Mord Posted November 10, 2000 Share Posted November 10, 2000 Ok I have a ton of books. I own atleast 400 but I am sadly lacking in WWII reading material. The only stuff I have on this subject is "what if" sf fiction. Up until now my WWII interests were only surface depth sadly enough. But since CM they have exploded.(Another great quality about this game, makes you want to learn more) So what I need from you guys is a list of First Person WWII Books. I have seen other book lists but all that I want is the best Auto or Biographical accounts of the war. I am not looking for any overview of the war or tacticle studies or anything of that nature. Theater doesn't matter.Right now I am mostly intereted in West, East and Pacific but any will do. I want in your face, blood pumping, grit between my teeth, infantry action. Some fiction would be welcome. As long as it is written well. It doesn't necessarily have to be in the FP. I am also becomming very interested in Huertgen Forest fighting any cool books on that with the above criteria applied would be appreciated. So everybody please help Mord feed his brain. Thanks your a great buncha Grogs! Mord [This message has been edited by Mord (edited 11-09-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Banshee Posted November 10, 2000 Share Posted November 10, 2000 The 3 books from Donald Burgett were fantastic, the most amazing first person accounts i've read yet. (Seven Roads to Hell : A Screaming Eagle at Bastogne , The Road to Arnhem : A Screaming Eagle in Holland ,Currahee! : a Screaming Eagle at Normandy ) Band of brothers (stepehn ambrose) was great , it also covered the 101st Airborne which makes it interesting to hear accounts from the same actions that Burgett was in, but at seperate parts of the battle. Band of Brothers was good view from the leaders and the men. Pegasus Bridge from Ambrose was good as well. Company Commander I read and it has a much different feel from the other books, It's from a regular infantry line commanders POV and it show quite a difference from the above books, still pretty good, though I would have hated to be in that guys company. I am currently reading "Closing with the enemy" which is more about tactics used in WW2, it is good but it doesnt fall under your criteria. Panzer Commander : Memoirs of Colonel Hans Von Luck I enjoyed. I have read about 25 books over the last 2 months I'll go back through them and see if any others fit the bill. But the above are all good. ------------------ Veni, vidi, panzerschrecki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mord Posted November 10, 2000 Author Share Posted November 10, 2000 Thank you very much Banshee. I look forward to hearing the rest! I will forward this list to Santa. Mord Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne Posted November 10, 2000 Share Posted November 10, 2000 I, too, liked Company Commander by Macdonald and Currahee. I would also recommend Raid by 3 authors including Abe Baum and Richard Baron. It is about Taskforce Baum and the rescue attempt of US POWs behind German lines. One of the prisoners happens to be Patton's son-in-law. Very exciting and sad. On the German side, I have also recently finished Soldat by Siegfried Knapp. Very good. Both Panzer Battles and Panzer Commander are good reads. Have fun. ------------------ Land Soft--Kill Quiet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armdchair Posted November 10, 2000 Share Posted November 10, 2000 For first person accounts to read dealing with combat in the ETO, I would recommend "Roll Me Over: An Infantryman's WWII" by Raymond Gantter," If You Survive" by George Wilson," The Men of Company K:the Autobiography of a Rifle Company" by Harold P. Leinbaugh and John D. Campbell; for the Pacific, I'd recommend "Goodbye, Darkness" by William Manchester, and "With the Old Breed:at Peleiu and Okinawa" by E.B. Sledge. Canadian naturalist Farley Mowat wrote a memoir of his experiences of heavy combat in Italy, "And No Birds Sang". I'd also recommend any of the following authors' books that draw a great deal on oral accounts: Stephen Ambrose's books on WWII: "Band of Brothers","D-Day", "Citizen Soldiers", and "Pegasus Bridge". Gerald Astor's books: "A Blood-dimmed Tide: The Battle of the Bulge by the Men Who Fought It", "The Bloody Forest: Battle for the Huertgen: September 1944 - January 1945", "The Greatest War: Americans In Combat 1941-45"; Joseph Balkoski's" Beyond the Beachhead: The 29th Division in Normandy"; John D. Eisenhower's "The Bitter Woods: The Battle of the Bulge"; William Craig's "Enemy at the Gates:the Battle for Stalingrad"; Cornelius Ryan's "The Longest Day", "A Bridge Too Far"; for fiction, I'd recommend Norman Mailer's "The Naked and the Dead" and James Jones' "A Thin Red Line", both written by Pacific vets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
