Suggested Reading For NWE campaign post D-Day?

[slippy]

Hi all

 

I am looking for some good books describing mainly British and Canadian operations after the breakout in Normandy. The US seems pretty well covered as there is The Hurtgen Forest and Ardennes, which both have many books written about them, but open to suggestions for other areas.

Obviously major operations like Arnhem are again well covered, so thinking of things like the Scheldt Estuary, Riechswald Forest, Rhine Crossings etc, up until the end of the war.

 

Thanks

 

slipper

[jtsjc1]

Check out Pen and Sword's Battleground Europe series. Also Rhineland: The Battle To End The War by W. Dennis Whitaker and Caen Anvil Of Victory.

Edited June 27, 2019 by jtsjc1

[rocketman]

2 hours ago, slippy said:

Hi all

 

I am looking for some good books describing mainly British and Canadian operations after the breakout in Normandy. The US seems pretty well covered as there is The Hurtgen Forest and Ardennes, which both have many books written about them, but open to suggestions for other areas.

Obviously major operations like Arnhem are again well covered, so thinking of things like the Scheldt Estuary, Riechswald Forest, Rhine Crossings etc, up until the end of the war.

 

Thanks

 

slipper

Here is a free book for Kindle by a great writer. Well worth your time:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forgotten-Victory-Canadian-Winter-1944-45-ebook/dp/B00OFHYS8O/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=the+forgotten+victory&qid=1561676979&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Edited June 27, 2019 by rocketman

[wadepm]

Poop, it's for UK customers only...

[rocketman]

11 minutes ago, wadepm said:

Poop, it's for UK customers only...

I coulld get it from Sweden, so I don't know where the line is drawn for downloads.

[Warts 'n' all]

6 hours ago, jtsjc1 said:

 Also Rhineland: The Battle To End The War by W. Dennis Whitaker and ...

not forgetting, his wife Shelagh.

[RockinHarry]

yes, Whitakers´ Rhineland is an excellent read on Veritable and Blockbuster. This one´s among my most inspiring sources. 

Another most recommended read (and PDF download):

The victory campaign - the operations in North-West Europe, 1944-1945 by C.P. Stacey

 

Edited June 28, 2019 by RockinHarry

[Michael Emrys]

If you have access to copies of After the Battle magazine, they had a couple of issues devoted in part to the Scheldt Estuary battles.

Michael

[Warts 'n' all]

4 hours ago, Michael Emrys said:

If you have access to copies of After the Battle magazine, they had a couple of issues devoted in part to the Scheldt Estuary battles.

Michael

I first read about the attack on Middleburg in an issue of a Limey comic called Victor. Ah we were all so much younger then, he says, drowning in a wave of nostalgia.

[JulianJ]

OT, sorry but there's a very funny book about wargaming geeks (like, er me...) called Achtung Schweinhund!   Like the author I was brought up on thick-ear war comics like Victor and Commando. There was even an athlete fuelled by Fish and Chips. He probably had a coronary in his twenties.

[Warts 'n' all]

1 hour ago, JulianJ said:

OT, sorry but there's a very funny book about wargaming geeks (like, er me...) called Achtung Schweinhund!   Like the author I was brought up on thick-ear war comics like Victor and Commando. There was even an athlete fuelled by Fish and Chips. He probably had a coronary in his twenties.

That was Alf Tupper "The Tough of the Track". No coronary, thankfully. He did go blind, but not even that could stop him. He learnt how to race the 3,000m Steeplechase, using a guide dog during his training sessions. And won Gold at the Munich Olympics.

[slippy]

Thanks everyone some great suggestions. I have Caen: Anvil of victory and yes it is very good, and also some of the Battleground Europe Series, which again are excellent.

 

Rhineland the Battle to end the war, i had not heard about before so thanks for that, whilst looking that up on Amazon i also saw this which has good reviews

The Noise of Battle: The British Army and the last breakthrough battle west of the Rhine, February-March 1945

 

I can get the free kindle book and downloaded the pdf so again thanks for that, don't know why though but i have never really got in to reading things on electronic devices, i still prefer a hard copy, i shall have to give it a try though 

Good call for After The Battle i have a few copies and can order some more

 

What about suggestions from a German viewpoint?

[slippy]

Quote

That was Alf Tupper "The Tough of the Track". No coronary, thankfully. He did go blind, but not even that could stop him. He learnt how to race the 3,000m Steeplechase, using a guide dog during his training sessions. And won Gold at the Munich Olympics.

I remember that!! Also did anyone read Warlord magazine as a kid? That was brilliant, Lord Peter Flint the secret agent, Union Jack Jackson, etc .

