The Rising Sun, by John Toland. It's a two volume set about the War in the Pacific and a lot of it is from the Japanese viewpoint of the War and their actions that sometimes could be strange.
April 14, 2017, 11:29 PM
sjtill
I want to thank folks here who recommended A Higher Calling. A very different kind of book about WW II, I'm well into it and looking forward to following the story to the end.
_________________________ “ What all the wise men promised has not happened, and what all the damned fools said would happen has come to pass.”— Lord Melbourne
April 15, 2017, 12:59 AM
newtoSig765
So many of the books mentioned here are worth reading, and in fact, I've read a surprisingly large number of them myself, and more that haven't been mentioned such as Patton's autobiography.
Three that stand out are personal I-Was-There stories:
Guadalcanal Diary by Richard Tregaskis, written from notes he took while actually on the island from the first day of the invasion.
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo by Ted Lawson.
Baa Baa Black Sheep by Greg Boyington.
-------------------------- Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats. -- H L Mencken
I always prefer reality when I can figure out what it is. -- JALLEN 10/18/18
April 15, 2017, 10:13 PM
andronicus
If you can find a copy, "Hitler's Battleships" is a great read. Battleship Scharnhorst is another.
April 18, 2017, 03:18 AM
sjtill
Just finished A Higher Calling...stayed up too late! Now I see a B-17 (Liberty Foundation) will be out at Gillespie Field this week, giving rides this weekend.
_________________________ “ What all the wise men promised has not happened, and what all the damned fools said would happen has come to pass.”— Lord Melbourne
April 18, 2017, 06:55 AM
f2
Run Silent Run Deep, Edward L. Beach.
April 18, 2017, 07:46 AM
Hound Dog
quote:
Originally posted by sjtill: Just finished A Higher Calling...stayed up too late! Now I see a B-17 (Liberty Foundation) will be out at Gillespie Field this week, giving rides this weekend.
Even if you can't pony up the money (~$450-500?) for a ride, they still might let you walk through the aircraft. When the Collins Foundation came to my home town, for $10 (IIRC) I was able to walk through a B-17 and a B-24, and ogle their B-25 and P-51B. . .
Fear God and Dread Nought Admiral of the Fleet Sir Jacky Fisher
April 18, 2017, 01:03 PM
cyberphobia
Read some of the books David Howarth wrote about WW11.
"Advertising is the art of convincing people to spend money they don't have for something they don't need"
Will Rogers
SIG 229R LEGION SAO SIG 226R Elite SAO COONAN COMPACT .357 MAG
April 19, 2017, 01:14 AM
DMF
quote:
Originally posted by cyberphobia: Read some of the books David Howarth wrote about WW 11.
World War Eleven? How did I miss all the information about World Wars III through X?
___________________________________________ "He was never hindered by any dogma, except the Constitution." - Ty Ross speaking of his grandfather General Barry Goldwater
"War is the remedy that our enemies have chosen, and I say let us give them all they want." - William Tecumseh Sherman
April 19, 2017, 09:32 AM
Replacement Tommel
I'd recommend this one.
His book about the fall of Berlin was also pretty good.
-Tom
__________________________
"For the cause that lacks assistance/The wrong that needs resistance/For the Future in the distance/And the Good that I can do" - George Linnaeus Banks, "What I Live for"
April 19, 2017, 10:59 PM
cyberphobia
Quite!
quote:
Originally posted by DMF:
quote:
Originally posted by cyberphobia: Read some of the books David Howarth wrote about WW 11.
World War Eleven? How did I miss all the information about World Wars III through X?
"Advertising is the art of convincing people to spend money they don't have for something they don't need"
Will Rogers
SIG 229R LEGION SAO SIG 226R Elite SAO COONAN COMPACT .357 MAG
August 27, 2017, 11:34 AM
alreadydead
quote:
Originally posted by RogueJSK: Lemme see here... I've read a ton of WW2 books, and these are the ones that come to mind.
Memoirs:
Soldat and The Forgotten Solider, which you've already read, were excellent choices.
With The Old Breed - Eugene Sledge (USMC mortarman in the Pacific)
Sniper on the Eastern Front - Sepp Allerberger/Albrecht Wacker (German sniper in Russia)
Panzer Commander - Hans Von Luck (German tank officer in France, North Africa, and Russia)
Company Commander - Charles MacDonald (US Army infantry officer in Europe)
Few Returned - Eugenio Corti (Italian Army officer in Russia; unfortunately the sequel - The Last Soldiers of the King - wasn't nearly as good...)
