Best Personal Memoirs

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!

 

I highly recommend George Blackburn's trilogy, Where the Hell are the Guns?, The Guns of Normandy, The Guns of Victory. He writes very compellingly about his experiences throughout the war from his joining in Canada 1940 through the end of the War. He became a FOO and worked with the 4th Field Regiment Artillery. He also recounts the real history going on about him. He actually received The Order of Canada because of these books. I've actually quoted from his books on the Forum, as I probably learned more about the daily life of an artilleryman/soldier in the Canadian Army than from any other source.

 

that sound great Michelle. Three other books to go on my list.

 

I'll second that. 'The Guns Of Normandy', especially, falls into that rare, once-read-never-forgotten category.....

 

Thanks Michelle and Martin, I'm adding these to the list as well!

 

no one has mentioned soldat reflections of a german soldier 1936- 1949 exellent book it offers indepth insight into every moment of the war from poland to the final day in hitlers bunker

 

Hi, I'm John, I have just joined up here.

I too have a big interest in memoirs. Among many German and British ones, I'd read a few US ETO ones, Burgett's 'Seven Roads' and Gantters, which were very good and it got me wondering what else there was. After reading 'Infantry Soldier' and 'Into the Mountains Dark' I realised that there was quite a difference regarding their quality as combat narratives. Anyway, I started searching Amazon, got a few more and got the bug to the degree that I've read over 20 - just US ETO ones - and I've been doing reviews on each and ranking them according to things like amount of combat, details of combat and army life and quality of writing. For anyone who is interested, I have a thread here -

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=113192

They're all ground force but the last ten or so have been Airborne ones. Anyway, I'd be interested to hear if any readers here have opinions on any of the books that I have written about.

 

Company Commander by Charles McDonald... The Spearheaders By James Altieri.... All the way to Berlin By lt Col James Megellas...man ya want a full list of memoirs and what theatre and or unit these men served message me and ill give ya a long list. i prefer reading personall accounts myself... ive got probably 500+ books on ww2 ive collected in my library much to my wifes dismay LOL

 

Heaven And Hell The war diary of a german paratrooper by Martin Poppel this is a great book if you ain't read it get it!

 

Goodbye Darkness by William Manchester who was a marine in the pacific war island hopping campaign.I read this quite a few years ago but it is probably the best i have read on the subject.

 

Yes, 'Goodbye Darkness' is excellent - that guy can write! He was a proffessional author after the war, he wrote extensively on the Kennedys and also 'American Ceasar' about MacArthur. There were a couple of passages in his war memoir that were stunning. I read his opening page to students to demonstrate how to grab a readers attention.

 

I read Manchester's Goodbye Darkness when it was first published and thought it was a well written memoir of the Pacific war. Then, I found out I'd been somewhat misled - while he served in the Marines on Okinawa in 1945, I believe that was his only experience in an island battle. In his book, he weaves his personal experiences from Okinawa into his telling of other island battles, in such a way that one is left with the impression that he was in those battles too. As a narrative of the war in the Pacific, it is a good read, but as a personal memoir, it is more limited in scope.

 

Hey FSBOF i didnt know that you got the source that gave that explanation

 

Here are a couple

William Manchester's <i>Goodbye Darkness</i>: An historian remembers War in the Pacific - William Manchester - Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War Books - Epinions.com read the description under "Shortcomings"

William Manchester - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia see "Early Life"

It's a well written, personal book about his experiences on Okinawa, not other well known island battles. IMO Sledge's With the Old Breed is a first rate memoir of his experiences on Peleliu and Okinawa.

 

Thanks FSBOF will have a look and i have Sledge's book sat on my shelf waiting to be read, along with many others i see them books and i just have to buy them just wont live long enough to read them all