Best WWII Books

Hey guys. This is my first post. I just wanted to know what are your favorite WWII books. I thought this would be an interesting topic.

 

Welcome aboard, col. hessler !

I have many 'favourites', but here are three I'd recommend to anybody : -

- 'The Forgotten Soldier' by Guy Sajer. Allegedly the personal memoir of a German footsoldier on the Eastern Front, it has caused much controversy and argument as to whether it is 'genuine'. Whatever, it is a powerful book of men at war ; once read, never forgotten.

- 'Decision In Normandy' by Carlo D'Este. Excellent book about the Normandy campaign by a US Historian who presents a balanced and very readable view.

- 'Armageddon' by Max Hastings. A new and brilliant book describing the end of the war in Europe. Unputdownable !

And a topical fourth : 'A Time For Trumpets / The Battle Of The Bulge ' by Charles B MacDonald. With just a few days to the 60th Anniversary of America's greatest pitched battle in Europe, this book remains the definitive account.

All these books are currently in print and should be available from Amazon etc, or certainly via Bookfinder.

Happy reading ! ( Are there any special areas of the war you're interested in ? We have many forum members who can recommend special books for particular subjects ).

 

Welcome Col Hessler!

As mentioned there are many interesting books around so it´s a bit hard to mention only a couple...

But, very often I return to these two books:

Tim Ripley´s Steel Storm books

Steel Storm: Waffen-SS Panzer Battles on the Eastern Front 1943-1945
By Tim Ripley

Steel Rain: Waffen-SS Panzer Battles in the West 1944-45
By Tim Ripley

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/076030937X/103-9273717-5200604?v=glance

The Guy sajer book is great as well but as it is already mentioned I´ll put here:

In Deadly Combat
A German Soldier's Memoir of the Eastern Front
Gottlob Herbert Bidermann

http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/bidind.html

 

Tis a bit hard to pick a few. I just love collecting books. I have calmed down alot lately (saving for the wedding!) but I used to buy 4 0r 5 books a week... Anyway some favs...

B Company has arrived
Micheal Wittmann and the Tiger Commanders of the Liebstandarte
Wenn Alla Bruder Schweigen
Deadalus Returned
The Devils Own Luck
Panzer Commander

AS for books that are my most used for research then...

Normandy 1944 - Zetterling
Arnhem 1944 - Middlebrook
It Never Snows in September - Kershaw
Red Devils in Normandy - Bernage

In truth the list goes on and on and on and on...

Then of course after my 500 or so books on WW2 there is my colonial collection...

The Indian Mutiny by Hibbert is a wonderful read!

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I am going to run out to the book store to get those books right now.

I am particularly interested in the ETO. I was wondering if anyone has read CITIZEN SOLDIERS : THE US ARMY FROM THE NORMANDY BEACHES TO THE BULGE TO THE SURRENDER OF GERMANY and D Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II-both by Stephen E. Ambrose. If you have please tell me how you liked them.

Thanks again for all your help!

 

Col, the late Stephen Ambrose best-selling books have caused a lot of controversy and argument in their own right.

We had quite an active thread rolling on this subject a while back - I've bumped it up; just look under 'Stephen Ambrose' and feel free to add if you want.....

 

Personally I would love to see our fellows book collections on the site through a scan or two. We all talk so much about what we have on the shelves it would be nice to "see" them.........

oh please a digital for Christmas Santa

 

It'd need a very wide angle lens to get my collection in the frame....

 

Or cut 'n paste some of them...I will see if I have the time to post some today. Not that I have a great library, but I know what Erich says; I LOVE to see books...not just read them!

 

Welcome aboard, colonel! Hope you enjoy your staying here!

I'll have to start by recommending:

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• The Second World War by Sir Winston L. S. Churchill. (A first hand account of one of one of the greatest leading personalities of WWII, as well as the greatest statesman of the XX century. The history is a bit biased and unaccurate at some spots simply because of its age, but it remains a definite source written by the hand of a Literature Nobel Prize winner. )</font>
• The Rise and Fall of Nazi Germany by T. L. Jarman. (A basic and comprehensible account of the Third Reich, without much detail but basic and very accurate reflexions. Its three first chapters are undispensable to understand German natural megalomania and why such a nation provoked two world wars.) Very useful along:</font>
• The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer. (Very detailed book of the time, very well-written but inaccurate because of age. It, however, gives a contemporary view lacking in many books.)</font>
• Hitler 1889-1936 Hubris and Hitler 1936-1945 Nemesis by Sir Ian Kershaw. (Most definite account on Hitler and the III Reich so far. Amazing read, incredibly detailed and objective. It destroys many myths and builds a relatively impartial history of Nazi Germany and the dictator.)</font>
• Not only Hitler, Consent and Coersion in Nazy Germany by Robert Gellately. (Amazingly cold and objective book which shows the atrocious crimes of the German nation.)</font>
• Kampf und Untergaang der Kriegsmarine by C. D. Bekker. (Available in English, a terrific and highly readable history of the German Navy and its tragedy.)</font>

I'll add some more later.

