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MHDIsHere

World War II Bookshelf

Lead

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Posts: 92

(11/05/07 12:12 PM)

active member

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Lately I've been reading some World War II books, and would like the broaden my knowledge of that conflict. For instance, I know practically nothing about the period before D-Day in Europe.

For Europe I've read a number of Ambrose' books (D-Day and Citizen Soldiers and am currently reading Band of Brothers, I also have BOB on DVD). I have The Longest Day and A Bridge Too Far in the stack. I also have The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (one of my Dad's favorite books). In the East I've read Enemy at the Gates.

For the Pacific theater I've read Day of Infamy, Guadacanal Diary, Rape of Nanking, and Flags of Our Fathers recently. I have Iwo Jima by Newcomb and At Dawn We Slept (another book my Dad really liked) at home.

So can you folks recommend a few books to fill out my reading list? I'm pretty leary of anything written lately about WW II (or about any war for that matter), I don't want to get into political agendas. I want to read about the men who fought and also about the larger historical picture

Plain Old Bill

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Posts: 1911

(11/05/07 10:31 PM)

OOOh, boy...Sledge's "With the Old Breed" is one of the best ever written. Then hit up "Goodbye Darkness" by William Manchester. Then "The Forgotten Soldier" by Gus...hmm, I think it was Sajer, one of the guys will help me out here. Try "Thunderbolt", or maybe "Wing Leader" by Johnson for the war in the air. There are so many good ones....For some REALLY REALLY GOOD Viet Nam fiction, try Leonard Scott's "Charlie Mike", "The Last Run", "The Hill", and "The Expendables". Good stories all!
When you get done with those, email again and we'll set you up with some more.......

nothernug

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Posts: 10327

(11/06/07 09:29 PM)

Forum Site Moderator

And excellent Pacific read is "Marine at War" by Russel Davies I think it was. It was originally a memoir put together largely for his family. He started out on Pelelieu. "Helmet for my Pillow" by Robert Leckie. Pacific, WWII.

"God is My Co-Pilot", CBI (the book) The First and the Last(?) Adolf Galland, Luftwaffe memoir. "Samurai!" Saburo Sakai(?) Japanese Imperial Navy airforce memoir.

"To Hell & Back" Audie Murphy's memoir of his war experiences. The movie (his first btw) ain't bad either.

Blanking out here, and most of my books are put away. You out to check out the book forum. There's a couple of posts of this nature there. Just scan the back pages for 'em.

Diplomacy is the art of saying nice doggie until you can find a rock.
Will Rogers

avenger

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Posts: 17

(11/08/07 11:08 PM)

I've found that the Ballantine "History of Conflict" series gives a pretty good picture of both Wars. They cover individual campaigns, certain battles, the various theatres of conflict, the weapons involved, some of the leaders and generals. Some of them are better than others, but as a whole, the series is pretty good. BUT.....there are a LOT of books in the series, and they can be hard to find, especially some of the lesser known titles. I spend a lot of time in second-hand bookstores, so I'm just two volumes away from having them all.

nothernug

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Posts: 10336

(11/09/07 08:45 PM)

Forum Site Moderator

Have you tried the websites like abebooks.com (my favorite) or fetchbooks.info ?

Diplomacy is the art of saying nice doggie until you can find a rock.
Will Rogers

gaweidert

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Posts: 629

(11/10/07 09:09 AM)

Veteran member

Try the two volume set "Japan's Imperial Conspiracy" by David Bergamini. Written in the the 70's but a good look into Japan during the years leading up to an including the WWII.

Also "Japanese Destroyer Captain" By a man named Hara who developed the torpedo tactic so successfully deployed by Japanese destroyers in WWII. A very good look at the war from the point of view of a Japanese ship's captain. His last sea mission was as captain of a cruiser that was sunk along with the the Yamato. Probably hard to find, but a very good read.

"Two Ocean War" by Samuel Elliot Morrison. The American Navy in WWII.

"The Last 100 Days" by John Toland. About the last 100 days of the Third Reich. It mentions in this book that Goebbels was the first person to use the term "Iron Curtain" in a radio broadcast. He was referring to what would happen to Europe after the war was over. Pretty darned accurate prediction.