109 Gustav Posted November 10, 2000 Share Posted November 10, 2000 Panzerjaeger. Sorry, don't know the author. It's about a German antitank gunner, mostly on the Russian front. ------------------ No one but the enemy will tell you what the enemy is going to do. No one but the enemy will ever teach you where you are weak. Only the enemy tells you where he is strong. And the rules of the game are what you can do to him and what you can stop him from doing to you. -Ender's Game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herr Oberst Posted November 10, 2000 Share Posted November 10, 2000 For Hurtgen Forest, A Dark and Bloody Ground, The Hurtgen Forest and Roer River Dams, Edward Miller, Texas A&M University Press, ISBN 0-89096-626-5. ------------------ To the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tris Posted November 10, 2000 Share Posted November 10, 2000 The list is well-nigh endless--Panzer Leader, Hitler's Generals, The Rommel Papers. I suggest you go to your public library, approach the reference librarian, query her and proceed from there. You have the rest of your life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diceman Posted November 10, 2000 Share Posted November 10, 2000 Ambrose's forte in the field of history is biography. It reflects heavily in all his works I've read. Highly americentric, he's nonetheless a very good read and a great source for first person accounts. ------------------ Pair-O-Dice "Once a Diceman, Always a Diceman." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wwb_99 Posted November 10, 2000 Share Posted November 10, 2000 'Death Traps' (I forgot the author) written by an ordinance officer in the 7th armored. The title refers to Shermans 'Forgotten Soldier' Guy Sajer. Fact or fiction we will never know but it is a very good picture of life on the Ostfront. 'Citizen Soldiers' Steven Ambrose. It is essentially a connected set of anecdotes, and is very well written. Kind of pro-American at heart. 'Six Armies in Normandy' John Keegan. He writes so damn good, almost bringing tears to my eyes. Very topical for CMBO, and it has inspired me to do a scenario (if I can ever find the maps). Any of the Osprey series of battle histories. Genaral War authors list: Martin van Creveld, Sir Charles Oman, Keegan, Overy, Goldsworthy. WWB ------------------ Ave, Caesar! Morituri te salatamus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne Posted November 10, 2000 Share Posted November 10, 2000 Mord, here's another one that I've read and would recommend: "Touched by Fire" by Eric Bergerud. It's OT regarding CMBO because it covers the land war in the S. Pacific. However, it is very good and deals with the Australian and US Army forces that fought this grim campaign. It is available in soft-back through B&N and is definately worth a read and might give you a break from all of the West Front titles you'll undoubtledly be reading. Regards.. ------------------ Land Soft--Kill Quiet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark IV Posted November 10, 2000 Share Posted November 10, 2000 "Panzerjaeger", IIRC, was by William B. Folkestad (sp?), though the story was of a German he interviewed. Very good. "Panzertruppen" by Jentz is the one for the Christmas list (because each volume is expensive!). This is like a coffee table book with great photos, facts and figgers on German AFVs, but ALSO chock full of first person AARs, transcripts of mid-battle radio conversations between British tanks in North African firefights, and observations on AFV performance and development by high-ranking German officials. Fantastic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mord Posted November 10, 2000 Author Share Posted November 10, 2000 Cool! Thanks everyone these all sound awsome. I appreciate everyones efforts. Keep'em coming! Mord [This message has been edited by Mord (edited 11-10-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disaster@work Posted November 10, 2000 Share Posted November 10, 2000 "Infantry Attacks" by Erwin Rommel "A Bridge Too Far" by Cornelius Ryan "The Longest Day" by Cornelius Ryan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Mauldin Posted November 10, 2000 Share Posted November 10, 2000 I second Stephen Ambrose's "Citizen Soldiers" and any book by Cornelius Ryan. Another book about the Huetzen Forest battles is "Follow Me and Die", but I do not know the author. ------------------ It wasn't MY company..It was the Armys' or so they told me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frenchy Posted November 10, 2000 Share Posted November 10, 2000 I would also recommend Audie Murphy's book "To Hell and Back" a frank and honest book from America' most decorated hero during WW2. The movie based on his book does not do it justice. ------------------ Webmaster http://www.trailblazersww2.org http://www.vmfa251.org Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T34Rules Posted November 11, 2000 Share Posted November 11, 2000 Would highly recommend the following: "In Deadly Combat, A German Soldier's Memoir of the Eastern Front" by Gottlob Erbert Bidermann tranlated and edited by Derek S. Zumbro An absolutely fantastic account of what it was like to be a soldier on the Eastern Front. Another one on my wish list is a book entitled, "Condemned to Live", also a memoir of the Eastern Front. I can't recall the author, but the title says it all!