When I was a kid in the 1950s I read books written by WWII pilots. Thunderbolt, by Robert S. Johnson, Ba Ba Black Sheep by Greg "Pappy" Boyington, and Zero, by Saburo Sakai. There were others I can't remember.
For a different view on the war, try Red Road from Stalingrad. I forget the author's Russian name. It is the story of a 19 year old Siberian boy who has a safe job working for a general but wants to fight for Russia. He starts fighting at Stalingrad and fights for about a year until he is seriously wounded.
He said that even the Siberian boys who were used to -50 degrees were cold at Stalingrad, where nothing stopped the winter wind on the steppes.
