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CM:BoN reading list


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Here are some less well known resources, share yours:

Peter Mansoor, The GI Offensive in Europe: The Triumph of American Infantry Divisions, 1941-1945

https://www.amazon.com/GI-Offensive-Europe-Divisions-1941-1945/dp/070060958X/ref=sr_1_48?m=A374VS59X5ED68&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1475525214&sr=1-48


Paul Jeffers, Onward We Charge: The Heroic Story of Darby's Rangers in World War II

https://www.amazon.com/Onward-We-Charge-Heroic-Rangers/dp/0451221281/ref=sr_1_63?m=A374VS59X5ED68&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1475525413&sr=1-63


Joseph Balkoski, From Brittany to the Reich: The 29th Infantry Division in Germany, September - November 1944

https://www.amazon.com/Brittany-Reich-Infantry-Division-September/dp/0811711684/ref=sr_1_83?m=A374VS59X5ED68&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1475525413&sr=1-83


Samuel Mitcham, The Desert Fox in Normandy: Rommel's Defense of Fortress Europe
https://www.amazon.com/Desert-Fox-Normandy-Rommels-Fortress/dp/0815411596/ref=sr_1_106?m=A374VS59X5ED68&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1475525413&sr=1-106

G.H. Bennett, Destination Normandy: Three American Regiments on D-Day 

https://www.amazon.com/Destination-Normandy-American-Regiments-Stackpole/dp/0811735354/ref=sr_1_107?m=A374VS59X5ED68&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1475525413&sr=1-107


Matthew Cooper, German Army 1933-1945
https://www.amazon.com/German-Army-1933-1945-Matthew-Cooper/dp/0812885198/ref=sr_1_135?m=A374VS59X5ED68&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1475525851&sr=1-135

J.E. Kaufmann, Fortress Europe: European Fortifications of World War II
https://www.amazon.com/Fortress-Europe-European-Fortifications-World/dp/1580970001/ref=sr_1_136?m=A374VS59X5ED68&s=merchant-items&ie=UTF8&qid=1475525851&sr=1-136
 

 

 

 

 

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Good list Marshal!

I second @Sublime's recommendations. 

I would also add the following,

"The Guns at Last Light" by Rick Atkinson (The third book in his Liberation trilogy)

"Crusade in Europe" by Dwight D. Eisenhower 

"The Men of Company K" by Harold P. Leinbaugh and John D. Campbell

"Beyond the Beachhead" by Joseph Balkoski

Tons of great books out there. For every book I read, it seems another three are added to my list!

Edited by IICptMillerII
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All of the Panzer Aces (I,II,III), Panzer-Grenadier Aces, Infantry Ace's, Michael Wittmann vol.I & 2, Death Traps...  Naming only a few.  Yes, most of those cover other theaters and not just Normandy.  Most "Aces"end up in Normandy though, worth the read imo. 

These books always get me in the mood to fire up CM after reading them.  :)

Edited by Blazing 88's
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  • 3 weeks later...
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Anthony Beevor - D-Day : The Battle for Normandy

 

Both a good overall view of the campaign and full of good snippets of what the fighting was like.

Some good stuff for background it also has some insights into tactical and grand tactical lessons and changes.

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Any of the books by Ian Daglish. My personal favorite is Operation Bluecoat-Over the Battlefield: Breakout From Normandy.

After D-Day: Operation Cobra and the Normandy Breakout by James Jay Carafano.

No Holding Back: Operation Totalize, Normandy, August 1944 by Brian A. Reid.

You might also like the two books by Joseph Balkowski, Omaha Beach and Utah Beach.

Michael

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8 hours ago, JonS said:

Thanks for pointing out that review, it was a great read. And this line (from the review) sums it perfectly:

A great read D-Day certainly is; great history, however, it is not.

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11 hours ago, JonS said:

Very interesting and revealing of several unfortunate trends in historical writing these days. The observation in the comments section about there being far more publicity flaks than editors employed in the industry may have been an exaggeration, but one often feels that that is the case.

