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WWII books to read....
Posted on 12/13/14 at 9:38 pm
Posted on 12/13/14 at 9:38 pm
Hey guys, just looking for a few different WWII books to read over Christmas break.
I've read most of books written by/about Easy Company. Helmet for my Pillow, With the Old Breed.
Really like reading personal books that people have written about there experiences.
Anyway, thank you very much for whoever responds
I've read most of books written by/about Easy Company. Helmet for my Pillow, With the Old Breed.
Really like reading personal books that people have written about there experiences.
Anyway, thank you very much for whoever responds
Posted on 12/13/14 at 10:33 pm to TheJunction
Reach for the Sky by Lewis Gilbert... Story of Douglas Bader a double amputee that flew for the RAF during the Battle of Britain. He was eventually shot down over Europe and held as a POW. The Red Cross dropped new legs for him to have while being held...
Pair that with...
Fighter- The True Story of the Battle of Britain by Len Deighton
Pair that with...
Fighter- The True Story of the Battle of Britain by Len Deighton
Posted on 12/13/14 at 10:36 pm to TheJunction
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.
Read it before the movie comes out.
Read it before the movie comes out.
This post was edited on 12/13/14 at 10:38 pm
Posted on 12/14/14 at 6:01 am to TheJunction
The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer
Posted on 12/14/14 at 6:41 am to TheJunction
Ambrose - D Day, The Victors, Ike's Spies and Pegasus Bridge.
25 Yards of War - Ronald Drez
Halsey's Typhoon - Drury and Clavin
And while not WWII - Chickenhawk - can't remember the author. It was written by a Vietnam chopper pilot and is a must read.
EDIT: Robert Mason is the author. If I had to pick one of the above I would pick Chickenhawk.
Mason had balls of steel!
More than half a million copies of Chickenhawk have been sold since it was first published in 1983. Now with a new afterword by the author and photographs taken by him during the conflict, this straight-from-the-shoulder account tells the electrifying truth about the helicopter war in Vietnam. This is Robert Mason’s astounding personal story of men at war. A veteran of more than one thousand combat missions, Mason gives staggering descriptions that cut to the heart of the combat experience: the fear and belligerence, the quiet insights and raging madness, the lasting friendships and sudden death—the extreme emotions of a "chickenhawk" in constant danger.
25 Yards of War - Ronald Drez
Halsey's Typhoon - Drury and Clavin
And while not WWII - Chickenhawk - can't remember the author. It was written by a Vietnam chopper pilot and is a must read.
EDIT: Robert Mason is the author. If I had to pick one of the above I would pick Chickenhawk.
Mason had balls of steel!
More than half a million copies of Chickenhawk have been sold since it was first published in 1983. Now with a new afterword by the author and photographs taken by him during the conflict, this straight-from-the-shoulder account tells the electrifying truth about the helicopter war in Vietnam. This is Robert Mason’s astounding personal story of men at war. A veteran of more than one thousand combat missions, Mason gives staggering descriptions that cut to the heart of the combat experience: the fear and belligerence, the quiet insights and raging madness, the lasting friendships and sudden death—the extreme emotions of a "chickenhawk" in constant danger.
This post was edited on 12/14/14 at 6:50 am
Posted on 12/14/14 at 8:04 am to Ridgewalker
quote:
EDIT: Robert Mason is the author. If I had to pick one of the above I would pick Chickenhawk.
Mason had balls of steel!
More than half a million copies of Chickenhawk have been sold since it was first published in 1983. Now with a new afterword by the author and photographs taken by him during the conflict, this straight-from-the-shoulder account tells the electrifying truth about the helicopter war in Vietnam. This is Robert Mason’s astounding personal story of men at war. A veteran of more than one thousand combat missions, Mason gives staggering descriptions that cut to the heart of the combat experience: the fear and belligerence, the quiet insights and raging madness, the lasting friendships and sudden death—the extreme emotions of a "chickenhawk" in constant danger.
In addition to that, once you read "Chickenhawk" there will be no doubt in your mind that you can't sit at the controls of a Huey and fly it as if you had 1000 hrs of flight time logged.
Excellent book.
The Corp & The Officers by W.E.B. Griffin are also excellent. If you choose them, be prepared to read 8-9 novels @ around 800 pages for each series.
Posted on 12/14/14 at 8:31 am to Themole
W.E.B.s stuff is great fiction.
Add the Brotherhood of War series to that.
I think that series is the best of the bunch and it's only 6 books.
Add the Brotherhood of War series to that.
I think that series is the best of the bunch and it's only 6 books.
Posted on 12/14/14 at 9:06 am to TheJunction
quote:
With the Old Breed.
Good book.
If you like personal books I'll recommend something from a different but extremely interesting angle, Reaping the Whirlwind by Nigel Cawthorne is made up of interviews and personal accounts of German and Japanese Soldiers and civilians through different stages of the war. There are a proverbial shite ton of books about the American experience in the war but to see it from the other side is kind of eye opening.
Those are just accounts from the "average" people involved on the Axis side. If you want something a little more highspeed then there's Skorzeny's Special Missions by Otto Skorzeny himself. How his life hasn't been made into a movie is beyond me.
