Best WW2 book you read

Napoleonbonbon

I'm considering reading Albert Speer's "Inside the third reich" and "the forgotten soldier".

Nevertheless I'd like to hear recommendations of the best ww2 books people have read.

boris232

Just finished Anthony Beevor's "Berlin - The Downfall" last night.

Excellent read - worth getting

p38

Iron Coffins by Herbert Werner. If you like U-boats
Roll me over An Infantryman's World War 2 by Raymond Gantter
The Mighty Eighth: The Air War in Europe as Told by the Men Who Fought It by Gerald Astor.

I have more but don't have time to list them maybe later

Azwaldo55

The Bedford Boys: One American Town's Ultimate D-Day Sacrifice by Alex Kershaw.
The book tells the harrowing true story of the men of Able Company, 116th Regiment, 29th Division who were the first wave that came ashore at Dog Green Sector of Omaha Beach on June 6th 1944. The unit was decimated by German artillery, mortar, machine gun and rifle fire in a matter of minutes. 19 of the dead came from Bedford, Va. a town of 3,200 in 1944. 3 more died before the Normandy Campaign ended.

corner of hells

I read the Forgotten Soldier myself , though in recent years there's been doubts to its authenticity , though the challenges to it seem very vague eg positions of units in Russia and his descriptions of unit markings on uniforms.Great read all the same , Sajer was alive until recently too , I think.

Have a look for the Long Walk by Slaovmir Rawicz , anything by Beevor and Cornelius Ryan's Longest Day is good too.

Morzadec

Forgotten soldier was very good.

'The Kindly Ones' is fiction, written through the first person perspective of an SS officer. In my opinion it is fantastic, maybe the best book I've ever read. It's very long, it's not without its flaws, but overall it is a fantastic read. The scope involved is impressive and for me it seemed very well researched, and really drew me in to the war:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kindly_Ones_(Littell_novel)


I'd be very interested if anyone knew of any other narrative accounts like this of the Second World War? I'm more interested in the personal reality (like Sajer depicts in Forgotten Soldier) rather than strategic/military fact-based information.

Laurie Lee's 'A Moment at War' is a short narrative account of his time in the Spanish Civil War, and is another one I really liked.

Any other first-person narratives like this worth reading?

EDIT: Wrote more on The Kindly Ones a while back:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=83054891&postcount=2

Sand

Ivan's War by Catherine Merridale. Gave me a new insight on the war from the Russian/Soviet side (and the tensions between "Russian" and "Soviet" troops - Russian soldiers were puzzled and disappointed by the less than enthusiastic welcome they received in parts of Ukraine for example). Up until then a lot of my understanding of the war in the east was based on the German narrative of seemingly infinite hordes of "Ivans" streaming west in human wave attacks. Ivan's War did a lot to highlight how the Red Army was essentially defeated in 1941 and 1942 but each time regenerated, turning men who often came from villages without electricity (and who in some cases who had never heard of Stalin) into engineers, tank drivers, artillery gunners, mechanics. An army that became a force that ultimately fought the much admired Wehrmacht to a standstill and eventually routed it all the way back to Berlin.

It put a human face on the "Ivans" as well - what motivated them to fight. Their concerns and worries about their families who were often under Nazi occupation or far behind the lines. How those fears (of betrayal by their wives who they were absent from) and sentimentality (for family life) affected their seemingly arbitrary treatment of women and children later in the war and their reintegration into families who they hadn't seen for years and who often couldn't live up to the Soviet propaganda of perfection - often they had starved or made terrible sacrifices, whilst the soldiers at the front believed their families were being taken care of. It created tension when soldiers returned to families and found things weren't as rosy as they had been told. How soldiers at the front felt betrayed or tormented by reports from their homes that their families were in difficulties, whilst they themselves were in hellish conditions.

Merridale recounts speaking to the widow of a Soviet soldier, and the woman breaking down in tears. Merridale thought she had upset her, but it turned out she was furious with her dead husband - in post war Germany he had taken a German "wife", had a child with her, and then returned home. His Russian wife had felt betrayed but accepted it as in Soviet society veterans gained access to better apartments and standards of living. But she was still angry.

