into the Waffen SS. Initially a machine gunner in the 1 LAH Division, he acquires/borrows warmer Russian clothing to survive his first brutal winter in Russia. Possessing a driver's license, he is made the driver of the platoon vehicle and later becomes driver for the compay commander's Horch (which he feels was the best motor car in the Wehrmacht). The regiment is increased to division size and sent to France to rebuild and train. Fluent in French, he conceals his language skill from his officers and avoids interrogating prisoners. Instead he uses his language skill to buy better food (especially wine) for himself and his comrades. The division is deployed during the Dieppe Raid and then sent to Russia in time for Kursk where he receives a wound which he thinks nothing of. 1st LAH is sent to Italy to secure the German army supply line when the Italians surrender to the Allies. Before being redeployed back to Russia, the wound became infected and Meager is left behind and hospitalized instead.
Meager is sent to paramedic school and before he could take advance courses for becoming a doctor, is transferred to junker school to become an officer. Meager had been offered once before by his company commander a chance to attend junker (officer) school, but declines since all officers are career men and Meager had no interest in becoming a career soldier. Bounced out because of an overheard defeatist remark, Meager is transferred to a partisan hunting brigade. During the retreat (April 45) Meager removed his SS insignia and discards his soldbuch (soldier's paybook that also identified him as SS). Captured, he becomes a prisoner of the Russians and makes his paramedic skills useful in helping others including himself. He fakes jaundice by taking atrabine (anti-malaria pills) and is among those left behind when all others are sent to a Siberian work camp. A sympathetic female Russian doctor authorizies his discharge and Meager settles in Germany. Decades later he applies and receives German citizenship. Before he does though, his native Belgium convicted Meager in abstentia of fighting against the allies and sentences him to prison. If Meager wants to visit France, he has to avoid Belgium and it takes decades before this is cleared up. Interesting read. |
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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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"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........ View Quote "Enemy at the Gates" by William Craig. It was a Bantam War Book, probably find it somewhere.(oh yeah its on amazon, even a audio book) The movie is all kinds of fubar'd. It was from IIRC the first half of Ch11. The middle of the movie has the 2 snipers trying to find each other inside a factory/warehouse, that was actually outside, and the glint off the germans scope gave him away after I think it was 2-3 days of waiting by both men. Also IIRC some of this book has been called out as fiction, so I dunno. The german made movie 'Stalingrad' by the director of DasBoot was better. I enjoy watching it in the native german language. I can watch this on a hot July day and still be freezing by the end. |
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Stephen Ambrose View Quote But take it with a grain of salt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_E._Ambrose#Plagiarism - The World Almanac of WWII edited by Brig Gen Peter Young is a really useful reference, especially the chronology section. http://www.amazon.com/World-Almanac-War-Comprehensive-Documentary/dp/0886877121 The book is in a few sections, one with bios of important people, one with descriptions of gear and units, and then the massive chronology section that goes through the war day by day. It's very helpful for getting a broad view of the whole war. |
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Some I haven't seen mentioned.
Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway. Great book that corrects a lot of myths about the battle. Battleship At War: The Epic Story of the USS Washington - Okay, my father served on it for 6 years. They did kick ass one eventful night off of Guadalcanal. The Two Ocean War by Samuel Eliot Morrison |
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"There's a War to be Won" - Geoffrey Perret http://www.amazon.com/Theres-War-Be-Won-United/dp/034541909X View Quote best book on WWII |
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Hara's Japanese Destroyer Captain
John Howard's Roar of the Tiger |
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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. View Quote Respect to this list. |
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Apologize if missed them.
French Translation of German Concentration Camp System (12 vol. IIRC, have to look) anything by Paul Carrell Hitler Moves East 1941-1943 Scorched Earth 1944-1945 The Foxes Of The Desert Chester Wilmot The Struggle For Europe (found in many other bibliographies for decades after publication) The United States Strategic Bombing Survey (massive) History Of United States Naval Operations In The Second World War Samuel Eliot Morison (15 vol. well worth it, cheaper used, reads like a novel in many places. While other Histories may interview a Lt. Airman, Morison writes "after the action ended, I went up to the bridge to visit with Adm. Mitscher.....) and Two Ocean War John Toland 2 vol sets on Hitler and Japan Incredible Victory Gordon Prange Miracle At Midway At Dawn We Slept Winston Churchill's 6 vol set. is essential perspective Two 6 Vol. Sets History Of USMC and USAAF in WWII The monster of all histories, >20 years to write (like Morison's), worth every penny, some volumes only a dollar, others $50 used, The Center Of Military History: U.S. Army In WWII - some 70 volumes plus large map book and 3 photo volumes. many more |
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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? View Quote Bodyguard of Lies by Anthony Cave Brown--on the secret side of WWII, with a lot of detail on espionage and underground military operations. |
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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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Etched in Purple, by Frank Irgang is a personal story of D-Day forward that might be in the same category as the Forgotten Soldier.
