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Favorite World War II books? - 9/10/2001 10:29:00 AM   
FunkyMonkey

 

Posts: 24
Joined: 8/24/2001
Status: offline 		What are some fiction and nonfiction books that would be good to read? I was thinking of reading the Cross of Iron if I can obtain a copy and the War of the Rats (or whatever it is called) the one Enemy at the Gates was based off of.

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- 9/10/2001 10:55:00 AM   
rlc27

 

Posts: 306
Joined: 7/21/2001
From: Connecticut, USA
Status: offline 		FunkyMonkey,
I think Enemy at the Gates was based on a big of the same name. The author's name is William Craig and the version I read this summer was put out by Reader's Digest Press in 1973, though I've seen a new edition with the picture from the movie flyer in Barnes and Noble. I just read it this summer and thought it was outstanding, similar to Stephen Ambrose's works insofar as Craig actually went to Stalingrad and the Germanies and interviewed survivors of the battle, as well as families who observed the fighting. I haven't seen the movie, but I'm guessing that it only covers a small part of what the book is about. What are your general geographical/chronological interests? It is hard to suggest a book because there are thousands of WWII books out there. I like Ambrose's stuff for its in-your-face down in the foxholes presentation, though I think he sometimes generalizes and oversimplifies a bit too much (anyone else think so, or not?). But D-Day and the followup Citizen Soldiers are guaranteed to keep you up reading all night. Gerald Astor's Dark and Bloody Ground is another excellent work that covers the battles for the Huertgen forest and the begining of the Ardennes offensive. An excellent catch-all one volume of the entire war is Col. E. Bauer's The History of World War II. In my neck of the woods Barnes and Noble is currently offering this 1000+ page (and more than 1000 photograph) book equivalent to a King Tiger for 29.95. In my opinion it's worth every penny. Your spouse/girlfriend/whatever will wonder why you have been in the bathroom for 2+ hours once you have it. Anyway, that's my two cents. Kendokabob

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- 9/10/2001 11:07:00 AM   
Larry W. Wilson

 

Posts: 13
Joined: 4/4/2001
From: Cleveland,Oklahoma,USA
Status: offline 		Anything and everything by Stephen Ambrose, especially "D-Day" and "Citizen Soldier". On the East Front I would suggest "Stalingrad" by Anthony Bevor over "Enemy at the Gate". Also the book "In Deadly Combat" is a very good book written by a German officer on the East Front. Check out the Military Book Club for a source of good reading material.

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- 9/10/2001 12:08:00 PM   
Possum

 

Posts: 349
Joined: 3/27/2000
From: Adelaide, SA, Australia
Status: offline 		Hello all.
Two other excellent old non-fiction novels are
1) "Night drop"; The actions on the 101st and 82nd Airborn on and just after D-Day
2) "Green Armor"; Australian and US forces fighting the Japanese, over the Kokoda Trail in New Guinea 1942-1943

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- 9/10/2001 12:52:00 PM   
Grenadier


Posts: 981
Joined: 5/10/2000
From: Newport Beach, CA USA
Status: offline 		Both "Cross of iron" and "Crack of Doom" by Willi heinrich are very good. If you want historical books with real life on the line combat anecdotes, then no one compares to paul carell-Hitler Moves east, Scorched earth, The Foxes of the Desert and Invasion-They're Coming

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- 9/10/2001 1:20:00 PM   
Wild Bill

 

