jacobs_ladder2 Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 Just out of curiosity I thought I would see how you guys would answer a question posed in another (possibly less informed) forum. What books, covering any and all aspects of WWII, should be considered "must haves"? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoat Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 Cornelius Ryan's The Longest Day, A Bridge Too Far, and The Last Battle. [ September 14, 2005, 04:56 PM: Message edited by: stoat ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 If you're of an absurdist frame of mind, try "Catch-22". There's a nice memoir of a Brit Churchill Battalion named "Tank Tracks". [updated] From Amazon.com "Tank Tracks: 9th Battalion Royal Tank Regimental War 1940-1945" by Peter Beale in both hardcover and softcover. It might be pretty hard to come by. [ September 15, 2005, 06:23 AM: Message edited by: MikeyD ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simovitch Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 Originally posted by stoat: The Longest YardDo you mean the one with Sandler or Reynolds playing the lead? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoat Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 Fixed it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simovitch Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 My #1 must have is "A Time for Trumpets" by Charles B. Macdonald. Kind of like Ryan's books; a little dated, but still an enjoyable, as well as reliable and informative read. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoat Posted September 14, 2005 Share Posted September 14, 2005 I liked "A Time for Trumpets". "Company Commander", less so. For soldier's perspective, I like Pyle's books, "Brave Men" especially. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonC Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 The Lorraine Campaign, Hugh Cole, US Army green books series. The Battle of the Bulge, also Hugh Cole, US Army green books series. Best in a good series, by far, Cole being the reason. Easy to find, even free online e.g. (Google US center for military history, and browse their "online bookshelves"). The Sidi Rezegh Battles, Agar-Hamilton and Turner. South African offical history of 1941 North Africa fighting. One of the best military histories ever for tactical detail etc. Hard to find, but available used or in a good library. Six Armies in Normandy, John Keegan. A good sense of Normandy era tactics. Especially strong on Epsom. Easy to find, trade paper. Lost Victories, von Manstein. The best of the officers accounts for high level operational direction of the war. Any good library will have a copy. He can be self serving, but his appraisals are brilliant, really letting you see the possible moves. Also look for Glantz, Dunn, and Zaloga for eastern front history. Ziemke and Zetterling are useful as balance. Stone&Stone books is an excellent resource for finding military history volumes. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David I Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 "Charlie Company" had a very memorable line - "And the order came down the line to fix bayonets. I am sure it was meant to intimedate the Germans, but it sure scared the **** out of me". In it the guy describes how to take a dump in a foxhole, under sniper fire, when you are wearing six layers of clothes. It involved balance, an empty C-Ration box and a good shot-put throw motion. DavidI 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stoat Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 For technical stuff, "The American Arsenal" is great. (no author mentioned) It describes everything from tanks and guns to ammo and bicycles. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiredboots Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 from the individual's POV. Guy Sajer: forgotten soldier Claustermann: le grand cirque(translated eng.) Sauvage: un du normandie-niemen(translated ?) Mowat: and no birds sing Reports. Ernie pyle: brave men Steibeck: once there was a war Mauldin: collected works N 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiredboots Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 from the individual's POV. Guy Sajer: forgotten soldier. Claustermann: le grand cirque(translated eng.). Sauvage: un du normandie-niemen(translated ?). Mowat: and no bird sing. Reports. Ernie pyle: brave men. Steibeck: once there was a war. Mauldin: collected works. Not-so-fictions. Russ Shneider: siege. Grossman: life & fate 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mies Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 I have recently read these books, which I thought to be worth the read and the money: German soldier's memories of the Eastern Front - In Deadly Combat : A German Soldier's Memoir of the Eastern Front Small unit (battalion and company level) combat during operation Nordwind - Seven Days in January: With the 6th SS-Mountain Division in Operation NORDWIND U.S. battalion action in Europe '44 & '45 - Biography of a Battalion: The Life and Times of an Infantry Battalion in Europe in World War II Small unit tank action from what originally was a dd platoon commander - By tank into Normandy Mies 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacobs_ladder2 Posted September 15, 2005 Author Share Posted September 15, 2005 Originally posted by Tiredboots: from the individual's POV. Guy Sajer: forgotten soldier. Claustermann: le grand cirque(translated eng.). Sauvage: un du normandie-niemen(translated ?). Mowat: and no bird sing. Reports. Ernie pyle: brave men. Steibeck: once there was a war. Mauldin: collected works. Not-so-fictions. Russ Shneider: siege. Grossman: life & fate I've never heard of most of these. Could you say a bit more about them? Cheers Paul 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacobs_ladder2 Posted September 15, 2005 Author Share Posted September 15, 2005 Originally posted by JasonC: Also look for Glantz, Dunn, and Zaloga for eastern front history. Ziemke and Zetterling are useful as balance.What did Dunn write? The name rings a bell, but I can't place it. Cheers Paul 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiredboots Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 Sajer: 1st hand account of a gross deutchland soldier fighting on the eastern front.Vividly depict the brutality of that war. 1943-45. Claustermann: serving with the RAF. Well written, include Normandie & Ardennes campaignes. Sauvage: very interesting account of a free french pilot fighting on the eastern front. Farley Mowat: personal experience of war, Sicily-Italian campaigne, very well written. Schneider: nightmarish tale of the sieges of Cholm & Velikiye Luki,ostfront 1942.Grossman: the russian war experience as seen by several individuals. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradenwalks Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 I really enjoyed reading "Panzer Operations" It's a collection of the memoires (spelling?) of Erhart Raus of his experiences on the Eastern Front from 41 to 45. He came across to me as a real tactical genius. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonC Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 jacobsladder - Dunn wrote "Soviet Blitzkrieg" on Bagration, basically his analysis of the Stavka staff study, and "Kursk - Hitler's Greatest Gamble", of course on Kursk. bradenwalks - on Raus, it isn't hard to sound brilliant if you can make things up. He is known to be unreliable as a source. He tells "just so" stories and tall tales he picked up during the war, sometimes from propaganda. He is still worth reading, but with a bucket of salt. He is a good source on swagger. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 AN ARMY AT DAWN compares favourably to Cornelius Ryan, I think. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Bolt Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 Originally posted by jacobs_ladder2: </font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Tiredboots: snip ... Ernie pyle: brave men. I've never heard of most of these. Could you say a bit more about them? Cheers Paul </font> 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roqf77 Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 no army at dawn is nothing like cornelius ryan. how dare you even contemplate such a thing? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Enigma Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 what bout stalingrad - ant beavor the rommel papers - rommel guderian, von luck and stuart hills memoirs? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 Originally posted by roqf77: no army at dawn is nothing like cornelius ryan. how dare you even contemplate such a thing? You're joking I hope. In what way is he different? He writes broadly on an entire campaign, doesn't footnote, doesn't include overly detailed analysis of unit movements, but does have many personal anecdotes from private soldiers on up to generals, and at times even gets inside the head of the main players, whom he treats like characters in a play more than historical figures. That's how they're alike.... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simovitch Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 Originally posted by JasonC: US Army green books series. The Battle of the Bulge, also Hugh Cole, US Army green books series. I picked up Coles book "The battle of the bulge" at Barnes & Noble a few years ago for $20 :cool: . I used to drool over it at the local library as a kid. One bit of the data that I know of has since been proven erroneous (the ubiquitous "Tigers" at Krinkelt) but it is indeed a must have. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roqf77 Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 dorosh. 1 it was a joke. but seriously though, it is a well written book. But as far as the weatlh and quality of information army at dawn is nothing on a bridge to far not even close. But yes it was a joke. i fell over and hurt my back and half of my left hand has ben humb for several hours. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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