quote:

Originally posted by AllenInWV:
I prefer reading more about small scale actions rather than "the big picture". Stephen Ambrose's Pegasus Bridge is one I've always recommended. Band of Brothers is also very good, though not as 'intimate'. Lastly, Currahee! A Screaming Eagle at Normandy is Donald Burgett's recollections of his 5-6th of June, 1944. Not as well written, IMHO, but interesting.

I was just getting ready to bring up Mr. Burgett's books. I recently bought copies of them.

He was a "regular" at the gun shop I help out at in town. He autographed a photo of him at Bastogne to the shop owner. Never got a chance to meet him though.

A bill is awaiting President Trump's signature to name the Howell Post Office the Sergeant Donald Burgett Post Office Building.

Silent Running
Iron Coffins
Hitlers U boat War

For non-fiction, Max Hastings, Stephen Ambrose and Cornelius Ryan are all very good authors.

Len Deighton has also written both fiction and non-fiction covering WWII.
Fighter. Non-fiction.
Blitzkrieg. Non-fiction.
Blood, Tears and Folly. Non-fiction
Bomber. Fiction.
Goodbye Mickey Mouse. Fiction.

quote:

Originally posted by mcrimm:
The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors was a great read.

I served in the engineering area of a ship slightly larger than the infamous tin cans. We were 563' long and I can relate to the bravery and sacrifice these sailors made.


RIP
Mike

Outstanding book.

Pacific war trilogy > Ian Toll

I have read, and very much enjoyed, "The Fleet at Flood Tide". I have not read James D. Hornfischer's other books, but "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" certainly seems to be a recurring recommendation.

"Clear the Bridge -The War Patrols of the U.S.S. Tang"

https://www.amazon.com/Clear-B...words=submarine+tang

In five war patrols, O'Kane and Tang sank an officially recognized total of 24 Japanese ships - the second highest total for a single American submarine and the highest for a single commanding officer. This total was revised in 1980 from a review of Japanese war records corroborated by the Tang′s surviving logs and crewmembers to 31 ships totalling over 227,000 long tons (231,000 t) sunk. This established one of the Pacific War's top records for submarine achievement.[3] Several times during the war he took the Tang into the heart of a convoy and attacked ships ahead and behind while coolly steering clear of escorting combatants—counting on Tang′s relative position, speed, and low profile to keep clear of enemy escorts. He and the Tang also performed laudably on "Lifeguard Duty", which was a practice of positioning one or more submarines off an island to be attacked by planes of the Fast Carrier Task Forces to be in a nearby close-in "ditching station" in position to rescue downed pilots. Off Truk, he and the Tang rescued 22 airmen in one mission taking some interesting risks in the process which earned a Presidential Unit Citation.

The Tang and O'Kane's third patrol, into the Yellow Sea, ranked first in the war patrol records for number of ships sunk in a single patrol. O'Kane claimed eight ships at the time, but post-war analysis increased this to ten ships. On one attack, he had targeted two large ships with three torpedoes each and assumed three hits in each. Japanese records actually reported two hits in each with the third of each spread hitting smaller ships in the next column. This surpassed the next highest patrol which was for the Wahoo, with O'Kane as XO, in the same area the year before.

He was captured by the Japanese when the Tang was sunk in the Formosa Strait by her own flawed torpedo (running in a circle) during a surface night attack on October 24–25, 1944. O'Kane lost all but eight members of his crew, and was secretly (i.e. illegally) held prisoner until the war's end some ten months later. Following his release, Commander O'Kane received the Medal of Honor for his "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity" during his submarine's final operations against Japanese shipping.

In addition, to the CMOH, RADM O'Kane was awarded three Navy Crosses, and three Silver Stars.

As mentioned, Helmet for My Pillow and Sledge's book.

Two other essentials for the ETO are Audie Murphy's autobiographical To Hell and Back, and Bill Mauldin's collection of cartoons (featuring Joe and Willy) he did for Stars and Stripes along with his commentary -- Up Front. If you don't know who he is, Mauldin was a GI/cartoonist who accompanied the infantry through Italy and France, depicting the war for the soldiers, not the brass. It's very hard to believe he was only twenty-three or so when he wrote that book.

And a novel for the period leading up to our involvement, set at Pearl Harbor, From Here To Eternity, by James Jones. It's a favorite of Joan Didion's, no slouch of a writer herself. Don't let the movie version dissuade you from the novel; it's a fine piece of work and very readable.

A Bridge Too Far by Cornelius Ryan

Also - on the novel side - Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

quote:

Originally posted by Dzozer:
A Bridge Too Far by Cornelius Ryan

Ryan's other WW2 history books are worth reading too, including "The Longest Day" and "The Last Battle".

Ryan's one of my Top 5 favorite WW2 historians, alongside Atkinson, Beevor, Ambrose, and Hastings.

The Longest Day - Cornelius Ryan

Its been some time since I read it, but it was good, real good.