Posts: 6821
Joined: 4/7/2000
From: Smyrna, Ga, 30080
Status: offline 		Funkey, (You chose it, I didn't ) here is a rather short list that includes what I consider some key books to a better understanding of WW2. Opinions differ. This one is mine. General - World War II Delivered from Hell, Leckie (right on, Massimo! I think it is the best)
There's a War to be Won, Perrett (The best short book on general WW2)
The Second World War, Gilbert (I agree with you all)
2194 Days of War, Day by Day Chronicle of WW2 on all fronts - Superb!)
A World at Arms, Weinberg Early War Years Hitler's Blitzkrieg Campaigns, Kaufmann
The Blitzkrieg Campaigns, Delaney
A History of Blitzkrieg, Perrett
Blood, Tears and Folly, Deighton Vol.2
War in Europe, Vol.4, Hoyt North Africa, Mediterranean War in Europe, Vol.5, Hoyt
Rommel's North Africa Campaign, Greene & Massignani
Operation Torch, Jones
The Rommel Papers, Hart
Foxes in the Desert, Carell General - The Pacific War in the Pacific, Gailey
The Pacific War, Costello
Eagle Against the Sun, Spector
Japan's War, Hoyt
The Pacific Campaign, Van der Vat Early Pacific War Pearl Harbor, Barker
Fall of the Philippines,
War in the Pacific, Vol.1, Hoyt
War in the Pacific, Vol.2, Hoyt
Incredible Victory, Lord Pacific-1942-43 Guadalcanal, Frank
Campaign for Guadalcanal, Coggins
The Glory of the Solomons
MacArthur's New Guinea Campaign, Prefer
Storm over the Gilberts, Hoyt Western Europe 1944-1945
(I'll include 10 here) D-Day, Ambrose
Six Armies in Normandy, Keegan
Steel Inferno, Reynolds
The Duel for France, Blumenson
Operation Dragoon, Bauer
A Bridge too Far, Ryan
A Dark and Bloody Ground, Miller
Hell on Wheels, Huston
A Time for Trumpets, MacDonald
One more River, Allen Pacific 1944-1945 The Two Ocean War, Morrison
Strong Men Armed, Leckie
The Marine's War, Pratt
Iwo Jima, Ross
Typhoon of Steel, Belote Some good books for scenarios: Tank Action, Forty
Tank Aces, Forty
Against all Odds, Perrett
Iron Fist, Perrett
Battles Won and Lost, Baldwin
Impossible Victories, Perrett
Last Stand, Perrett
Victories and Battlescenes of WW2, Chandler
Chariots of Steel, Donnely
Tank Warfare in the Second World War, Forty
Surprise Attacks, Darman
Bravery in Battle, Eshel
Hit the Beach, Foster
Daring to Win, Eshel And this is without the East Front which in itself is a library of its own. I'll add that one later. This is enough to get a good library started.

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- 9/10/2001 2:35:00 PM   
Gen.Hoepner


Posts: 3645
Joined: 9/4/2001
From: italy
Status: offline 		UUUHHHFFFF!!!!!!!So many books suggested:this will probably win the title of most usefull message of the forum!!!!!
In my opinion,for the little i know,the Wild Bill's list is great.I spent the whole summer reading the 3 Paul Carrel's books (Desert foxes,they're coming and the big one about the war in russia) and i really gotta say that is probably one of the few ww2 writers that can hold u down reading and reading until the morning comes.But to understand every aspect of the war,i like so muc B.H.Liddel Hart with is critical point of view and his capacity to transform the war into a normal human operation.Plus he had the possibility to interview many german generals after the war("the other side of the hill").
and for the rest..........i'll keep buying and reading,there's still so much i don't know!!!
Regards

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- 9/10/2001 6:19:00 PM   
AbsntMndedProf


Posts: 1780
Joined: 7/6/2001
From: Boston, Massachusetts
Status: offline 		For a good non-fiction book on the Eastern front, I like 'Hitler Moves East: 1941-1943' by Paul Carell. A good non-fiction book on the airborn opperations on the Western front, I like the late General James Gavin's 'On to Berlin'. For info on WWII armor, you can't beat the Aberdeen Proving Ground's 'Tank Data' series, I, II, and III. I think all three are out of print, and I lost my copies years ago. Eric Maietta

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- 9/11/2001 12:45:00 AM   
Paul Goodman

 

Posts: 198
Joined: 7/5/2000
From: Portsmouth, VA, USA
Status: offline 		I concentrate on the East Front. For that, I heatily recommend the following. Any book by David Glantz; these include "Stumbling Colossus: The Red Army on the Eve of World War"; "When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler"; "Kharkov 1942" and "The Battle of Kursk". All these books are definitive, as far as I'm concerned. Soviet data is now much more accurate than German data. Also, one must have "Barbarossa" by Alan Clark; "Panzer Leader" by Heinz Guderian. Another interesting book which must be taken with a grain of salt is "Thunder on the Dnepr", Bryan Fugate & Lev Dvoretsky. Paul