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaSCa Posted November 11, 2000 Share Posted November 11, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Frenchy: I would also recommend Audie Murphy's book "To Hell and Back" a frank and honest book from America' most decorated hero during WW2. The movie based on his book does not do it justice. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I feel the same way. I really thought the book would be more sugar-coated but Murphy does a great job of getting across just how miserable the conditions really were. Has anyone mentioned the collections of articles by war-correspondent Ernie Pyle? I can't for the life of me remember the title but they were very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armdchair Posted November 11, 2000 Share Posted November 11, 2000 There's a great collection of Ernie Pyle's pieces entitled "Ernie's War: The best of Ernie Pyle's WWII Dispatches". In response to Randy Mauldin's question, Cecil B. Currey wrote "Follow Me and Die: The Destruction of an American Division". T-34 Rules mentioned "Condemned to Live: A Panzer Artilleryman's Five-Front War" which is written by Franz A.P. Frisch and Wilbur Jones, Jr. A great title, I personally found it underwhelming. I'm still searching for a good German oral account, maybe it's the title T-34 recommended "In Deadly Combat: A German Soldier's memoir of the Eastern Front". I've read others: "Soldat" by Siegfried Knappe, "Frontsoldaten" a collection of german veteran oral accounts by Stephen G. Fritz, as well as memoirs by van Luck, Mellinthin, Guderian, and Sajer but for the most part, I still can't seem to find the brutal candor of Allied accounts, with the exception of German veterans' accounts in Craig's "Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad". The search continues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark IV Posted November 11, 2000 Share Posted November 11, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by T34Rules: Another one on my wish list is a book entitled, "Condemned to Live", also a memoir of the Eastern Front. I can't recall the author, but the title says it all!!!!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> How 'bout a QB for my copy of "Condemned", versus your "Deadly Combat"? Seriously! (I didn't think Condemned to Live was all that good, to be honest). If Deadly Combat is too precious to part with, put something else up for stakes... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Formerly Babra Posted November 11, 2000 Share Posted November 11, 2000 Since you ask for memoirs, a few of my favourites include: Over the Abyss - My Life in Soviet Special Operations, Col. I.G. Starinov. Some good eastern front stuff. Dauntless Helldivers, Harold L. Buell. Interesting naval-aviation stuff from a survivor of all five carrier vs. carrier battles in the Pacific. Roll me Over - An Infantryman's WW2, Raymond Ganter. One of the better-known G.I. memoirs. A decent read. ------------------ Sounds like 100% weapons-grade Balonium to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobVarak Posted November 11, 2000 Share Posted November 11, 2000 Check out the page in my sig. The CM Reading list should be quite helpful. ------------------ Rob Varak Editor Site on Sound: The Web's Premier Site For Musical Discussion www.siteonsound.com CM Recommended Reading List Moderator www.siteonsound.com/CMReadingList.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wittmann Posted November 12, 2000 Share Posted November 12, 2000 Tiger ace...Gary Simpson Villers-Bocage through the lens...Daniel Taylor Two great reads Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nathman Posted November 12, 2000 Share Posted November 12, 2000 "It Never Snows in September" by Robert Kershaw is an excellent book describing the German view of Operation Market Garden - a good companion to "A Bridge too Far". It includes maps I have never seen before and is a wealth of information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Stars Posted November 12, 2000 Share Posted November 12, 2000 Since you mentioned Fiction as well, Try "Cross of Iron" by Willi Heinrich. It's Eastern Front from the German Perspective, definitely in the "All Quiet On The Western Front" vein of war novel, with lots of pointless death and depressing endings, but hey, it's war. It was also turned into a movie in the late 70's-early 80's, the only american made eastern front film i can think of(not counting Force 10 From Navarone). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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