 

I even remember they had a secret agents club you could join and they showed you how to make traps and things! I can remember digging a small hole, putting sharp sticks in it and covering it,  all to protect our den, from 'intruders' !! Thankfully nobody stepped on it.  The 70's were great growing up as kid

[Ivanov]

On 6/28/2019 at 1:10 AM, rocketman said:

Here is a free book for Kindle by a great writer. Well worth your time:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forgotten-Victory-Canadian-Winter-1944-45-ebook/dp/B00OFHYS8O/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=the+forgotten+victory&qid=1561676979&s=gateway&sr=8-3

I just go myself an ebook for free. Can you believe that?! Thank you Sir!

[JulianJ]

Alf Tupper, of course.  I will have to make some sensible suggestions now.  Niklas Zetterling writes good books. Normandy 1944 is very good on Ger perspective and TOEs, and Milton Schulman (the post war theatre critic) interrogated top captured German Military and many years later published a book of this...The German View? This was while their memories were fresh and not trying to hide their past so more valuable than dodgy memoirs.

[Warts 'n' all]

On 6/29/2019 at 2:12 PM, JulianJ said:

Alf Tupper, of course.  I will have to make some sensible suggestions now.  Niklas Zetterling writes good books. Normandy 1944 is very good on Ger perspective and TOEs, and Milton Schulman (the post war theatre critic) interrogated top captured German Military and many years later published a book of this...The German View? This was while their memories were fresh and not trying to hide their past so more valuable than dodgy memoirs.

It's been years since I read Milton Schulman's book. I think that I must have gotten it out of the Library, so we are talking about 30 years ago. Perhaps I ought to hunt it down again.

[MechaMaestro]

Mark Zuehlke is pretty much the go to IMO for the Canadian Army. A list of his NWE Stuff is as follows

"The Juno Trilogy" - Normandy
Juno Beach - The D-Day Landings
Holding Juno - Talks about battles to defend the D-Day Beaches
Breakout from Juno - The Breakout from the Normandy beach head through to the closing of the Falaise Gap.

The Cinderella Campaign - His latest published book about the battles for the channel ports in late August - Mid September 1944

"The Victory Trilogy" - Late '44 - 1945
Terrible Victory - The Scheldt Estuary Campaign
Forgotten Victory - The Rhineland Campaign
On to Victory - The Liberation of the Netherlands

Fantastic writer and one of the best examples of how Canadian historians tend to do their research.

 

I'd also recommend Mark Milner's "Stopping the Panzers", it's a total reexamination of June 7, 8, 9 and how vital the battles of 3rd Canadian Division were in guaranteeing the success of D-Day. Terry Copps "Fields of Fire" and "Cinderella Army" are also mandatory reading for anyone who wants to know more about the Canadian Army in NWE.

Ironically enough, The Victory Campaign is actually really lacking as an account of the Canadians in WW2. You can read more about why in Milner's book.

 

Happy reading!

 

[JonS]

Topic is *after* the breakout, so;

1. Cinderella army, by Terry Copp (and other books by Copp)

2. Monty’s Men, by Buckley (and anything else by Buckley)

3. 18 Platoon, by Jary

4. Stout Hearts, by Kite

5. Corps Commanders, by Delaney

6. The 56th Infantry Brigade, by Holborn

7. Air power at the battlefront, by Gooderson

8. South Alberta’s, by Graves

9. The Guns of victory, by Blackburn (best read as the last of his trilogy)

10. For short-form writing, the Canadian Military History journal has their extensive back catalogue freely available on line. The last several volumes appear to have focussed mainly on WWI, so you’ll have to go through the back editions aways to find anything on NWE.

 

(I personally thought the Whitaker’s book on the Rhineland was *terrible*)

Edited August 13, 2019 by JonS

[John Kettler]

Was trying desperately to recall a book to list here, and my failed search turned up this small delight on Hobart's Funnies in the Scheldt Campaign. In turn, that allowed me (tripped a synapse) to remember the author of the book I was thinking of, from the prolific 11 AD WW II combat veteran Patrick Delaforce. His canon has quite a few books relevant to the OP.

https://www.firearmsnews.com/editorial/hobarts-funnies-and-the-battle-for-the-scheldt/363813

Marching to the Sound of Gunfire is not only a superb and moving book by , but his pen and ink drawings are the perfect accompaniment. Besides, that's where I first heard of the British wheeled amphibian the Terrapin!

https://penandswordbooks.com/marching-to-the-sound-of-gunfire.html#.XVjxyS2ZNT4

Regards,

John Kettler

[MikeyD]

There are soooo many diverse books on this topic spanning so many decades!

The book "Tank Tracks: 9th Battalion Royal tank Regiment at war 1940-45" has been out of print for a decade or so but you can find it on the web easily enough. Its a well written, detailed unit history/memoir that's notable for following a Churchill battalion across northwest Europe.

https://www.amazon.com/Tank-Tracks-Battalion-Regiment-1940-1945/dp/0750908807