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- 9/11/2001 3:02:00 AM   
FunkyMonkey

 

Posts: 24
Joined: 8/24/2001
Status: offline 		Thanks for your suggestions... What are some books that cover a German soldier's aspect of fighting on the eastern front? Taken in the first person perspective as he describes the bitterness and the cruelty of fighting against the Russians describing the strong comradeship and you know etc

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- 9/11/2001 3:07:00 AM   
Panzer Capta


Posts: 268
Joined: 11/24/2000
From: Bedford, NH, USA
Status: offline
quote:

Originally posted by FunkyMonkey:
Thanks for your suggestions... What are some books that cover a German soldier's aspect of fighting on the eastern front? Taken in the first person perspective as he describes the bitterness and the cruelty of fighting against the Russians describing the strong comradeship and you know etc

The Forgotten Soldier In Deadly Combat Two i would highly recommend!!!

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- 9/11/2001 3:22:00 AM   
Redleg


Posts: 1805
Joined: 5/23/2000
Status: offline 		For novels, you might like "Gunner Asche" and some of other works by Hans Helmut Kirst. I did.

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Post #: 12
- 9/11/2001 4:49:00 AM   
Venger

 

Posts: 51
Joined: 7/31/2000
From: Home of the 90mm M46, keeper of the Can O'Whoopass
Status: offline 		I also recommend A World At Arms. Very comprehensive. Hope you have some time... Venger

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Post #: 13
- 9/11/2001 5:31:00 AM   
parusski


Posts: 4804
Joined: 5/8/2000
From: Jackson Tn
Status: offline 		I must agree on
1. "Stalingrad" by Anthony Bevor A couple of outstanding books about the East Front on an operational scale are:
3. "The Russo-German War 1941-1945" by Albert Seaton
4. "Fighting in Hell:The German Ordeal on the Eastern Front"; edited by Peter G. Tsouras Books From an Indivdual German Soldiers perspective are:
5. "In Deadly Combat" by Gottlob Herbert Biderman
6. " The Forgotten Sodier" by Guy Sajer Fictional History
7 "Hitler's Panzer's East" R.H.S. Stolfi Finally, for the West Front I must recommend:
8. "War Without Garlands:1941-1942" by Robert Kershaw
Good luck reading all these posted on the forum. All the suggestions are great. But mine are outstanding. Dasvanonya, Dodya.

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- 9/11/2001 6:26:00 AM   
Don Doom


Posts: 2446
Joined: 9/23/2000
From: Lost somewhere in the upper backwoods of Michigan!
Status: offline 		I would add:
Grenadiers by Kurt Meyer.
Good book on infantry/armored infantry fighting from poland to normandy.

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Post #: 15
- 9/11/2001 6:29:00 AM   
nyarlathotep

 

Posts: 169
Joined: 4/28/2001
Status: offline 		Three books I routinely go back to: The Battle of Leyte Gulf by Thomas J. Cutler The Devil's Anvil by James H. Hallas War Beneath the Sea by Peter Padfield

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Post #: 16
- 9/11/2001 7:15:00 AM   
Greg McCarty

 

Posts: 234
Joined: 6/15/2000
From: woodbury,mn,usa
Status: offline 		My favorite continues to be: Sajer's "The Forgotten Soldier." Read it several times. Wrote an extensive paper on it in college. Its one that is hard to forget.

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Post #: 17
- 9/11/2001 11:10:00 AM   
KG Erwin


Posts: 8981
Joined: 7/25/2000
From: Cross Lanes WV USA
Status: offline 		I'll add three to Wild Bill's Pacific War list: "Peleliu:Tragic Triumph", by Bill Ross, "Guadalcanal:The Definitive Account", by Richard Frank, and James Bradley's "Flags of Our Fathers". The last-named book is a must read for the stories of the Iwo Jima (second) flag raisers, how they coped with the battle itself and how the aftermath shaped the rest of their lives.