Band of Brothers was REALLY good, but The Pacific (finished by Ambrose's son) was a harder read, IMHO. I've read all the books Richard "Dick" Winters wrote...good stuff.

The Rising Sun by John Toland
Company Commander
Anything by Cornelius Ryan
Stephen Ambrose’s books - for the most part
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
Guadalcanal Diary
30 Seconds over Tokyo
Hiroshima
A Man Called Intrepid by William Stevenson

A Higher Call

by Adam Makos
with Larry Alexander

"An incredible true story of combat and chivalry in the war-torn skies of World War II"

My uncle was a ball turret gunner.

quote:

Originally posted by BB61:
A Man Called Intrepid by William Stevenson

definitely.

A Man Called Intrepid is the classic true story of Sir William Stephenson (codenamed Intrepid) and the spy network he founded that would ultimately stall the Nazi war machine and help win World War II.

Military history, and WWII ETO in particular, has been an interest of mine for going on 50 years now, and I hate to think of all the books that have gone into that. Bottom line: there are a lot of great recommendations above. I read Shirer's "Rise and Fall" early in the process and it was extremely helpful.

Most recently, I've been reading to help me get better grips on details relating to specific questions. First question was 'how did the Nazis get a grip on mainstream German hearts and minds?' and the second was 'how did the Nazi economy work?'

RE: the first question how did they win hearts and minds: "The Nazi Seizure of Power" went into depth for one small town, relating how the Nazi's socialistic policies and their nationalistic appeal played out in the early phases. It was very interesting to see how the Nazis did their appeals to the voter base early on to make it plausible for mainstream voters to support them despite their open promotion of some pretty despicable ideas. The bottom line there was they had other irons in the fire than just those historically evil ideas. At a time with national pride at rock-bottom, millions out of work, the Weimar Republic underfunding unemployment programs, and the economy essentially switched 'off', the Nazi's vigorous promotion of work programs and national pride overshadowed all the rest of their stuff. To everyone's eventual detriment, of course.

As to the second question: how did the Nazi economy work. Two books that have helped me understand that were "Hitler's Beneficiaries" and "The Wages of Destruction".

Both questions are perhaps a bit down in the weeds for general reading on WWII, but if those particular questions have any interest for you, the above are very good resources.

quote:

Originally posted by TheGreatGonzo:
I have read, and very much enjoyed, "The Fleet at Flood Tide". I have not read James D. Hornfischer's other books, but "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" certainly seems to be a recurring recommendation.

Can't recommend Neptune's Inferno enough. While the Pearl Harbor attack and Battle at Midway were pivotal points of the war, Guadalcanal is where the Navy learned it's lessons. Lots of detail and insight to what shaped the Navy into the force it is today.

quote:

"A masterpiece of 20th-century naval history." --Bob Shacochis, National Book Award-winning author of The Immaculate Invasion

"The star of this year's reading list is James D. Hornfischer, a military historian whose flair for narrative is rivaled only by his ability to organize the sweep of battle and assess strategy and tactics in layman's terms." --Cleveland Plain Dealer

The Battle of Guadalcanal has long been heralded as a Marine victory. Now, with his powerful portrait of the Navy's sacrifice, James D. Hornfischer tells for the first time the full story of the men who fought in destroyers, cruisers, and battleships in the narrow, deadly waters of "Ironbottom Sound." Here, in stunning cinematic detail, are the seven major naval actions that began in August 1942, a time when the war seemed unwinnable and America fought on a shoestring, with the outcome always in doubt. Working from new interviews with survivors, unpublished eyewitness accounts, and newly available documents, Hornfischer paints a vivid picture of the officers and enlisted men who opposed the Japanese in America's hour of need. The first major work on this subject in almost two decades, Neptune's Inferno does what all great battle narratives do: It tells the gripping human stories behind the momentous events and critical decisions that altered the course of history and shaped so many lives.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: corsair,

Again, thanks to all for the recommendations.

I have started a separate thread in the Lounge about my Grandfather, his service in WWII as a Combat Medic with the 84th Infantry "Railsplitters", and the many photographs from the war that he left to me when he died.

quote:

Originally posted by mojojojo:
If you're interested in reading how America started taking back the Pacific from Japan then I recommend Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle by Richard B. Frank.

I thoroughly enjoyed it as it is rich in detail and presents the battle from both sides. I found it very informative.

book here

For sure, that is an epic tale, well told.

A smaller scale WW II book that I like is “Battleship at War”, by Ivan Musicant. It’s the story of USS Washington, BB-56, from launch to post war scrapyard. Lots of interesting descriptions of daily operations on a WW II battleship.

Chapter 5 is particularly interesting. It’s a detailed account of a Solomon Islands naval battle, during which the Washington destroyed the Japanese battleship Kirishima. That was the only instance in WW II where a modern US battleship destroyed a modern Japanese battleship. Or even fired on one, I believe.