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WW2, German experiences

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  • 03-01-2009 11:44pm
    #1
    helpmeplease
    Registered Users Posts: 133 ✭✭


    I would like to read up on the German experience of WW2. Is there an equivalent book to, for example, band of brothers? Something that details the experiences of the German soldiers, Wehrmacht, SS, it doesn't matter. I am also interested in the civilian experience.
    I would be grateful if anyone could recommend a few books on this topic.
    Thanks.


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    #2
    Centauro
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20 ✭Centauro


    helpmeplease wrote: »
    I would like to read up on the German experience of WW2. Is there an equivalent book to, for example, band of brothers? Something that details the experiences of the German soldiers, Wehrmacht, SS, it doesn't matter. I am also interested in the civilian experience.
    I would be grateful if anyone could recommend a few books on this topic.
    Thanks.

    The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer is well worth a read. Look it up on Amazon and you'll get a shed load of related books linked to it.

    Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger is also an all time classic, but he fought in WW1


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    #3
    FiSe
    Registered Users Posts: 821 ✭✭✭FiSe


    Erich Maria Remarque's books. He fought on the western front during WWI /All Silent on the Western Front/, but he wrote a pretty impressive books set between the wars...

    Harry Thurk fought in WWII and he had wrote a couple of books about it as well / The Hour of the Dead Eyes/, amongs the others


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    #4
    helimachoptor
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 21,643 Mod ✭✭✭✭helimachoptor


    Centauro wrote: »
    The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer is well worth a read.

    Would second this, a really fantastic book.


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    #5
    McArmalite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,476 ✭✭✭McArmalite


    helpmeplease wrote: »
    I would like to read up on the German experience of WW2. Is there an equivalent book to, for example, band of brothers? Something that details the experiences of the German soldiers, Wehrmacht, SS, it doesn't matter. I am also interested in the civilian experience.
    I would be grateful if anyone could recommend a few books on this topic.
    Thanks.
    I suppose the nearest equivalnet to a German sort of Band of Brothers would be the acclaimed tv series Das Boot. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082096/
    It portrays the claustrophobic and absoulute terrifying world of a German U-boat crew. It's one of the few sympathetic views of the war from the German side. One of the best TV series you'll ever see.


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    #6
    halite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18 ✭halite


    A couple of suggestions:

    "The Germans in Normandy" - very good account of d-day from the German perspective.

    "War without Garlands" - great perspective on operation Barbarossa from the soldiers point of view


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    #7
    leon76
    Registered Users Posts: 143 ✭✭leon76


    Have to recommend this book. Details the life of a german soldier on the eastern front from 1941. Must read.


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    #8
    dubtom
    Registered Users Posts: 3,084 ✭✭✭dubtom


    Das Reich by Max hastings. Not so much a personal story as the goings on of the 2nd SS panzer division on their way to normandy around DDay.Amongst the astrocities they commited was the now abandend town of Oradour-sur-Glane. An excellent read.


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    #9
    Centauro
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20 ✭Centauro


    dubtom wrote: »
    Das Reich by Max hastings. Not so much a personal story as the goings on of the 2nd SS panzer division on their way to normandy around DDay.Amongst the astrocities they commited was the now abandend town of Oradour-sur-Glane. An excellent read.

    Indeed, that's an interesting story. I had a motorcycling holiday with the wife a few years ago. Toured France, spending quite a bit of time traveling from South to North. Little did she realize that we were following the route the Das Reich took in June 44..finished off staying a few nights in Arromanche "what a lovely little town, I wonder what those big concrete things on the beach are"...etc, etc....


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    #10
    dubtom
    Registered Users Posts: 3,084 ✭✭✭dubtom


    Centauro wrote: »
    Indeed, that's an interesting story. I had a motorcycling holiday with the wife a few years ago. Toured France, spending quite a bit of time traveling from South to North. Little did she realize that we were following the route the Das Reich took in June 44..finished off staying a few nights in Arromanche "what a lovely little town, I wonder what those big concrete things on the beach are"...etc, etc....
    I've been planning to do the same for a while. In my ignorance,and in a bit of a rush,I drove past the Normandy beaches and within 50 miles of Oradour-sur-Glane two years ago.I'm still kicking myself over that one.


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    #11
    Hard Larry
    Closed Accounts Posts: 670 ✭✭✭Hard Larry


    Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer is must.

    Stalingrad by Antony Beevor
    Armageddon by Antony Beevor

    I'm currently reading The Devil's Guard...the first 2 chapters deal with WW2 the rest is French Foreign Legion in Indochina but its about former SS Soldiers who escaped Germany and joined the FFL. There is doubt behind the truth of the story but its a great read.


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    #12
    motherfunker
    Closed Accounts Posts: 397 ✭✭motherfunker


    If you only ever read one WW2 book, make it Forgotten Soldier, this is the book I have been searching for for years, nothing will take the glamour out of war like a good bout of dysentery on a crowded train.
    Germans in Normandy is also a great book.
    A Woman in Berlin is also good for the civilian side of things. It gives a womans story of life in Berlin in the days after the Russian victory.

    Have a look at this thread, it has a few good recomendations.
    http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055268471


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    #13
    FiSe
    Registered Users Posts: 821 ✭✭✭FiSe


    Hard Larry wrote: »
    Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer is must.

    Stalingrad by Antony Beevor
    Armageddon by Antony Beevor

    I'm currently reading The Devil's Guard...the first 2 chapters deal with WW2 the rest is French Foreign Legion in Indochina but its about former SS Soldiers who escaped Germany and joined the FFL. There is doubt behind the truth of the story but its a great read.

    Doubt? :rolleyes: Fiction! :P

    But yes it is a great read


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    #14
    mirror mirror
    Closed Accounts Posts: 363 ✭✭mirror mirror


    Last knight of flanders by remy schrijinen ,flemish s.s. eastern front etc.......Twilight of the gods-eric wallin , nordland s.s division.............In the fire of the eastern front -hendrik verton,dutch s.s....forgotten soldier by guy sajer...great books written by men who were there............p.m if you want one or all of the above


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