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Best WW2 book you read

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Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 22,651 ✭✭✭✭beauf


    I liked Max Hastings Armageddon and Nemesis. But there is a bit of speculation in those books with not everyone will agree with.

    I read a different book about Ardennes. I can't remember which one though. Might have been Citizen Soldiers.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,297 ✭✭✭✭Jawgap


    Arrived today......

    51hgi6ofEjL._SX311_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

    ....to be read once I finish his brother's book on the Caesars


  • Registered Users Posts: 145 ✭✭lurker2000


    I'm reading 'Hell's Gate- the battle of the Cherkassy pocket, Jan-Feb 44' by Douglas E Nash at the moment. Its intense as its packed with detail of all the different Soviet and German units and movements at that time and location. Basically, a large number of German forces were surrounded near Korsun by an overwhelming number of Soviet divisions who were under the command of Zhukov and Vatutin. By all accounts the Germans were in danger to suffering the same fate as the 6th Army at Stalingrad the year before.

    von Manstein wanted to rescue them but was hampered by Hitler's insistence that the rescue be coupled with the retaking of Kiev which was a bridge too far for the decimated Germans at that stage. I'm halfway through it but its a must for anyone interested in the Eastern Front ... As far as I know, no one had written about this action before Doug Nash did it so capability. Nash is a retired Col. in the American military and has therefore has a greater understanding of the battle strategy than a civilian author may have IMO.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 102 ✭✭My Darling Clementine


    Nazi Hunter


  • Registered Users Posts: 30 Thomas998


    Anything by Beevor, really.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 217 ✭✭Count Down


    Jonathan Dimbleby's Destiny In The Desert is an excellent description of the events leading up to the battles of El Alamein, and deals with the behind the scenes politics which led to the sacking of Montgomery's predecessors.
    For fiction Alistair Maclean's HMS Ulysses is brilliant.


  • Registered Users Posts: 776 ✭✭✭Poulgorm


    The Rise and fall of the Third Reich, by William Shirer.

    A few decades old, at this stage. Still available on Amazon. The best account I have ever read.


  • Registered Users Posts: 32,943 ✭✭✭✭NIMAN


    Haven't read that many tbh, so can't do comparisons, but Stalingrad by Beevor is an excellent book.


  • Registered Users Posts: 217 ✭✭Count Down


    Another excellent work of fiction is Brian Callison's A Flock Of Ships. Set in the 1970s originally, it tells the story of a Royal Navy survey ship in the remote island of Tristan de Cunha in the South Atlantic. They discover a pair of WW2 merchant ships and a wrecked U-boat in the natural harbour, but only discover the secret of the mystery when they find the diary of the merchant ship's first officer.
    The story is very effectively told in flashback, and starts off slowly, but builds up to an exciting climax.
    Out of print, but available from Amazon for about €5 including postage.


  • Registered Users Posts: 10,212 ✭✭✭✭greenspurs


    No one mentioned " Band of Brothers" by Stephen Ambrose.

    And also Citizen Soldiers.

    Both excellent reads..

    "Bright lights and Thunder .................... "



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  • Registered Users Posts: 140 ✭✭Tippman24


    Martin Middlebrook wrote a few excellent books on WW2. A great read is "Convoy" which tells the story of 2 Conveys of ships leaving New York in March 1943 destined for England. Both Conveys were intercepted by U-Boats and suffered huge losses. He also wrote "The Regensburg-Schweinfurt Raids" which tells the story of the USAF attack on these 2 towns in Germany in August 1943. It was not a success and the Americans suffered huge losses. Final book I will mention is "the Nuremberg Raid" which tells of the RAF bombing mission in April 1944 when they suffered the loss of some 90 aircraft. The thing about the three books and his other work is that there are interviews with the men and women on both sides.



  • Registered Users Posts: 811 ✭✭✭Prefab Sprouter


    Bomber Command by Max Hastings is well worth a read. Gives a really good history of the Strategic Bombing Campaign and explains how the service evolved during the war. His description of the initial raids over Wilhelmshaven is brilliant and terrifying.



  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 9,659 Mod ✭✭✭✭Manach


    I second Bomber Command as a recommendation.

    From the Axis side, there is "Panzer Commander" by Hans Von Luck.



  • Registered Users Posts: 811 ✭✭✭Prefab Sprouter


    And I would also agree with Manach's recommendation about Von Luck's memoirs. A good read!



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