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Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels

 
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Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/13/2010 3:58:23 PM   
wodin


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Status: offline 		Can anyone recommend a WW 2 East Front novel. It has to be East front realistic and a damn good read.

I own The Red Horse, Forgotten Soldier, Siege, Life and Fate and Scar of Honor.

Also any WW1 novels aswell. I own a fair few but there maybe some gems I've overlooked.

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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/13/2010 5:01:45 PM   
JudgeDredd


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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/13/2010 5:47:41 PM   
wodin


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Status: offline 		Read it...I'm after novels though not non fiction

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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/13/2010 6:36:21 PM   
NefariousKoel


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Status: offline 		I just got A World Undone, The Story of the Great War by GJ Meyer, recently. Just started first chapter last night before I zonked out.

I wanted a newer book that covered the whole of WWI and this one came out in 2006 so I thought I'd give it a go. I'm liking the writing style from the first few pages thus far.

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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/13/2010 8:25:13 PM   
cillmhor


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Status: offline 		'The Middle Parts of Fortune' by Frederic Manning is one of my favourite novels. Set in WW1, first published in 1929 and written by a veteran of the Somme. Not an all actioner by any means, but a great portrait of some of the men who fought on the Western Front. Seen as a classic, but certainly not everybody's cup of tea. 

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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/13/2010 10:11:40 PM   
Fred98


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Status: offline 		I read an entertaining novel some years ago – unfortunately I forget the name. I lent it to a mate and never got it back!
 
About a unit of British regular soldiers who went off to WW1.
 
The book centres on a few characters.
 
One of them transfers to the armoured core and would become a motor mechanic after the war.
 
It was a good read.
 
-
 
 

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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/13/2010 10:15:57 PM   
wodin


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Status: offline 		I've read Middle parts of fortune...read all the classic WW 1 novels....Under Fire is one of my favourites out of the novels written by veterans.

Again I'm looking for NOVELS not non fiction.

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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/13/2010 10:22:55 PM   
7th Somersets

 

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Status: offline 		An Ice Cream War - William Boyd - set in East Africa during WW1

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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/13/2010 11:05:00 PM   
JudgeDredd


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quote:

ORIGINAL: 7th Somersets

An Ice Cream War - William Boyd - set in East Africa during WW1

Excuse me - but the Ice Cream Wars were in Glasgow in the late 80s!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Ice_Cream_Wars





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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/14/2010 12:16:09 AM   
mmccot

 

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Status: offline 		Can you find some of the GOLD MEDAL novels from Fawcett ? There was a guy named Sven Hassel wrote Comrades of War & Wheels of Terror. A devastating chronicle of the inhuman violence that was WWII for a Nazi Trooper. Came out in 1963.

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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/14/2010 1:33:21 AM   
E

 

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Status: offline 		[ Edited out due to my inability to read. *egg-on-face-grin* ]


< Message edited by E -- 10/14/2010 1:56:38 AM >

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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/14/2010 1:42:05 AM   
wodin


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Status: offline 		They are, Non fiction aren't...read my sentence


Have seen the Sven Hassel and the Leo Kessler books...will get around to buying them...

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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/14/2010 1:56:49 AM   
E

 

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quote:

ORIGINAL: wodin

They are, Non fiction aren't...read my sentence


Have seen the Sven Hassel and the Leo Kessler books...will get around to buying them...


Oh, that's right! Confuse the issue with actual WORDS! *sheepish-someone-wake-me-up-grin*

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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/14/2010 2:19:31 AM   
wodin


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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/14/2010 11:28:11 AM   
sprior


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Status: offline 		Does it have to be Eastern Front.

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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/14/2010 12:03:27 PM   
wodin


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Status: offline 		Preferably East Front....though I'm open to anything that you feel is a must read...

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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/14/2010 12:45:28 PM   
sprior


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Status: offline 		HMS Ulysses by one A MacLean is about a ship on the Arctic convoy route.

The Cruel Sea, Montserrat

Just about anything by Douglas Reeman

Bomber or Goodbye Mickey Mouse or Declerations of War (a collection of short stories) Len Deighton. SS-GB about german-occupied Britain is good too.

If you want another hypothetical try Fatherland by Robert Harris, set in the 1960s after germany wins WWII



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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/14/2010 1:06:52 PM   
JudgeDredd


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Status: offline 		I used to like Alistair MacLean stuff...I've gone off fiction over the last 10 years because there are so many good historical books.

What about the one about the german soldier who made it through the Russian campaign to get back to his family life - he wasn't proper German if I recall...can't remember the name of the book...something like The Soldier??

It's called The Forgotten Soldier...and sorry - it's an autobiography...not fiction.

DOUBLE EDIT
Turns out the authenticity of the story is questionable and apparently the author has acknowledged it's a novel...so maybe it does pass your checklist?

AND ANOTHER EDIT
Turns out there is ALOT of controversy over this book and it's authenticity - an article here discusses the issue

I read this book quite some time ago and completely forgot about the furore surrounding it

< Message edited by JudgeDredd -- 10/14/2010 1:22:01 PM >

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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/14/2010 1:14:25 PM   
sprior


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Status: offline 		I read Where Eagles Dare tucked inside To Kill a Mockingbird in English Lit.

