I'm a junky for personal memoirs written by the combatants on the war. To date the best ones I've found have been With The Old Breed by E.B. Sledge (a marine private at Peleliu and Okinawa) and The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer (an Alsatian teenager fighting with the Germans on the eastern front.)

I'm aware that some people think The Forgotten Soldier is fiction but i've never seen any good proof to make me think so.



Give me your recommendations!

Agree with you on both, especially Sledge's book - it's being used as one of the sources for material (along with Leckie's "Helmet for my Pillow") on which is based the new Hanks' production about the USMC's war in the Pacific.

Through Hell for Hitler - Henry Metelmann.
An excellent and thoughtful memoir of one young Landser's growing up alongside the Reich and his loss of innocence on the Eastern front. Unlike many personal accounts he can actually write.

By Tank into Normandy - Stuart Hills.
A fine and readable account, matter of fact and increasingly moving. The activities of their unit's padre in particular stick in the mind.
(This padre also wrote an account of the campaign: 'Sherwood Rangers Casualty Book 1944-1945 - Revd, Leslie Skinner', which contains much good stuff on casualties among allied tank crews).

Cheers,
Adam

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"Wars cannot be fought with dream stuff" - Sir Percy Hobart.

And a little further afield : -

Quartered Safe Out Here by George MacDonald Fraser.

A superb, Privates'-eye-view of the Burma War made very 'readable' by the fact of Fraser later becoming a professional writer ( of 'Flashman' novels fame ).

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

That 'readability' is so important though isn't it. A chap can have had the most fascinating war but without the skill to get it across a memoir can be the dullest form of military read.
I always find those that try overly hard to inject 'style' into things the hardest work; and of course the just plain turgid... hmmm, back to von Manstein again.

Do you like plain diaries as well Doxie? If so I reckon Alanbrooke's war diaries are one of the best books to be thrown up by the Second War. The somewhat stilted style of a diary can become irrelevant when the events and personalities being commented on are so significant.

Cheers,
Adam

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"Wars cannot be fought with dream stuff" - Sir Percy Hobart.

Two more that I like ( I should say that I have many, many memoirs in my colelction - especially aviation ones. All are 'interesting' but, as Adam so rightly says, some make dull reading. I'm only recommending the really memorable memoirs - sorry ! - here...)

So Few Got Through - The Diary Of An Infantry Officer by Martin Lindsay ( 51st Highland Division in NW Europe ) and The Recollections Of Rifleman Bowlby - Italy 1944 by Alex Bowlby.

And then - although a 'novelised memoir', maybe in the style of Sajer - Take These Men by Cyril Joly - a great book about the Desert War.

Finally, one of my all-time favourites - The Cauldron by 'Zeno'. Another 'novelised' account, this time of 21st Independent Coy at Arnhem. Controversial ( I know that Airborne Medic won't agree with my including it here ). But it's the most powerful account I know of just how nasty it could be to fight the Germans in NW Europe ; you won't forget it in a hurry.

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"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Truly enjoyed this one:

Amazon.com: Hot Motors, Cold Feet: Helmut Günther: Books

and also:

http://www.amazon.com/Sniper-Eastern..._sim_b_title_2

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I just finished, and rather enjoyed, Raymond Gantter's Roll Me Over: An Infantryman's World War II. He really brought an educated man's perspective to life in the Army, life in combat as an enlisted man, and life as an officer who still was an enlisted man at heart.

I really enjoyed the whole series by Donald Burgett. He's form the 101st AB.

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This is a pair of Dutch resistance crystal radios, built into a small metal can, and a matchbox. The image is from a postcard bought at a Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam. The matchbox is marked in Swedish, but Swedish matches were sold in Holland for many years..
Scott

I have only read Currahee from Burgett's series but I agree that it was compelling reading.

If you liked his books you should also look at George Koskimaki's books, they are very much the same!

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This is a pair of Dutch resistance crystal radios, built into a small metal can, and a matchbox. The image is from a postcard bought at a Dutch Resistance Museum in Amsterdam. The matchbox is marked in Swedish, but Swedish matches were sold in Holland for many years..
Scott

I've got a soft spot for Panzer Commander by Von Luck as it was one of the first memoir-type accounts that I read. The sections on his postwar imprisonment in Russia I found particularly fascinating.

The most recent one I've read and can recommend is Troop Leader by Bell Bellamy. He was in 8th KRIH in 7th Armoured and fought with them from Normandy to the end of the war.

-SC

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"DO NOT BE DAUNTED IF CHAOS REIGNS! It undoubtedly will."
-Brigadier James Hill, 3rd Parachute Brigade

Good gracious, there are so many

The Men of Company K, Leinbaugh and Campbell
Tank Rider, Bessanov
Roll Me Over, Gantter
von Luck's book is good
Parachute Infantry, Webster
Company Commander, MacDonald
Yank, Ellsworth

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Best Regards,
JW

Halfway through this book and I like it especially for the Me 163 experiment´s first steps being discussed.

Amazon.com: Top Secret Bird: The Luftwaffe's Me-163 Comet: Wolfgang Spate, Mike Machat: Books

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Tank Rider by Evegeni Bessonov Is a good one.

You might also try Steinbeck's Once There Was a War. It is not technically a memoir, as he was a war correspondent, but he does a great job of conveying the human element of the war.

this whole series was great but '7 roads to hell' was the best one by far IMHO.

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In peace there's nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility:but when the blast of war blows in our ears,then imitate the action of the tiger;stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;then lend the eye a terrible aspect. William Shakespeare

agreed. an excellent book and I too liked the part about what it was like to be a prisoner of the soviets. Guy Sajer's book was probably the best german point of view book though. 'das boot' by gunther locheim is also quite good.

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In peace there's nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility:but when the blast of war blows in our ears,then imitate the action of the tiger;stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;then lend the eye a terrible aspect. William Shakespeare

I really like Von Luck's book too.

I recommend Under the Red Sea Sun and The Far Shore by Commander (later R. Adm. Edward Ellsburg. They are excellent reading, very entertaining, and on somewhat obscure but vital parts of WW 2.

I'd have to add three from Arnhem 1944
Arnhem Spearhead by James Sim
Arnhem Lift by Louis Hagen
and
A Sapper at Arnhem by Harry Faulkner Brown

First two are a bit dated but a good read nevertheless!

[quote=Doxie;295387] The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer (an Alsatian teenager fighting with the Germans on the eastern front.)quote]

Thanks a lot for the tip. It's the first time I here of this one. I am always looking for personnal accounts from Alsatians and Mosselans (Let's not forget the Luxemburgers either) . Their stories are mostly fascinating. It this book still available?

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