And indeed the hopes and dreams of Soviet soldiers for a better future at the end of the war, a future without famines, repression and Red terrors. And its cynical betrayal by Stalin who viewed the "Great Patriotic War" as a mere gimmick to get men to fight for him, as well at the equally cynical co-opting of Soviet veterans into a "safe" narrative by the later Communist party.

my3cents

One I've been thinking of rereading after many years and as a follow up to some of my more obvious recent reads like Helmet for my Pillow and With the Old Breed is The Divine Wind: Japan's Kamikaze Force in World War II. It was long ago that I first read it and I remember it gave me a better understanding of the Japanese kamikaze pilots than I previously had.

I'd also add on a much lighter note Spike Milligans Adolf Hitler: My Part In His Downfall along with his other war books. Read as either humor or war memoirs it doesn't really matter there's a good bit of truth hiding in with the laughs - if its your type of humor?

Laurie Lee has already been mentioned but I think its worth going the whole hog with his work and starting with a non war book Cider With Rosie and then As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning as they set the scene for the way, never to be returned to, that was life for many people before WWII.

To Alcohol

Does Catch-22 count? As someone mentioned above anything from Anthony Beevor.

Jawgap

My suggestions would be......

Masters & Commanders by Andrew Roberts - for a review of grand strategy

All Hell Let Loose by Max Hastings - one of the better single volume histories of WWII

Decision in Normandy by Carlo d'Este - a decent account of the D-Day and the subsequent battles (his biography of Patton is also pretty good).

Six Armies in Normandy by John Keegan - not as good as D'Este, but not bad either

Why the Allies Won by Richard Overy (along with Wages of Destruction by Adam Tooze).

As for personal accounts, I tend towards the airmen.....

Fighter Pilot by Paul Richey (published just after the fall of France)

First Light by Geoff Wellum

Spitfire on My Tail: A View from the Other Side by Ulrich Steinhilper

The First And The Last by Adolf Galland

And for something a little different.......

In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War by David Reynolds

The Dragon

Hi,

First time posting in this part of the forum. I know of a WW II book club in Dublin that has a lot of great titles. Last week I saw "Stalingrad" by Anthony Beevor on the shelf.

Another title I saw on the book shelf was "Into the Den of the Bear" written by Hermann Pfaeffle who gives his eye witness account on the Eastern Front. Pfaeffle served with 13th and 17th Panzer Division. I read this book before and would recommend it, well worth the read.

For those interested one could always e-mail the book club and ask what titles they have.

youcancallmeal

I'm more of a fan of books that give an overview of events so I really enjoyed Max Hastings Nemesis about the war in the pacific. Also just recently read Anthony Beevors Stalingrad which was excellent.

my3cents

Another one I read recently and thought was brilliant, its not to every ones taste as the author comes over to some as a bit egotistical, was Most Secret War by RV Jones. A very British story of how they stayed one step ahead of Germany's radar developments WWII, http://books.google.ie/books/about/Most_Secret_War.html?id=hkftkibM5fkC&redir_esc=y

Another author writing from the thick of it with a very personal account of American tank warfare in WWII is Death Traps by Belton Cooper, I read it because I noticed it had a forward by Stephen E Ambrose and I thought he wasn't going to write a forward to a crap book, I wasn't wrong, http://www.3ad.com/history/wwll/feature.pages/death.traps.htm

p38

youcancallmeal wrote: »

I'm more of a fan of books that give an overview of events so I really enjoyed Max Hastings Nemesis about the war in the pacific. Also just recently read Anthony Beevors Stalingrad which was excellent.

Have you read Berlin: The Downfall 1945 by Beevor excellent overview of the last days of the reich.

youcancallmeal

p38 wrote: »

Have you read Berlin: The Downfall 1945 by Beevor excellent overview of the last days of the reich.

Reading it right now! About 70% through it. Not enjoying it as much as Stalingrad but still a great book.

luckyboy

I'd also recommend "All Hell Let Loose" by Max Hastings. I think Hastings writes really well on most aspects of the Second World War ...

beauf

Fav books.

