Book Recommendationa for World War 2 (1 Viewer)

[Peiper007]

As an avid reader and collector of WW2 books I thought I would start a thread on recommendations, not just from me, but starting with mine, on WW2 only, I also have an interest in Roman and Napoleonic but would like a more focused thread on WW2.

I have recently been buying the Casement Illustrated books by Yves Buffetaut, I find them a really good mix of information, pictures and colour plates of vehicles, not very in-depth but overall good. They cover Normandy, 1 on the Battle of Bulge and another on the Russian front.

Other WW2 texts I would recommend are
Lowe. K Savage Continent. A great, interesting and enlightening book about what happened in Europe from early 1945 onward to the aftermath of the war, deals with collaborators, mass migration, food/starvation, what happened when Jews return home, but the chapter which I found the most interesting was what different countries response was to those children born to German soldiers by local women and how it was still having an effect on those children's lives right up to the 2000s.


Mayo.J D-Day Minute by Minute
Milton. G D-Day The Soldiers' Story
The two above were great reads and are the views of the front line servicemen as well as support men and women.


The Battle of the Bulge is one of my key interests and I am lucky enough geographically to be able to visit the area for a few days every year. The area is nice and there are always things I find to see and drives and/or hikes across the areas fought over. In my 35 years of collecting I have over 160 non-fiction texts on the battle and over 25 fiction books. Some books I would recommend are,

Cole. H The Ardennes - The Battle of the Bulge is great for an overall in-depth view of the battle, but other text I found good were Schrijvers. P, The Unknown Dead - Civilians in the Battle of the Bulge, which give the perspective and historic view of something not fully covered in many of the other books on the battle.
George. D & Child. R The Lost Eleven. Another part of the battle not much discussed under relatively recently, the massacre of 11 Black American artillery soldiers by the SS.

Hope this a good start to a thread.............

 

[lancer]

Cole's book is certainly a must read. I also am partial to John Toland's Battle of the Bulge. Really enjoyed that. If money is no object, the 3 volume study of Kampfgruppe Peiper titled "Duel in the Mist" is a real detailed look at the action around Stavelot. Great illustrations, it is an armor enthusiasts dream. Didn't care too much for Beevor's book on the Bulge. -- Al

 

[Peiper007]

Cole's book is certainly a must read. I also am partial to John Toland's Battle of the Bulge. Really enjoyed that. If money is no object, the 3 volume study of Kampfgruppe Peiper titled "Duel in the Mist" is a real detailed look at the action around Stavelot. Great illustrations, it is an armor enthusiasts dream. Didn't care too much for Beevor's book on the Bulge. -- Al

.

I agreed completely on the Beevor book, I went really geeky and marked with post it tags the things I thought were wrong and got to 84. I always feel his books have too many simple errors and he gets fascinated and obsessed with a particular thing. I actually think it is as if he wanted to write a book on Bastogne but had been persuaded by the publisher to expand and do the Battle of the Bulge.

I also agree with you on the other books, Toland is good and reads well.

I have the 3 'Duel in the Mist' books [did you mean Stoumont] and they are really detailed and follow that part of the battle step by step, when in the Ardennes last year I parked my car in La Gleize and used my bike to follow the route to Stoumont then got off and wandered round, it really bought home the feeling of what happened. I also did the same at a number of other places as well.

 

[lancer]

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I agreed completely on the Beevor book, I went really geeky and marked with post it tags the things I thought were wrong and got to 84. I always feel his books have too many simple errors and he gets fascinated and obsessed with a particular thing. I actually think it is as if he wanted to write a book on Bastogne but had been persuaded by the publisher to expand and do the Battle of the Bulge.

I also agree with you on the other books, Toland is good and reads well.

I have the 3 'Duel in the Mist' books [did you mean Stoumont] and they are really detailed and follow that part of the battle step by step, when in the Ardennes last year I parked my car in La Gleize and used my bike to follow the route to Stoumont then got off and wandered round, it really bought home the feeling of what happened. I also did the same at a number of other places as well.