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- 9/11/2001 1:59:00 PM   
bradmbrown

 

Posts: 50
Joined: 7/20/2001
From: The irrelevent north
Status: offline
quote:


Kendokabob Wrote: "...I think he [Ambrose] sometimes generalizes and oversimplifies a bit too much (anyone else think so, or not?...
I love how he oversimplied USA's foreign policy prior to WW2: [NOT verbatim]
"Foreign policy? FORIEGN POLICY???!!! Harrumph, we don't need no steenking foriegn policy!" My favorite books in or about ww2 are:
[not in this order]
King Rat (Clavell)
Duel Of Eagles (Townsend)
Good Bye Mickey Mouse (Deighton)
Catch 22 (Heller)
Sink The Bismark (Forester)
and others... [ September 11, 2001: Message edited by: General Amnesty ]



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- 9/11/2001 7:28:00 PM   
Les_the_Sarge_9_1

 

Posts: 4392
Joined: 12/29/2000
Status: offline 		Lots of good titles here, but my collection specialises in the older more obscure too maybe. I have a great wealth of first person stuff.
For instance I have Kay Summersby's book (I will leave that as a trivia challenge to see if anyone knows her name). With all the talk of recent film books, I might mention I have Vasili Ivanovich Chuicov's (spelling approximate, not going upstairs to look right now) book. He was the actual General who defended Stalingrad. I have Adolf Gallands book, I dont think its commonly mentioned. Kesselrings book is a good one as well. Also have Hans Rudels book Stuka Pilot. Alas so many are paperbacks marketed back when I was just an idea in my dad's head. I have a good many of the more accessible books for the famous men on the allied side, but they are easy to obtain. Something I dont see much of is stuff from Italian or Japanese authors. I wonder if its a language barrier to us english speaking types. I have one good book by a japanese ace but thats about it. I dont recall seeing them mentioned here, but wasnt looking to close though. If you havent got the Canadians at War (a two volume option originally with outstanding map inserts) from Readers Digest, then your library hasnt got the best source of material on the Canadian invlovement (best source from a normal commercial standpoint I guess). Its likely apparent to most, but I will mention it for those that might has not heard it before. The ASL (Advanced Squad Leader) wargames DYO (Design Your Own) chapters vehicle and ordnance sections chapter notes are a most outstanding level of nit picking level detail. This material is obtainable through MMP who market the game for those that just want those chapter notes.

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- 9/11/2001 7:38:00 PM   
parusski


Posts: 4804
Joined: 5/8/2000
From: Jackson Tn
Status: offline 		LES, try something harder for trivia. Kay Summersby was on Ike's staff. But I do not believe the rumors of their love affair are true. Dodya, dasvadonya

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Post #: 21
- 9/11/2001 8:06:00 PM   
melcer

 

Posts: 44
Joined: 10/23/2000
From: Uppsala, Sweden
Status: offline
quote:

Originally posted by Greg McCarty:
My favorite continues to be: Sajer's "The Forgotten Soldier." Read it several times. Wrote an extensive paper on it in college. Its one that is hard to forget.

I agree.
It's one of the most unforgetable books I've ever read and tell how terrible the war was for the simple soldier on the russian front. It also mention how terrible it can be to be on the losing side.
I highly recommend it to everyone who want to read about the terrible experience of war on the russian front. Melcer

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- 9/11/2001 10:06:00 PM   
achappelle

 

Posts: 150
Joined: 5/11/2001
From: Vancouver, BC
Status: offline 		I recently read a book, "Maple Leaf at WAr", don't have it in front of me so I don't know the author off hand, but it has excellent accounts of every action canadians took part in WW2. Also, one of WBs picks, "6 Armies in Normandy" by Keegan was excellent.

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- 9/12/2001 5:33:00 AM   
Supervisor

 

Posts: 5166
Joined: 3/2/2004
Status: offline 		I kinda like William Shirer's "The rise and fall of the 3rd Reich".
Very in depth.