Winston Churchill's "History of the Second World War". It is six volumes. Every American citizen should be forced to read Volume 1 "The Gathering Storm". It exactly describes the conditions in this country as they exist today even though it was concerned with the state of British politics in the 1920's and 30's.

Bundook

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Posts: 461

(11/10/07 04:53 PM)

Veteran member

MHD,
As Avenger said, the Ballantine series is excellent, but they are out of print and can only be found in second hand book stores or specialty book sellers at guns/militaria shows. The newer Osprey series is also very good, with new topics coming out every month -- not just WWII but all military historical periods. They have more graphics, illustrations and look a lot snappier. They are virtually a "battle for dummies" type of primer.

If you want to know more about what happened in Europe before D-Day, then you have to figure out what it is that you want to know because it is a hugh and diverse area with many topics.

From 39-41, Germany's Polish campaign. But it was mostly all Brits. Battle of France, Dunkirk, Battle of Britain, the Commando raids, RAF fighter sweeps, and the start of the Battle of the Atlantic: The U-Boat War, Bismarck.

From 42-43, It was large scale raids: St. Nazaire, Dieppe. Russian convoys: Battle of the Barents Seas. RAF Bomber offensive: Thousand Bomber Raids, The Dambusters. Also the USAAF joining in on the bomber offensive: Schweinfurt, Ploesti. In the Med: Malta. In North Africa, Brits under Wavell, Auchinleck, Montgomery. Then there was Operation Torch under Ike. As an interesting aside to the lead up to invasion of Sicily, look up "The Man who Never Was" by Ewen Montagu who ran Operation Mincemeat!

Early 44, Mostly Sicily and Italy: Salerno, Anzio. Planning for D-Day in UK.

Too many book, too little time. Good luck!

nothernug

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Posts: 10338

(11/10/07 05:51 PM)

Forum Site Moderator

gaweidert wrote:
Also "Japanese Destroyer Captain" By a man named Hara. Probably hard to find, but a very good read.

1.	Japanese Destroyer Captain Hara, Capt Tameichi & Saito, Fred & Pineau, Roger
	Bookseller: Ridge Road Sight And Sound (Rutherford, NJ, U.S.A.) Bookseller Rating:	Price: US$ 2.00 [Convert Currency] Quantity: 1	Shipping within U.S.A.: US$ 3.25 [Rates & Speeds]

That's the first of 55 hits on abebooks.com. Not hard to find at all.

Diplomacy is the art of saying nice doggie until you can find a rock.
Will Rogers

69396

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Posts: 683

(11/12/07 12:15 PM)

Just read and highly recommend "Safely Rest" by David P. Colley. It's the story of Jesse "Red" Franks and his minister father's struggle to discover his son's fate. Lt. Franks was the bombardier on the B-24
"Euroclydon", one of the first three planes over Ploesti.
Sadly, Red Franks was killed after bailing out of his shot-up burning bomber at 150 feet. It was a good six years before the whole story was known by his family. A real personal connection for me is that my sister-in-law is Lt. Franks' niece.
Colley also goes in great depth about a larger story--how America's fallen soldiers and their families have been treated since the Civil War. Sometimes very well and sometimes......
Also political issues with our Allies over burial and reburial that I had never heard of. Very informative.

Rick the Librarian

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Posts: 4426

(11/14/07 09:31 AM)

Host

I can also recommend "Japanese Destroyer Captain" by Tameichi Hara - I read it first when I was about 10.

"Samurai" by Saburo Sakai - Japan's leading surviving ace.

"Little Ship, Big War" by Edward Stafford - a great book - life on a Pacific War DE in 1944-45.

"The Big E" by the same author - a classic about the carrier USS Enterprise

"Death March" - an oral history of the Bataan Death March

"Bataan: Our Last Ditch" by Charles Whitman

"Guadalcanal" by Richard Frank - a massive, almost day-by-day look

"Downfall" by the same author - the last few months of the Pacific War

"The Bitter Woods" by John S.D. Eisenhower - the Battle of the Bulge

WesinMI

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Posts: 1558

(11/14/07 04:05 PM)

I second Winston Churchill's set on WWII. It gives a very nice picture not only of the combat aspects but the socio-political, economic and diplomatic aspects of the war. It is filled with a lot of contemporary papers that, though tedious at times, give a lot of detail on the problems, outlooks and strategies as the war transpired from the end of WWI through the war from the British perspective.

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