First Light - Geoffrey Wellum

The Big Show (Le Grand Cirque) - Pierre Clostermann

Das Boot - Lothar Gunther Buchheim

Motor Gunboat 658 - LC Reynolds
http://www.amazon.co.uk/His-Majestys-Gunboat-658-Mediterranean/dp/0304361836/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

A bridge too far

Jawgap

+1 on First Light - if you liked that Fighter Pilot by Paul Richey is worth a read (if you haven't already) - it was published anonymously after the Fall of France (because he was still a serving pilot) and tells his story of the fighting there from his perspective.

beauf

The Dragon wrote: »

Hi,

First time posting in this part of the forum. I know of a WW II book club in Dublin that has a lot of great titles. Last week I saw "Stalingrad" by Anthony Beevor on the shelf.

Another title I saw on the book shelf was "Into the Den of the Bear" written by Hermann Pfaeffle who gives his eye witness account on the Eastern Front. Pfaeffle served with 13th and 17th Panzer Division. I read this book before and would recommend it, well worth the read.

For those interested one could always e-mail the book club and ask what titles they have.

Could you post the details?

beauf

Jawgap wrote: »

+1 on First Light - if you liked that Fighter Pilot by Paul Richey is worth a read (if you haven't already) - it was published anonymously after the Fall of France (because he was still a serving pilot) and tells his story of the fighting there from his perspective.

Cheers don't think I've read that.

beauf

This was different but interesting

Lightning Strikes: The Story of a B-17 Bomber (Fortunes of War)

http://www.amazon.com/Lightning-Strikes-Story-Bomber-Fortunes/dp/1841450340

The Dragon

beauf wrote: »

Could you post the details?

Hi beauf,

Yes, the contact details are military-history-museum@hotmail.com

It all started with a few collectors of German WW II militaria getting together and showing their collections aswell as exchanging information about books, magazines, websites and various other sources of information.

Then collectors of British and U.S WW II militaria got involved and brought their particluar area's of expertise into the frame along with all the information about books, magazines, websites etc that goes along with their interests.

When all the various historical items from the belligerent nations were exhibited together it was very impressive as everything complemented each other.

It was decided amongst the collectors to pool their knowledge together and share everything amongst each other. This was cost effective.

Family members and freinds started to turn up to the displays. Then friends of family members, then friends of friends.

A small library was formed as a result.

Last time I attended one of the exhibitions I was surprised to see, meet and speak with two WW II veterans who had served in the RAF and Royal Engineers during the war. They promised to come back again to future exhibitions and bring more veterans.

So if your interested in meeting with WW II veterans, seeing historical displays of militaria and gaining access to books, magazines that are not in your local library etc etc I would contact the above e-mail address.

Last I heard Royal Dublin Fusilier, Royal Munster Fusilier and German Imperial enthusiasts were also getting involved but that would be WW I and may not be of any interest to poeple on this section of the forum.

Hope this helps.

beauf

Cheers thanks for that.

youcancallmeal

Morzadec wrote: »

Forgotten soldier was very good.

'The Kindly Ones' is fiction, written through the first person perspective of an SS officer. In my opinion it is fantastic, maybe the best book I've ever read. It's very long, it's not without its flaws, but overall it is a fantastic read. The scope involved is impressive and for me it seemed very well researched, and really drew me in to the war:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kindly_Ones_(Littell_novel)


I'd be very interested if anyone knew of any other narrative accounts like this of the Second World War? I'm more interested in the personal reality (like Sajer depicts in Forgotten Soldier) rather than strategic/military fact-based information.

Laurie Lee's 'A Moment at War' is a short narrative account of his time in the Spanish Civil War, and is another one I really liked.

Any other first-person narratives like this worth reading?

EDIT: Wrote more on The Kindly Ones a while back:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=83054891&postcount=2

Read The Kindly Ones on your recommendation. Took me about 3 months, finished it about a week ago and still can't stop thinking about it. One of the most remarkable books I've ever read. It is tough going and about half through I was considering giving it up but glad I stuck with it. Would highly recommend it to anyone who is willing to invest the time and effort. Definitely in my top 10 books of all time.

