24hourcampfire.com
24hourcampfire.com
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Hop To
Page 1 of 4 1 2 3 4
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 28,283
Campfire Ranger
OP Offline
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 28,283
Looking for some quality reading material about WWII. Mostly interested in the ground war in Europe but any decent historical account is good.

Looking for good analytical history with a good strategic and especially tactical overview that also gets into the personal experiences of the participants. Stephen Ambrose's "Citizen Soldiers" and "Band of Brothers" are decent examples.

Sledge's "With the Old Breed" and George's "Shots Fired In Anger" are good personal accounts (great personal account in the former) but I'd like to get into more big picture type material while trying to avoid books like one about which this reviewer states, "This is a very difficult book to review. Because there is some really good wheat buried in some really uninspiring chaff. I agree with other reviewers that the writing style is dry and reeks of bureaucratic military lifelessness..."

I know there are at least one or two history buffs here so let me know what you recommend.



Added: I'm trying to remember the title of one book mentioned here a while ago - "The Army Learns to Fight" or "An Army Goes to War", something like that, about lessons learned by our inexperienced forces in North Africa and how those were applied later on. That's a general idea of what I'm looking for.


Gunnery, gunnery, gunnery.
Hit the target, all else is twaddle!
BP-B2

Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 615
B
Campfire Regular
Offline
Campfire Regular
B
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 615
Ghost Soldiers, Code Talkers, and Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors. All great reads but in the Pacific, not your chosen area but well worth your time.


bkraft

"Four things greater than all things are, Women and Horses and Power and War."
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 1,501
R
Campfire Regular
Offline
Campfire Regular
R
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 1,501
Victor Davis Hanson's "The Second World Wars" is a very good overview of the entire WWII era, including the events leading up to the "war" as Americans understand it.

Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 31,557
K
Campfire 'Bwana
Offline
Campfire 'Bwana
K
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 31,557
The Fall Of France by Dr. Julian Jackson.

A concise and clear understanding of just exactly what happen in May, June 1940 without all the stereotypical BS. If you are interested in understanding history get the complete story.


Founder
Ancient Order of the 1895 Winchester

"Come, shall we go and kill us venison?
And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools,
Being native burghers of this desert city,
Should in their own confines with forked heads
Have their round haunches gored."

WS

Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 96
Campfire Greenhorn
Offline
Campfire Greenhorn
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 96
I'm not sure if this fills all of your wants, but look up "The Liberation Trilogy" by Rick Atkinson. It covers the war in northern Africa and Europe from 1942-1945. Very informative and interesting in my humble opinion.

Last edited by skinnyjimmy; 05/25/21.

"Don't believe everything you read on the Internet." - George Washington
IC B2

Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 28,521
Campfire Ranger
Offline
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 28,521
Read “The Gathering Storm” by Churchill, or most of it, decades ago. Need to redo that and the other volumes as well. What I mainly recall is the debate over how big the guns should be on the battleships; 14” vs 16”. IRC, they found out the hard way that the correct answer was 16”.


What fresh Hell is this?
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 7,009
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 7,009
The best I know of is History of the Second World War by B. H. Liddell Hart.

I've read it through several times over the years.
LINK


$$$ TRUMP AT THE PUMP 2024 $$$
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 4,282
J
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
J
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 4,282
The best book I have read about WW II in Europe is "The Last 100 Days" by John Toland. It was published in 1964, and the author interviewed many of the men involved, including Generals and Field Marshals from both sides of the conflict.

Another favorite of mine is "The Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sager. A brutal first-person account of the fighting on the Eastern Front.


"No good deed shall go unpunished!"
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 1,545
J
Campfire Regular
Offline
Campfire Regular
J
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 1,545
I like Victor Davis Hanson. Here's a link to one of his books entitled The Second World Wars:

https://www.google.com/search?q=The+Second+World+Wars:+How+the+First+Global+Conflict+Was+Fought+and+Won&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgFuLQz9U3SMqpNFLi1U_XNzRMS8spL0pLStaSyk620k_Kz8_WTywtycgvsgKxixXy83IqHzG-YuQWePnjnrDUA8ZJa05eY7zJyIVHvZAVF5trXklmSaWQFBePFNxKDQYpLi44z0iEC-KErILC-DIjk2SBxb-mMSqVG2XsujTtHFuSYIwSA8Mbx1AHKSNB-9-GG1g_vbHXEuJi9yz2yU9OzBGM-WnicGbTe3stYS6OkMSK_Lz83ErBCneLA7cPvbdXUuTskv11Xzvyvb1gYs2_-WaXzBwkWBQYNBgMH1myOqyfwnhAi-EAI1PTvhWH2Fg4GAUYrJg0mKqYOBh5FrG6h2SkKgSnJufnpSiE5xflAMnEomIrBY_8coUSoJRbZlFxiYJ7Tn5SYo6Cc35eWk5mcglQTbGCW35pekaJQiJYYx4AXQVmmG8BAAA&npsic=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjWpOScw-XwAhUgGVkFHXczDCsQ-BYwLHoECAEQMg

Watch his videos on YouTube.