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Post #: 24
- 9/14/2001 10:29:00 AM   
Les_the_Sarge_9_1

 

Posts: 4392
Joined: 12/29/2000
Status: offline 		Had a chance to wander down this thread more liesurely, noticed that my favourite books by the collective title Combat: and a further description such as Germany had been missed. (warning Les is able to babble again as usual hehe) The Combat series has outstanding collections of short stories. I have 4 titles from WW2 as well as one from WW1. They are really impressive. I was able to find them as the original paperback as well as a reprinted larger format paperback for 2 of the WW2 titles. One thing that always strikes me though. All my older books are sure getting faded. It might not be well known to the forum, but a great many older paperbacks were made using paper that has a finite shelf life. They become increasingly brittle. It saddens me that they will likely not live much longer than me. Have always spent a bit of effort wondering if I should spend any concern trying to preserve my little bit of the past. Bugs me to know that when I die my precious collection might not interest anyone. I know the local library will take one look at them and assume they are not in good enough shape to accept. But when I am gone, will it matter. I just hope some of my hobbies mean something to at least some of my family eh. One thing I am grateful for, living in Canada I have perhaps the best chance to learn about the Second World War. That even includes the US guys. I have noticed that we are neither influenced by previously restrictive access to information as in the at one time Iron Courtain countries that for so many years were hardly sources of information, nor quite the US market, which to be fair is certainly not a bad source of information, but has for years been afraid to credit anything to the Russians (can only credit this to anti commie hysteria, which is predictable). I think that was a run on sentence sorry about that. Our media though is almost a clone of American media due to you guys having a major influence in our book industry. It is great that in todays world, we are seeing more and more that the Old World and Russia are learning to deal with freedom of information, and access to information. And that the media here are no longer dominated by suspicions of anyone that displays any interest of what was once "the other side" through out the cold war. One significant detail I have noticed is the death of the WW3 genre (and I dont miss it either, nor cold war stress). I had numerous games based on WW3 topics, all quite useless now in my opinion. I have been more and more unable to dedicate any interest to events past Korea.
This perhaps explains why I have zero interest in any software depicting modern events. All of my literature purchases in the last 10 years have been to some extent all WW2 topics. And I have noticed that WW2 board games have been increasing in the last few years (increasing is a relative term, it is after all a very niche intensive market, hardly high volume oriented).

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Post #: 25
- 9/16/2001 8:24:00 AM   
Eric Bondura

 

Posts: 17
Joined: 6/1/2001
From: Wilmington, NC
Status: offline 		I have to agree with "Stalingrad" by Anthony Beevor and "Fighting in Hell".
Also check out "OstFront" by Charles Winchester, published by Osprey Press. It is an excellent overview of the Eastern Front with information not only on the operational activities but also such things as production figures, maps, and extensive footnotes. As with all books in the Osprey History series it is very well illustrated.
Osprey also publishes an excellent series on individual campaigns, such as Kursk and Operation Bagration (destruction of Army Group Center).
Well worth the investment.

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Post #: 26
- 9/16/2001 10:51:00 PM   
Galka

 

Posts: 129
Joined: 4/30/2000
From: Alberta, Canada
Status: offline
quote:

Originally posted by AbsntMndedProf:
For a good non-fiction book on the Eastern front, I like 'Hitler Moves East: 1941-1943' by Paul Carell. Eric Maietta

Does anyone have a copy of this book for sale? [email]galka@home.com[/email] [ September 16, 2001: Message edited by: Galka ]



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Post #: 27
- 9/16/2001 11:03:00 PM   
JTGEN

 

Posts: 1279
Joined: 11/21/2000
From: Finland
Status: offline 		Best fact book is a series(translated from ?) of 6 heavy books giving good cronological coverage of the war, with interesting details of the weapons and a lot of pictures(good for a kid as I was when I read it). I have not read much fiction but my favorite is Norman Mailers The naked and the dead. If somebody wonders why a finn does not say Tuntematon sotilas(the unknown soldier, not translated to english?), the reason is simple. After seeing the great movie more than once, reading seemed pretty useless. But usually books are bettr than the movie and therefore I must assume Tuntematon is as great as it is told to be.

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Post #: 28
- 9/17/2001 12:44:00 AM   
SkyVon

 

Posts: 32
Joined: 6/27/2001
Status: offline 		If I may make a shameless plug for a friend and fellow flight-sim squadmate, I would strongly recommend Eric Bergerud's two books on the South Pacific war. His first covers the land aspect and his second the air. Eric is currently working on the book 3 which covers the naval war. Eric has also won the Marine Corps book of the year award for one (he has two) of his books on Vietnam. His writting style is easy to read and loaded with many interesting stories told from those that were actually there. Give them a read!

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