Morzadec

youcancallmeal wrote: »

Read The Kindly Ones on your recommendation. Took me about 3 months, finished it about a week ago and still can't stop thinking about it. One of the most remarkable books I've ever read. It is tough going and about half through I was considering giving it up but glad I stuck with it. Would highly recommend it to anyone who is willing to invest the time and effort. Definitely in my top 10 books of all time.

Glad you enjoyed it. It really is a phenomenal read and one I will definitely go back to in the future.

Read "The Caine Mutiny" recently. Set on a rundown US minesweeper during ww2. Not bad and kept me interested throughout

Jawgap

Morzadec wrote: »

Glad you enjoyed it. It really is a phenomenal read and one I will definitely go back to in the future.

Read "The Caine Mutiny" recently. Set on a rundown US minesweeper during ww2. Not bad and kept me interested throughout

Brilliant film and it's been done as a play which is equally brilliant

Aenaes

Panzer Leader by Heinz Guderian is high on my list.

Voltex

Lost Victories by F.M Erich von Manstein. Full account of Polish campaign and how under Von Runstedt the capture of low countries and France. Excellent detail on Russian front especially Sevastopol (where he earned his F. M's baton) and efforts to free 6th army with Hoth's 4th Panzer army.

Panzer Commander by Hans Von Luck is another great read.

Nemanrio

p38 wrote: »

Have you read Berlin: The Downfall 1945 by Beevor excellent overview of the last days of the reich.

Reading this at the moment.

Its not a bad read but find that there is a laxk of explanations in relation to terms that he mentions.

I suppose he expects the reader the know these already.

dubscottie

Stormbird by Hermann Buchner (ISBN 978-0-85979-140-3) Luftwaffe was not all Castles and fine wine!!

I was Graf Spee's Prisoner (1940).. Cost 6D when new!! Love the film so got the book.. €11.00 on Ebay a few years back..

ollaetta

Just finished Ostland by David Thomas. Not saying it's the best WW2 book I've read but it is certainly one of the most thought provoking.

It's fiction but based on a real SS officer Georg Heuser who started off as a young detective in Berlin. His first case was a serial killer who murdered women on the railway network early in the war. After getting the killer Heuser was posted to the SS in Minsk and was put in charge of "processing" Jews and partizans.

The story examines how Heuser changed from someone who was shocked at the serial killers crimes to a cold mass murderer himself within a few short years. Heuser was tried for his crimes in the early sixties and the book also gives an insight how post war West Germany dealt with these cases.


It's graphic and unsettling in places but it was hard to put down and I'm still thinking about it.

my3cents

luckyboy wrote: »

I'd also recommend "All Hell Let Loose" by Max Hastings. I think Hastings writes really well on most aspects of the Second World War ...

Recently got a copy of "RETRIBUTION The Battle for Japan, 1944-45" by Max Hastings as an audio book (read by Simon Vance) and its one of the most fascinating reads (listens?) I've ever had. Its a very personal look at individuals rather than generals and tactics and I'm quite sure I'll be coming back to it again at least once more.

Manach

It would be in top ten, panzer commander, by Hans bob Luck. Listening to an audio book version and very evocative of.a decent man serving a wrong cause.

Axel Lamp

Morzadec wrote: »

Forgotten soldier was very good.

'The Kindly Ones' is fiction, written through the first person perspective of an SS officer. In my opinion it is fantastic, maybe the best book I've ever read. It's very long, it's not without its flaws, but overall it is a fantastic read. The scope involved is impressive and for me it seemed very well researched, and really drew me in to the war:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kindly_Ones_(Littell_novel)


I'd be very interested if anyone knew of any other narrative accounts like this of the Second World War? I'm more interested in the personal reality (like Sajer depicts in Forgotten Soldier) rather than strategic/military fact-based information.

Laurie Lee's 'A Moment at War' is a short narrative account of his time in the Spanish Civil War, and is another one I really liked.

Any other first-person narratives like this worth reading?