BTW, just in passing, the Andreas Biermann who had a brief comment is our own "Germanboy" who in years past contributed so much to these forums.

Michael

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I highly DO NOT recommend Ambroses citizen soldiers or dday. 

Besides dishonoring Allied war dead by on the one hand acting like it was the West vs all of Germany but then portraying the Germans as bumbling incompetents he does a disservice to the Allied serviceman.

Also theres the LST icident. apparently the entire crew and passengers of the LST were dead or so it was thought. but there was a survivor and he got mad. because Ambrose literally made up some story about a Royal Navy boat driver refusing to go further in and a US officer putting a gun to his head to force him in. the guy who was actually there pointed out that no, noonw pulled a gun, thw RN guys were just as valiant as anyone else that day, the guy in question did get shot but by Germans tryn to get rhe men in closer and finaly the whole incident just didnt happen.

I also find Ambroses open Brit bashing tiresome. im not a big fan of monty and stuff but ambrose is ridiculous and monty isnt all the brits. i think monty shuda been canned but im not a general and he was pretty unpopular amongst his peers too ( his troops adored him though )

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To understand why Monty was unpopular with his "peers" one has to understand the British class system.  Monty was not from the aristocratic elite that formed pretty much the entire high command figures.  Churchill was pragmatic, shared Monty's disdain for the "chinless wonders" of the aristocrats and promoted Monty as a successful general who had proven abilities to motivate troops and make em love or at least respect him.

The Brit class system despises anyone who comes up from low position in life.  Witness the effort to show that Shakespeare, being a commoner, could not possibly have been able to write those plays. Instead it must have been this other aristocratic bloke etc.  The Brit upper classes always have had a powerful motivation to show that they owe their position to abilities and talents.  They want to show that if you are lower class it's cos you are an "inferior" and that's what you deserve.  If the lower classes were seen to have the same talents and ability to compete with the aristos, well, then uncomfortable questions get raised like what right do the elites have to their position in life, and next question ordinary folks will be asking is "maybe they should be removed...".

(I went to a posh Brit school with these sorts of people.  I witnessed first hand their obnoxious attitudes.) 

Edited by Erwin
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For an interesting "cross examination" of Montgomery, two works

Caen Controversy: The Battle for Sword Beach 1944

Andrew Stewart

The above is a bit unfair with the troops and officers of Monty's command in 1940... but one can see how the grand return of the BEF to French soil was marred by a most disconcerting lack of preparation for contingencies, and contrasts with 

Combat and Morale in the North African Campaign: The Eight Army and the Path to El Alamein.

Jonathan Fennell

Montgomery has many merits that need to be acknowledged he had issues as well, pretty much as everyone has their own foibles. And as any interesting historical figure, he was an ambiguous and controversial one.

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41 minutes ago, BletchleyGeek said:

Montgomery has many merits that need to be acknowledged he had issues as well, pretty much as everyone has their own foibles. And as any interesting historical figure, he was an ambiguous and controversial one.

Very true. After years of reading on WW II I reached the conclusion that most any general how had achieved much of a reputation at all had also committed blunders at one time or another that led to setbacks and cost men their lives. It really isn't too hard to understand why either. I expect that we all commit blunders of one kind or another in our lives, we just happen to enjoy the luxury of being so unimportant that they seldom engender headlines.

Wars have been fought by human beings. Increasingly they may be fought by machines, but those machines have been designed and built by humans and are not yet immune to human error.

I regard Monty as a good general. I'd hesitate a long time before I would call him a great one though. But give the man credit: he did after all lead his army to victory, albeit with a lot of unacknowledged help from his allies.

Michael

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1 hour ago, Michael Emrys said:

Wars have been fought by human beings. Increasingly they may be fought by machines, but those machines have been designed and built by humans and are not yet immune to human error.

That's very true Michael. Look up the term "Trusted Autonomy" and you'll see that one of the most common human errors that get very easily passed onto such machines is that of getting too attached to an optimistic narrative where the red force is supposed to be making the plays from the same book the blue force uses. Sorry for the obliqueness, that's because of contractual obligations.

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