Regards.

 

Col, bearing in mind your interest in the ETO and actual front-line descriptions, another all-time classic I'd recommend is ; -

'Company Commander - From The Battle Of The Bulge To The Crossing Of The Rhine' by Charles B MacDonald. This is the same man who went on to write 'A Time For Trumpets', but this is his own, very personal, memoir of war and leadership. Originally published in 1947, it is still in print as a paperback. Essential ETO reading.....

 

I concur; I read Company Commander recently and recommend it.

Got Ian Piper's book on 605 Sqn in today! Nice booklet mainly with pics and captions, which tell a great story, though not really in depth on the Sqn history. Glad I got it, though!

Now I am off to watch a video that arrived today as well; a 130 minute interview with a surviving member of MTB 666 that was sunk off the Dutch coast in 1944.

 

If you are a fan of both Stephen Ambrose's books and the TV series Band of Brothers, I recommend Ambrose's Band of Brothers, the book which was the basis for the TV series.

Also, as noted by Martin and Stevin, Charles MacDonald's Company Commander is a very good book.

Finally, it's not the ETO, but if you have any interest in reading an excellent book about the war in the Pacific, I strongly recommend Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley.

[ 01. December 2004, 09:35 PM: Message edited by: Deep Web Diver ]

 

In truth there are far to many to choose from. But a couple of my favourite ar:

- The British Official Histories of World War II especially Roskills War at Sea.

- Murray and Millett 'A War to Be Won'

- Pitt B 'The Crucible of War'

- Keegan J 'Six Armies in Normandy'

- Slim W 'Defeat into Victory'

The list goes on but these are good ones to satrt with.

 

Deep Web Diver I have already read Band of Brothers. I thought it was great boook.

I'd like to thank you all again of all your suggestions.

 

The Rommel Papers (what i have read so far) is pretty interesting. Its Erwin Rommels personal letters/journal etc that he wrote during the course of the war. His son, Manfred Rommel and another man collectively worked on it - editing it and the like. I think its at least some 500 pages long.

Also, Popskis Private Army is also a good read (might of spelt the first word wrong, but its obviously about the PPA in North Africa).

I have a question for you all too: I am starting a collection of war-books, mostly on WWII but i have a few others on other wars, and was wondering which books you would recomend. I am thinking i want to collect Hard-Covers, or books that look like the Penguin Classics (in format) so that they all look nice and all. Sorta hard to explain. Any suggestions?

 

Here's another one for you, col - and an all-time favourite of mine.

'Official Histories' can be rather daunting, and can be really dull to get through.

But a big exception is 'The Battle Of The Bulge' by Hugh M Cole. Written in the late '40s for the US Military, it was recently republished in the USA at a low price.

It's a very big book, but tells the whole story of the Bulge in excellent detail, focussing on many individual actions. This is one of those unusual books which can make you an expert on the subject - and it's a great read at the same time !

 

Jeez, you guy's are going to cost me a fortune in books, I have a list as long as my arm just from this thread!

If there is anyone interested in holocaust stories then Escape from Sobibor, by Richard Rashke, University Press, is a must read.
It tells the story of the biggest prisoner escape from a death camp in WWII through well researched eyewitness testimony, from the time the plan was hatched to what happened to the survivors to the present day. Though littered with facts, the book is also a very emotional journey and there is an interesting section near the end where the author talks about his own journey of writing the book with the help of the survivors who took part.
It's a very interesting account of not only a story that should be told over and over again, but also one that adds a little insight of what it's like to bear the responsibility of telling it.
In short, it's a must read.

 

Ezri, I'd recommend you a book called Never again by Dunia Wasserstrom, of limited print, I suposse.

The author tells her own account of the Holocaust: she was a Jewish woman, half Russian, half German who lived in France and was sent to Auschwitz in 1941 or 1942, I think, not because she was Jewish, because she was involved with the French resistance.

She tells all the things she saw inside Auschwitz, the gass chambers, the brutal work, the gass chambers, the dogs, the life in the 'barracks', the cold, the death marchs, the liberation, the post-war and her life in Mexico City after the war.

Will try to investigate a little more, it's a fascinating book.