EDIT: Wrote more on The Kindly Ones a while back:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=83054891&postcount=2

youcancallmeal wrote: »

Read The Kindly Ones on your recommendation. Took me about 3 months, finished it about a week ago and still can't stop thinking about it. One of the most remarkable books I've ever read. It is tough going and about half through I was considering giving it up but glad I stuck with it. Would highly recommend it to anyone who is willing to invest the time and effort. Definitely in my top 10 books of all time.

Thanks for the tip, I bought it a few weeks ago and am exactly half way through it. Very enjoyable so far.

Jawgap

Crackin' read......

Aenaes

I read Berlin: The Downfall 1945 by Antony Beevor a few weeks ago. I found it excellent which seems to be the norm for Beevor's work having read Stalingrad a couple of years ago.

I'll definitely be reading his other books.

Nemanrio

Aenaes wrote: »

I read Berlin: The Downfall 1945 by Antony Beevor a few weeks ago. I found it excellent which seems to be the norm for Beevor's work having read Stalingrad a couple of years ago.

I'll definitely be reading his other books.

I read this (not all of it admittedly) because I thought it got fairly repetitive when describing the movements of the red army/nazis in battles & wasn't a page turner.

I thought the book would give a more general overview of the period.

Are all of his books like this?

Jawgap

Nemanrio wrote: »

I read this (not all of it admittedly) because I thought it got fairly repetitive when describing the movements of the red army/nazis in battles & wasn't a page turner.

I thought the book would give a more general overview of the period.

Are all of his books like this?

Yeah, a bit.

Stalingrad is a lot like that, D-Day less so. But I like that type of 'chronicling'!


His book on the Spanish Civil War is one of the few military history books I've given up on! That wasn't because of his writing it was because of the conflict itself which seems to have been very dynamic in terms of alliances etc being forged and broken, splinter groups, etc

Nemanrio

Jawgap wrote: »

Yeah, a bit.

Stalingrad is a lot like that, D-Day less so. But I like that type of 'chronicling'!


His book on the Spanish Civil War is one of the few military history books I've given up on! That wasn't because of his writing it was because of the conflict itself which seems to have been very dynamic in terms of alliances etc being forged and broken, splinter groups, etc[/QUOTE]



Perhaps if it isn't like Downfall, I will give this a go. I must admit I have been put off reading another one of his books for a while.

beauf

I was the same with the Spanish War one. Just couldn't get through it.

Berlin one was I thought was decent.

beauf

I recently read the Stackpole Wittmann Book Vol 1 & 2. (they were in the library). Completely biased propaganda, with almost no mention of possible war crime etc of the units involved etc. A lot of repetition of the propaganda also. But in terms of the operational activities of the units involved, with Tiger 1 & 2 it was quite interesting.

Jawgap

Nemanrio wrote: »

Yeah, a bit.

Stalingrad is a lot like that, D-Day less so. But I like that type of 'chronicling'!


His book on the Spanish Civil War is one of the few military history books I've given up on! That wasn't because of his writing it was because of the conflict itself which seems to have been very dynamic in terms of alliances etc being forged and broken, splinter groups, etc[/QUOTE]



Perhaps if it isn't like Downfall, I will give this a go. I must admit I have been put off reading another one of his books for a while.

If you're looking for something about Berlin in the Spring of 1945, I'd recommend Kershaw - "The End: Hitler's Germany 1944–45" and follow it up with Lowe, "Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II" - I thought they were both excellent.

Nemanrio

Jawgap wrote: »

If you're looking for something about Berlin in the Spring of 1945, I'd recommend Kershaw - "The End: Hitler's Germany 1944–45" and follow it up with Lowe, "Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II" - I thought they were both excellent.

Thanks Jaw, in what way is it different to Beevor's?

Jawgap

Nemanrio wrote: »

Thanks Jaw, in what way is it different to Beevor's?

Kershaw is much more analytical. He digs into the question of why, faced with overwhelming defeat, the Germans didn't surrender and uses that as a bit of springboard to look at the whole Nazi regime.

Lowe is more about what happened in the immediate aftermath of the war - it's more about the experience of the ordinary Germans and their families, the returning soldiers, the occupation forces and administrators.

