Marshal Amherst Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 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 Europehttps://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 1933-1945https://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 IIhttps://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 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sublime Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 I think Charles MacDonalds Time for Trumpets and especially Company Commander are excellent. Another River, Another Town was excellent as well imo. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IICptMillerII Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 (edited) 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 October 3, 2016 by IICptMillerII 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sublime Posted October 4, 2016 Share Posted October 4, 2016 Closing with the enemy by doubler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtsjc1 Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 I'm reading Snow And Steel right now and its excellent. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Jack Ripper Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 "The G.I.'s War" by Edwin Hoyt is one of my favorites. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazing 88's Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 (edited) 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 October 6, 2016 by Blazing 88's 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jameshr4 Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 An Englishman at War The Wartime Diaries of Stanley Christopherson a man who started the war as a 2nd Lt but a few days after D-Day took over an armoured regiment. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00IA4C7XQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477349454&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=an+englishman+at+war By Tank into Normandy by Stuart Hills a troop commander from Normandy to the end of the war. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0304366404/ref=mp_s_a_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1477349500&sr=8-7&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=stuart+hills&dpPl=1&dpID=51h-qVw2nWL&ref=plSrch The Tank War by Mark Urban the history of one armoured regiment through the war. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/034900014X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477349544&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=the+tank+war&dpPl=1&dpID=51dd0UJfzPL&ref=plSrch With the Jocks Peter White a platoon commander from Oct 1944 to the end of the war. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0750930578/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477349608&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=peter+white+with+the+jocks&dpPl=1&dpID=51fW0mTqolL&ref=plSrch 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zinzan Posted October 26, 2016 Share Posted October 26, 2016 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. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 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 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 On 27/10/2016 at 11:11 AM, zinzan said: Anthony Beevor - D-Day : The Battle for Normandy Take a look at Simon Trew's review, here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/D-Day-Battle-Normandy-Antony-Beevor/product-reviews/0143118188/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_paging_btm_1?ie=UTF8&filterByStar=three_star&reviewerType=all_reviews&showViewpoints=0&pageNumber=1 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BletchleyGeek Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 8 hours ago, JonS said: Take a look at Simon Trew's review, here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/D-Day-Battle-Normandy-Antony-Beevor/product-reviews/0143118188/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_paging_btm_1?ie=UTF8&filterByStar=three_star&reviewerType=all_reviews&showViewpoints=0&pageNumber=1 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. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted October 31, 2016 Share Posted October 31, 2016 11 hours ago, JonS said: Take a look at Simon Trew's review, here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/D-Day-Battle-Normandy-Antony-Beevor/product-reviews/0143118188/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_paging_btm_1?ie=UTF8&filterByStar=three_star&reviewerType=all_reviews&showViewpoints=0&pageNumber=1 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 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sublime Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 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 ) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 (edited) 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 November 2, 2016 by Erwin 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BletchleyGeek Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 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. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 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 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BletchleyGeek Posted November 2, 2016 Share Posted November 2, 2016 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. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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