Last edited by Jerseyboy; 05/25/21.

NRA Endowment Life Member, G.O.A supporter
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 12,492
R
Campfire Outfitter
Offline
Campfire Outfitter
R
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 12,492
If the Battle of Midway interests you, I hear that "Shattered Sword" is the one to read.


You can roll a turd in peanuts, dip it in chocolate, and it still ain't no damn Baby Ruth.
IC B3

Joined: Nov 2020
Posts: 541
E
Campfire Regular
Offline
Campfire Regular
E
Joined: Nov 2020
Posts: 541
Had a friend to loan me Helmet for my Pillow couple days ago .

Joined: May 2003
Posts: 13,245
Campfire Outfitter
Online Content
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 13,245
On To Berlin by Gen. James M. Gavin (aka "Jumpin' Jim), Viking Press © 1978. This is an excellent read of both tactics and strategy written by a man who was involved in both. Also comments on mistakes made and learned. He concentrates of course, on the use of airborne troops, but also on the overall use of our (and Britain's) troops against a formidable enemy.

L.W.


"Always go straight forward, and if you meet the devil, cut him in two and go between the pieces." (William Sturgis, clipper ship captain, 1830s.)
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 24,634
Campfire Ranger
Offline
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 24,634
Originally Posted by ratsmacker
If the Battle of Midway interests you, I hear that "Shattered Sword" is the one to read.
It's quite difinitive for sure, but it's a tedious read. That's the nature of taking several hours of combat and covering the subject minute by minute. But the information between those two covers is amazing in breadth.

Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 17,807
H
Campfire Ranger
Offline
Campfire Ranger
H
Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 17,807
I literally inherited over a dozen boxes of military history books.

Have not sorted them. Theyre like new.

Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 24,634
Campfire Ranger
Offline
Campfire Ranger
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 24,634
Two best WWII books (for overall war, rather than specific battles).

The Second World War, John Keegan
The Second World War, Martin Gilbert

Two of the UK's finest historian, both give great coverage. Gilbert's book gives a lot more detail and it's about twice as thick.

Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 4,545
L
Campfire Tracker
Offline
Campfire Tracker
L
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 4,545
Crusade in Europe, written in 1947 by Eisenhower, give a good overview of the war in Europe from a strategic and political point of view.

Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 8,510
Campfire Outfitter
Offline
Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 8,510
A book I read a while back and really enjoyed is "Frontsoldaten, The German Soldier in World War II", by Stephen G. Fritz (yes, his name is really Fritz), by University of Kentucky Press. Quick check shows it's cheap at that monopoly bookstore on the interwebs. It's not about specific battles, strategy, or tactics per se, just what it was like to be a German soldier in WWII. If The Forgotten Soldier is the novelization of that experience, this is more of a guidebook, if that makes any sense.

Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 946
T
Campfire Regular
Offline
Campfire Regular
T
Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 946
"With the Old Breed' ....I have read the books mentioned above and they are all good but this is the best, IMO


'Iron Coffins"....another good one

My favorites are the primary source, first hand accounts of German "phantom raiders" Disguised surface raiders like the Atlantis and Pinguin (Penguin in German), Orion, etc....if you can find them.

Last edited by TreeMutt; 05/25/21.

"an armed society is a polite society"
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 124
S
Campfire Member
Offline
Campfire Member
S
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 124
Beyond the Rhine by Donald Burgett is a pretty good read

Joined: Sep 2019
Posts: 2,043
S
Campfire Regular
Offline
Campfire Regular
S
Joined: Sep 2019
Posts: 2,043
TreeMutt, that is a great book on the war in the Atlantic. My copy is a little used. 😁

[Linked Image from i.postimg.cc]

Page 1 of 4 1 2 3 4

Moderated by  RickBin 

Link Copied to Clipboard
YB23

Who's Online Now
679 members (10ring1, 10gaugemag, 12308300, 007FJ, 10Glocks, 06hunter59, 72 invisible), 2,801 guests, and 1,299 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Forum Statistics
Forums81
Topics1,187,634
Posts18,398,904
Members73,817
Most Online11,491
Jul 7th, 2023


 







Fish & Game Departments | Solunar Tables | Mission Statement | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | DMCA
Hunting | Fishing | Camping | Backpacking | Reloading | Campfire Forums | Gear Shop
Copyright © 2000-2024 24hourcampfire.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5
(Release build 20201027)
Responsive Width:

PHP: 7.3.33 Page Time: 0.121s Queries: 15 (0.005s) Memory: 0.8972 MB (Peak: 1.0483 MB) Data Comp: Zlib Server Time: 2024-03-28 16:49:56 UTC
Valid HTML 5 and Valid CSS