Roger that on Stoumont. Stavelot just came into my head and that's what I typed. There was supposed to be a 4th volume in that set but something went wrong and the book never made it to publication even though it was ready to print. -- Al

 

[Peiper007]

Roger that on Stoumont. Stavelot just came into my head and that's what I typed. There was supposed to be a 4th volume in that set but something went wrong and the book never made it to publication even though it was ready to print. -- Al

I did ask the publisher and they did look at another book, but got the impression sales were not what they thought they should be and there were other tecxt they were looking at. I would like to see the same format done for the battle of Le Gleize.

 

[lancer]

I did ask the publisher and they did look at another book, but got the impression sales were not what they thought they should be and there were other tecxt they were looking at. I would like to see the same format done for the battle of Le Gleize.

That would be a great and natural progression. The first 2 volumes are now OOP. The publisher of volumes 2 and 3 can choose to reprint them if they so choose but volume 1 is another matter. The publisher of volumes 2 and 3 did not do volume 1, (publisher of vol.1 went OOB), does not own the rights, and can therefore not reprint volume 1, which is a pity because it is the best of the 3 books, and by far the rarest. It is my understanding that vol.1 was printed in very small numbers, which is why it is commanding such high (and insane) prices on the secondary market. -- Al

 

[Peiper007]

That would be a great and natural progression. The first 2 volumes are now OOP. The publisher of volumes 2 and 3 can choose to reprint them if they so choose but volume 1 is another matter. The publisher of volumes 2 and 3 did not do volume 1, (publisher of vol.1 went OOB), does not own the rights, and can therefore not reprint volume 1, which is a pity because it is the best of the 3 books, and by far the rarest. It is my understanding that vol.1 was printed in very small numbers, which is why it is commanding such high (and insane) prices on the secondary market. -- Al

Thanks, did not know it was rare, I saw another copy, great condition in a second hand bookshop about 6 months ago for £25, but had copy so did not bother

 

[lancer]

Thanks, did not know it was rare, I saw another copy, great condition in a second hand bookshop about 6 months ago for £25, but had copy so did not bother

LOL. I'd go back and buy that sucker in an instant if it was still available. There are currently 5 copies on E-Bay, ranging in price from $489 up to $1340! This is not to say that they will sell for those upper end prices, but it is an indication of how hard it is to find, especially at affordable prices. Even vol.2 has gotten expensive, say in the mid $100's. Crazy market. -- Al

 

[lancer]

LOL. I'd go back and buy that sucker in an instant if it was still available. There are currently 5 copies on E-Bay, ranging in price from $489 up to $1340! This is not to say that they will sell for those upper end prices, but it is an indication of how hard it is to find, especially at affordable prices. Even vol.2 has gotten expensive, say in the mid $100's. Crazy market. -- Al

Just re-read my post and it sounds like I am laughing because you didn't buy the book, but that's not what I meant to convey. I was laughing at the low price that you saw the book priced at. I think vol.1 retailed at around $110 when it first came out (at least in the US) and it only went up from there. Hope you didn't take my post the wrong way, it was little ambiguous. -- Al

 

[Terp152]

Found the Savage Continent to be very interesting.

Would add the US Army "green books" Atkinson trilogy of US Army in Africa, Middle East and western Europe. W Manchester Churchill bio. S Ambrose The Wild Blue and Citizen Soldiers, Chester Wilmot Struggle For Europe, David Webster (BoB) Parachute Infantry, Lynn Compton (BoB) Call of Duty, Lynne Olsen, Troublesome Young Men, Walter Lord, Miracle of Dunkirk, J Eisehnower, The Bitter Woods.

On the list to read "Dunkirk: The Men They Left Behind."

Has anyone read Omar Bradley's book? Read Eisehower's Crusade in Europe many yrs ago, not great.

War in Pacific would probably be another thread. Chris

 

[Mirof]

^&grin