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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/14/2010 2:48:48 PM   
ilovestrategy


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quote:

ORIGINAL: JudgeDredd

I used to like Alistair MacLean stuff...I've gone off fiction over the last 10 years because there are so many good historical books.

What about the one about the german soldier who made it through the Russian campaign to get back to his family life - he wasn't proper German if I recall...can't remember the name of the book...something like The Soldier??

It's called The Forgotten Soldier...and sorry - it's an autobiography...not fiction.

DOUBLE EDIT
Turns out the authenticity of the story is questionable and apparently the author has acknowledged it's a novel...so maybe it does pass your checklist?

AND ANOTHER EDIT
Turns out there is ALOT of controversy over this book and it's authenticity - an article here discusses the issue

I read this book quite some time ago and completely forgot about the furore surrounding it



The Forgotten Soldier was a fake????? I never knew that! And here I am, being amazed at what he went through.

I'm not supposed to laugh because it was brutal but the Ice Cream Wars in the 80's link made me laugh!

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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/14/2010 3:09:31 PM   
JudgeDredd


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Status: offline 		Well that's the whole point about The Forgotten Soldier - no-one really knows. There is speculation (educated?) on both sides.

I enjoyed it. Great read.

As for the Ice Cream Wars - I missed it. I was in the Army by then, but there were a few "gangsters" about around the 80's in Glasgow. I haven't lived there since '83, so I don't really know what it's like now...much the same as other big cities I guess.

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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/14/2010 3:15:30 PM   
sprior


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Status: offline 		Ot how about Mimi and Toutou in WW1?

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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/14/2010 6:28:27 PM   
wodin


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Status: offline 		I mentioned Forgotten Soldier in my original post....

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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/14/2010 7:32:29 PM   
JudgeDredd


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Status: offline 		mmm...it appears my powers of observation have nose dived in the last few hours!!!

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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/15/2010 9:11:27 AM   
nicwb

 

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Status: offline 		Not an easy question

For WWI novels - no one's mention the classic "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Remarque - hard to go by.

If your less interested in a classic - "Aces high" or the "Blue Max" - their both film tie-ins.

Better is "in the Company of Eagles" by Ernest K Gann

For an unusual choice -"the Good Soldier Svejk" by Jaroslav Hasek - mind you its not really a traditional war story but a satire on the Austrian/Czech army and society in the early days of the war but it has a very interesting perspective of the early days of Austrian mobilization and the botched Serbian campaign from an infantryman's view.

Most of the rest of my stuff are first hand accounts etc.

WWII Eastern Front ? err another unusual suggestion - "Night of the Generals" by HH Kirst - again not some much a War story as a Detective story set against the background of the Warsaw uprising. I think Kirst also wrote a couple of other books about the German army in WWII with a central character called Gunner Asch - they were satiric in style - I've never read them though.

Outside eastern front - "Piece of cake" by Derek Robinson.

"We were the Rats" by Lawson Glassop - about Australian troops at Tobruk. Interesting as it was initially published during the war

"The Ridge and The river" by TAG Hungerford - about Australian commando's in Bougainville

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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/15/2010 11:58:21 AM   
nelmsm1


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Status: offline 		Once an Eagle by Anton Meyer.  Been years since I read it but it follows an American from WWI through WWII as he fights and rises through the ranks.  Very good read.

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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/15/2010 12:32:46 PM   
wodin


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Status: offline 		@nicwb The Officer Factory by H H Kirst is a great read....might try Night of the generals...will also check out In the company of Eagles....I have read all your other recomendations...thanks for the tips..

@nelmsm Thanks for the tip...I will buy this book...have to be secondhand though as new they want £50 for it s it's out of print...looks good though and a hefty read aswell...

@sprior will check out the book...haven't read anything on Africa in WW1 so I may give it a try...thanks for the tip...Oh I've read Bomber and fatherland...enhoyed them both...also a great read by Len Deigthon is Winter...a great read following two German brothers from the start of WW1 to the end of WW2...


< Message edited by wodin -- 10/15/2010 12:35:10 PM >

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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/16/2010 2:28:55 AM   
nicwb

 

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Status: offline 		Your welcome Wodin,

I forgot- if you liked "Piece of Cake' - Derek Robinson also wrote a WWI novel called "Goshawk Squadron"


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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/16/2010 4:09:25 AM   
Adam Parker


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Status: offline 		Hi wodin.

Jeff Shaara has written a WW2 Trilogy starting with the book The Rising Tide that follows the course of the war in Europe in the style of the politico techno-thriller - that is, putting the politicians generals and soldiers in the narrative with a strong reverence to historical fact.

Then there's my favourite WW2 duo epic by Herman Wouk beginning with The Winds of War

One novel I absolutely loved was written by Newt Gingrich and also inteneded as a series of two books 1945. In it Germany remains far from undefeated and Otto Skorzeny is sent to America to infiltrate the US atomic testing program, all amidst the struggle to contain Nazi hegemony in Europe and abroad. Alas, the sequel never came into being but the original book, if you can find it, is a real gem.

There's some options that come to mind. I believe that Shaara has written on WW1 too.

Cheers,
Adam.

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RE: Advice on WW 2 and WW1 Novels - 10/16/2010 4:10:46 AM   
Adam Parker


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Status: offline 		Oh damn it - I didn't read the orignal post properly either!

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