Quartered Safe Out Here, by George MacDonald Fraser is an excellent book. He served in Burma. |
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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 View Quote |
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All stuff I've read through Kindle Unlimited
Lonely Vigil: Coastwatchers in the Solomons by Walter Lord Th Battle of the Hurtgen Forest by Charles Witting Carrier Pilot by Norman Hanson (First person Royal Navy Corsair Pilot) Bringing the Thunder by Gordon Robertson (B-29 Driver in the final six months of the war) Also read the Ambrose books. I also recommend A Bridge to Far and The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan. The Dead and Thise About to Die by John McManus (1st Infantry Division on D-Day). |
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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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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. View Quote If you want a perspective on the war in the Pacific, I might recommend James Hornfischer. I just finished Neptune's Inferno: The US Navy at Guadalcanal which was excellent. It examined how the US Navy's surface fleet came of age in the various naval battles off Guadalcanal. Some they won and in some they were decimated by the Imperial Japanese Navy. Our losses included 6 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, 14 destroyers, and 2 aircraft carriers. In terms of casualties, the US Navy suffered 5,041 KIA in the naval battles versus a combined USMC/US Army KIA of 1,592. Included in the USN KIA were two admirals. These battles taught the surface fleet how to fight the Japanese. You have to remember that the Battle of Midway was a battle between naval aviators and the surface fleet did little more than provide AA protection. Hornfischer's The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors detailed how a group of destroyers, destroyer escorts, and escort carriers took on Japanese battleships and cruisers in the Battle off Samar component of the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Halsey had left the landings virtually undefended when he ran off chasing what he thought was the IJN main fleet. It was left to the bravery of the men and officers of these outgunned ships to save the day and they did. Finally, there is his The Fleet at Flood Tide which details the war in the Pacific in 1944-1945. I haven't finished this one yet but his account of the battle for Saipan has me wanting to go there to find some of those caves to see if any Japanese weapons are still left around. |
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Presently I am reading Dimitry Lzov's Fighting for the Soviet Motherland. Originally a tanker in British lend leased Matilda tanks, Lzov's unit is converted to M2A4 Shermans. Unlike his first book which gives his acount of being a Sherman tanker, this second book talks about simple things that are easily forgotten or overlooked: How the common soldier got around the censor, field logistics (supply) and repair, the experience of one T-34 that broke down during a retreat in Hungary, how they evaded German patrols sent to find them and how they protected their T-34, the Russian Army in the far east (they still had BT-7s and T-26s in 1945!), simple technique to rid one's undergarments from louse, how a simple error in an Army newspaper resulted in one writer being sent to a penal battalion, how misfortune of overturning his Sherman on any icy road saved his life, etc.
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A Bridge Too Far- Cornelius Ryan
The Last Battle-Cornelius Ryan D-Day- Cornelius Ryan The Last 100 Days-John Toland Fatal Decision: Anzio and the Battle for Rome |
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When I was in San Francisco a few months ago, I came across Paul Carrell's Scorched Earth. It's about the defensive battles of the German Army as it is pushed back to Germany. Years ago I read his other books, Hitler Moves East, Foxes of the Desert, Invasion! They're coming. I just ordered a used copy of Stalingrad. Carrell's books are largely based on interviews, diaries and journals as well as official records.
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+1s for With The Old Breed - At Peleliu and Okinawa, and Bodyguard of Lies. With The Old Breed is one of the finest books I've read.
ETA: Another one: Stalin's Secret Agents: The Subversion of Roosevelt's Government. M. Stanton Evans and Herbert Romerstein. Threshold Editions, 2012. It goes into detail about Soviet agents of influence and fellow travelers, peppered throughout the government, and their effect on decisions made in WWII and post-war. And I also recommend The Rape of Nanking, recommended in the post below. |
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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.
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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. View Quote |
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