Neither of them are page turners but they do dig deep into the issues.

Dyr

I only recommended "black edelweiss" recently on here, it's well worth a read. Similar to the forgotten soldier

It depends on if you want a personal biography type thing or a more general one

Some books that are thematically linked:

"Hitlers Irishmen" about irishmen who served in the german army

"Renegades" english and irish soliders in the german army

"The Brandenburg Commandos" about an elite branch of the german forces that you tend not to hear a lot about

"skorzeny: the most dangerous man in europe" biography of otto skorseny

galwaycyclist

Jawgap wrote: »

Crackin' read......

Yep just finished it. Found good few of my previous assumption challenged.

gandalf

Have to agree with everyone on Beevors Stalingrad it's an excellent read. I have Berlin on my bookshelf waiting to be read so delighted to hear it's worth a read as well.

Here are a few I have read recently that might interest you all.

A Higher Call - Basically it is about a famous incident over the skys of Europe where a German fighter ace came across a crippled B-17 and instead of shooting it down he escorted them to the coastline. The book charts the careers of both pilots and then their meeting decades after the war. I found it to be a very good read.

Leningrad: State of Siege - This book really gets across the absolute horror of the Siege of Leningrad. I found it hard to read at some parts because of what it was describing.

A Writer At War: Vasily Grossman with the Red Army 1941-1945 - Beevor does a good job in stringing together extracts from the Russian Journalist Vasily Grossmans article for the Red Star during the war. It certainly educated me more on the Eastern front.

Dark Times Decent Men - Is an interesting book from the perspective of the Irish who fought in WW2. I didn't find it as good as Richardsons first book on the Irish in WW1 but it is definitely a good edition to your WW2 book collection.

Wibbs

Over the years I've gathered a fair number of books on the War and here are a few from the nearly all first person German perspective;





They're all first editions, first printings, except for the U-Boat one on the bottom left(third printing, first year edition).

The Hans Rudel Stuka Pilot one I got years ago in a charity shop for under a fiver. Result. Interestingly it was a Dublin publisher. Well a Dublin based publisher(in Ely place IIRC?) that was set up and bankrolled by a certain Oswald Mosley, he of the Black shirts, a failed attempt to get fascism going in the UK. Big shock he'd love the Rudel guy. A scarily capable, effective and very brave man, but an unabashed Nazi was oul Hans. Admired but not exactly liked by his men. Non drinking, non smoking, non carousing type, not exactly the life and soul. Sense of humour bypass time. The English language edition is all about the war stuff, with little to nothing of the post war and political stuff of the original German language work.

I like these first early writings as you get the vibe of recent memories and feelings, that can sometimes be lacking, or even edited out of later editions and memoirs. You can still get these real cheap too. I don't think I paid more than 20 quid for any of them. I also love the cover art of the 50's stuff.

Dyr

Rudels book is a bit weird, he seemed to have a running thing about milk and fresh cakes

Wibbs

Rudel only loves strudel was a running joke among his comrades.

Buona Fortuna

Hugh Sebag-Montefiore's Dunkirk.

Not just the evacuation but the whole collapse of France. The absolutely desperate defence of Calais, and the sending of a Territorial, motorcycle battalion (despatch riders) without their motor bikes.

After the evacuation a significant part of the Army was still in France. The odds and sods that followed every "mailed fist" at the time. These were largely made up of pioneers and logistics types. Op Ariel set out to get them back.

A couple of bits that stuck out to me:

~ Up till about 1939 Pioneer battalions were only given enough weapons for 1 in 4. One of their Lt. Col's pulled the MOD on that and at least every man was armed by the time of the evacuation.

~ During their withdrawal the pioneer battalions were lumped together and then designated as a division. The French, who were in charge then set about employing their "new division". They ended up facing 1st line Wehrmacht troops. Thanks to the Lt Col. above, they had rifles but little else.

Some of the descriptions and first hand accounts were so real that I could "taste it". I read the book when we were at the bottom of our recent financial difficulties and I could just imagine one of my neighbours saying "Come on lets go and dig some roads in France".