Death Traps - Belton Cooper (US Army armored division maintenance officer in Europe)
And No Birds Sang - Farley Mowat (Canadian infantry officer in Italy)
Bugles and a Tiger/The Road Past Mandalay - John Masters (British officer with the Ghurkas in Southeast Asia)
Defeat Into Victory - William Slim (British general rebuilding British forces in Southeast Asia)
WW2 nonfiction:
Anything by Anthony Beevor
Anything by Max Hastings
Anything by Stephen Ambrose (You've already read Citizen Soldiers)
The Liberation Trilogy - Rick Atkinson (excellent 3-volume overview of the US military in North Africa, Italy, and Europe from 1942-1945)
WW2 Fiction:
War of the Rats - Daniel Robbins (fictional take on the fighting in Stalingrad, especially a German/Soviet sniper duel; served as the basis for the film "Enemy at the Gates")
Killing Rommel - Steven Pressfield (fictional take on the British Long Range Desert Group/SAS in North Africa)
I want to thank you for your recommendation of "Death Traps". It was a great book.
__________________________ Keep your rotor in the green The aircraft in trim Your time over target short Make it count
August 27, 2017, 12:12 PM
TMats
I mentioned this book in one of the "What are you reading now?" threads.
"The Perfect Horse," Elizabeth Letts
Little known true story about an American Army mission in the closing days of WWII to rescue the Royal Lipizzaners. The Nazis had stockpiled eastern Europe's finest purebreds, including the 3 lines of Lipizzaners and Poland's Arabians, to breed an equine master race.
The American officer involved was the commander of mounted cavalry at Fort Riley as late as 1943. He took command of a mechanized unit that drove into southern Germany at the end of the War. I'm about 2/3 through it and it's a compelling story.
_______________________________________________________ despite them
August 27, 2017, 06:38 PM
heydrich
Fatal Crossroads by Danny Parker
“I'm fat because everytime I do your girlfriend, she gives me a cookie”.
August 27, 2017, 07:18 PM
mcrimm
quote:
Originally posted by CPD SIG: W E B Grifith, (or Griffin) has a great non fiction series, "The Corps". Marines in WWII.
I second that and would add W E B Griffin's series called "Brotherhood of War" Army in WWII.
Both will keep you busy for a week or so. Mike
I'm sorry if I hurt you feelings when I called you stupid - I thought you already knew - Unknown ................................... When you have no future, you live in the past. " Sycamore Row" by John Grisham
August 27, 2017, 09:41 PM
amals
Probably a change of pace from most recommendations here, but a great novel about the time leading up to WWII at Pearl Harbor: From Here To Eternity, by James Jones.
August 28, 2017, 07:17 PM
Loswsmith
Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway. Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully. Great writing about what was probably the most pivotal naval battle of the Pacific.
___________________________________________ Life Member NRA & Washington Arms Collectors
Mistake not my current state of joshing gentle peevishness for the awesome and terrible majesty of the towering seas of ire that are themselves the milquetoast shallows fringing my vast oceans of wrath.
Velocitas Incursio Vis - Gandhi
August 28, 2017, 11:26 PM
mr kablammo
The books that I would recommend are already posted. For the uncommon, the Sherman tank in use in the Red Army.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye". The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, pilot and author, lost on mission, July 1944, Med Theatre.
August 30, 2017, 10:58 PM
TerrierCarrier
Another recommendation for Shattered Sword and Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors. These two are probably the best I have read.
Three others: Thunder Below: Eugene Flucky - this is the story of the USS Barb a WW2 Fleet sub. A really good read. Neptune's Inferno: Hornfischer - the US Navy at Guadalcanal. Great reading about the battles in the Slot. At Dawn We Slept: Goldstein - the first history written about the Pearl Harbor attack. It is older but a classic.
Don
Friends don't let friends drive overhead cams. A message from the Save the Pushrods Foundation
August 31, 2017, 11:08 AM
Z06
One of my favorite first person WW II books: Return of the Enola Gay by Paul W. Tibbets
I bought my book at a signing in Las Vegas in 1999. I met and shook hands with Brigadier General (ret.) Paul Tibbets (pilot) and Colonel (ret.) Thomas W. Ferebee (bombadier), they signed my copy.
RIP
________________________________________________________ The trouble with trouble is; it always starts out as fun.