Mannerheim: President, Soldier, Spy is the last thing I'll recommend. Fought the Western Allies, the Soviets and the Nazis and still managed to protect Finland's independence. He was pretty boss.
This post was edited on 12/14/14 at 9:36 am
Posted on 12/14/14 at 9:40 am to TheJunction
Tales from The South Pacific by James A. Michener
Posted on 12/14/14 at 10:30 am to GoldenDawg
Awesome, thanks guys for the different books. Looking forward getting a few!
Posted on 12/14/14 at 11:21 am to TheJunction
Cornelius Ryan's The Longest Day (about D-Day) and A Bridge Too Far (about Operation Market Garden). Both are classics and were made into pretty good movies.
ETA: Thunder Below! by Eugene Flukey and The Terrible Hours by Peter Maas are good reads on submarine warfare, as well. Also, The Imperial War Museum Book of War Behind Enemy Lines by Julian Thomson details the small units and operations of the British in WWII, including the beginnings of the SAS and SBS.
ETA: Thunder Below! by Eugene Flukey and The Terrible Hours by Peter Maas are good reads on submarine warfare, as well. Also, The Imperial War Museum Book of War Behind Enemy Lines by Julian Thomson details the small units and operations of the British in WWII, including the beginnings of the SAS and SBS.
This post was edited on 12/14/14 at 3:13 pm
Posted on 12/14/14 at 2:13 pm to DownSouthJukin
Flyboys by James Bradley is a fantastic book.
Posted on 12/14/14 at 2:17 pm to Ridgewalker
quote:
W.E.B.s stuff is great fiction.
Add the Brotherhood of War series to that.
I think that series is the best of the bunch and it's only 6 books.
A Little background on W.E.B Griffin from wiki: Early life, education, and military service
Griffin grew up in New York City and Philadelphia. He joined the United States Army in 1946. His MOS was counter-intelligence and in this capacity he served in the Constabulary in Germany, thus earning the Army of Occupation Medal. After completing his active duty military service, Griffin attended Philipps-Universität Marburg at Marburg-an-der-Lahn. His college days were cut short in 1951 when he was recalled to serve in the Korean War, first as an official Army war correspondent, then as public information officer for U.S. X Corps, which included the 1st Marine Division. Griffin received the Combat Infantryman Badge for service at the front lines.[2] His knowledge of combat and garrison life and his friendships with military personnel from different services would well serve his writing. Many of his books are dedicated to fallen comrades who died in Korea or later on in Vietnam or while serving with the international peacekeeping force dispatched during the Lebanese Civil War. Griffin is modest about his own service. He once told a Barnes & Noble interviewer:
My own military background is wholly undistinguished. I was a sergeant. What happened was that I was incredibly lucky in getting to be around some truly distinguished senior officers, sergeants, and spooks.
Ditto Brotherhood of War.
Link to his web page: LINK
This post was edited on 12/14/14 at 2:21 pm
Posted on 12/14/14 at 2:32 pm to TheJunction
"Requiem for Battleship Yamato" by Mitsuru Yoshida. A first-hand account of the suicide sortie by the giant Japanese battleship in early April 1945. Yoshida was one of a handful of survivors of the ship's crew of 3300. This is a book you'll reread many times over the years.
Posted on 12/14/14 at 4:21 pm to Tigerwaffe
Hitler, and the War On the Pope
By Ronald J. Rychlak
Debunks the fictional novel by John Cornwell Hitler's Pope. Cornwell fabricated much of his "research", and even his cover photo, which shows the Pope leaving a party in 1927 for a future Nazi leader, is taken well before the Nazi party was even conceived.
By Ronald J. Rychlak
Debunks the fictional novel by John Cornwell Hitler's Pope. Cornwell fabricated much of his "research", and even his cover photo, which shows the Pope leaving a party in 1927 for a future Nazi leader, is taken well before the Nazi party was even conceived.
Posted on 12/14/14 at 4:40 pm to TheJunction
quote:
Helmet for my Pillow, With the Old Breed.
These two HANDS DOWN. The mini-series "Pacific" combined the stories from these two books. One tells the story of the marines early in the pacific campaign, and the other a bit later through Okinawa and the end of the war.
Damn great books. Unconquered ranks right up there as well. That movie is going to be awesome.
Posted on 12/14/14 at 6:04 pm to guschamp84
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer
Posted on 12/14/14 at 7:41 pm to TheJunction
I'll throw in
The Bedford Boys by Alex Kershaw
The Liberator by Alex Kershaw (I like this one because it takes you through part of the war in Italy, which you don't read about too much)
The Bedford Boys by Alex Kershaw
The Liberator by Alex Kershaw (I like this one because it takes you through part of the war in Italy, which you don't read about too much)
Posted on 12/15/14 at 7:51 am to TheJunction
I've read several and my favorite was Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides. It chronicles the Bataan Death March and the mission to free the POW's in the Phillipines. Had a close family friend that survived it and is in the book.
Posted on 12/15/14 at 8:52 am to GoldenDawg
quote:
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.
i bought this in an Airport wanting to beat the movie last week. Fantastic read, and i hate biographies. Laura H has a way with words that i just can't explain.
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