Crinius Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 Are the Green Books a good source for the fighting in Italy? http://www.history.army.mil/html/bookshelves/resmat/ww2eamet.html I mean they are free but do they provide good information about the campaigns in Italy? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c3k Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 They are fabulous for an operational perspective. Additionally, they have a lot of tactical analysis as well. They are free. Get 'em. The maps are great, as well. Ken 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonC Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 The best of the green books are the Bulge, Lorraine, and Normandy ones, but the winter line fighting (in Italy) is pretty good. The Salerno landing and counterattack is covered OK, similarly for the Anzio fight - just not as good a campaign analysis of the factors determining the outcome as you get in e.g. Hugh Cole's Lorraine or Bulge volumes. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 Crinius, If you're reading them for education, please understand these were written long before ULTRA was even thought about for public mention. This tends to affect the why we did stuff, based on what we knew, when we knew it and in what level of detail. May I suggest you read ORDNANCE: Beachfront to Battlefield as part of your delvings? This gets into weapon stuff I believe you'll find of real interest. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted April 25, 2013 Share Posted April 25, 2013 Are the Green Books a good source for the fighting in Italy? http://www.history.army.mil/html/bookshelves/resmat/ww2eamet.html I mean they are free but do they provide good information about the campaigns in Italy? They are time well spent. As has been mentioned, they are not the whole story, but still their coverage is excellent. Read them and then find some books that plug the holes. Then come back and read them again. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crinius Posted April 26, 2013 Author Share Posted April 26, 2013 Thx for the replys. I was asking because theyre dated and I wanted to know if all is still valid whats inside written. I was especialy looking for the ones that cover the Sicily and Italian campaigns as I recently noticed that I dont own books about these theatres. So theyre covering the operational level but Iam also looking for something on the tactical level. Any tips? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crinius Posted April 26, 2013 Author Share Posted April 26, 2013 Crinius, If you're reading them for education, please understand these were written long before ULTRA was even thought about for public mention. This tends to affect the why we did stuff, based on what we knew, when we knew it and in what level of detail. May I suggest you read ORDNANCE: Beachfront to Battlefield as part of your delvings? This gets into weapon stuff I believe you'll find of real interest. Regards, John Kettler Thx John that sounds very interesting. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew H. Posted April 26, 2013 Share Posted April 26, 2013 Thx for the replys. I was asking because theyre dated and I wanted to know if all is still valid whats inside written. I was especialy looking for the ones that cover the Sicily and Italian campaigns as I recently noticed that I dont own books about these theatres. So theyre covering the operational level but Iam also looking for something on the tactical level. Any tips? I wouldn't call them dated at all: they are based on interviews with participants (on both sides, in some cases) as well as primary documents. In many cases, I find that a lot of more recent books just seem to be an abridgment of the relevant Green Book. (Also, it's rare that recent books give you enough maps to show you what's actually going on). There are topics the books don't go into in much depth, particularly political issues; and I think we do understand more about the German side of things now than we did in 1960. But if you could only have *one* book dealing with a particular battle involving the US Army, the Green Book would be the one to have. (I also like the "Three Battles" book, which has a fairly detailed look at, well, three battles. There are a lot of small unit actions, plus interesting examples of things that you don't usually see in CM level battles, like companies getting lost on their way to the jumping off point for the battle. Or maybe they are "reinforcements".) : 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
76mm Posted April 26, 2013 Share Posted April 26, 2013 ...but I am also looking for something on the tactical level. Any tips? Ahem, don't forget about the CMAK Companion, described here: http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=108873&highlight=cmak 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted April 27, 2013 Share Posted April 27, 2013 I was especialy looking for the ones that cover the Sicily and Italian campaigns as I recently noticed that I dont own books about these theatres. A couple of books I would recommend then. First is The Day of Battle by Rick Atkinson. Strictly speaking, he is a journalist and not a historian, so his account sacrifices completeness and objectivity a little in favor of readability, but he does spin a ripping good yarn and this is as good a place to start as any. I also liked Sicily, Whose Vistory? by Martin Blumenson. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted April 27, 2013 Share Posted April 27, 2013 D'Este's books (two ... or three? on Sicily/Italy) are much better history than Atkinson's extended length newspaper articles. As Michael says, Atkinson writes a ripping good yarn, and he's not afraid to sacrifice the facts to make it even more ripping. Better yet is Gooderson's book on the Italian campaign, a hard way to make a war. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crinius Posted April 27, 2013 Author Share Posted April 27, 2013 Thx again guys. Iam now fosusing on the Green Books and D`Estes "Bitter Victory" and this one also seems good "Day of the Panzer" though not Italy theatre. http://www.amazon.com/DAY-PANZER-American-Sacrifice-Southern/dp/B005M4T8Z2/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367045364&sr=1-1&keywords=day+of+the+panzer 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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