quote:

Originally posted by bobandmikako:

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
With the Old Breed, by Eugene Sledge.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000...encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

I'll second the recommendation for Eugene Sledge's With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa and also add Robert Leckie's Helmet for My Pillow.

A 2nd & a 3rd on these options. These are great books.

The Forgotten Highlander as well. Forgotten Highlander

When I was a kid I read "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" several times.

+

It's been awhile since I've read it, but The Good War by Studs Terkel was...amazing.

quote:

Originally posted by Chris Orndorff:
It's been awhile since I've read it, but The Good War by Studs Terkel was...amazing.

I was wondering about that one.

I already bought With the Old Breed and Helmet for my Pillow on the Kindle app.

D Day thorough German Eyes.

When I graduated boot camp for the second time, I was given these books as a gift:

American Guerrilla: The Forgotten Heroics of Russell W. Volckmann—the Man Who Escaped from Bataan, Raised a Filipino Army against the Japanese, and Became the True “Father” of Army Special Forces Mike guardia

Lieutenant Ramsey's War: From Horse Soldier to Guerrilla Commander (Memories of War) by Edwin Price Ramsey and Stephen J. Rivele


This book always has a place on my bookshelf and has moved with me at least 12 times.

Mustang: A Combat Marine Hardcover – January 1, 1987
by Gerald P. Averill (Author)


Patton's Last Gamble: The Disastrous Raid on POW Camp Hammelburg in World War II Kindle Edition
by Duane Schultz

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
With the Old Breed, by Eugene Sledge.

This is one of the most powerful books I've ever read.

Lots of other good suggestions. I didn't see it mentioned, so I would add: D-Day Through German Eyes by Holger Eckhertz.

Edit: Sorry, I missed that ZSMICHAEL mentioned it just before me.

I just finished “Race of Aces“ by Bruning. It is about the pilots in the Pacific vying to be the leading American ace. It had a lot about the pilots, and bigger picture stuff.

Spearhead by Adam Makos is pretty good. It involves tank warfare at the end of WW2.

Look into the books and collection of columns written by Ernie Pyle. He was writer before the war who became a columnist for Stars and Stripes. He didn't survive the war, being killed in the closing phases of the Okinawa campaign.

Also check out "Up Front" and "The Brass Ring" by Bill Mauldin. Mauldin was the cartoonist who drew Willie and Joe for Stars and Stripes, and who saw a bunch of the Italian campaign.

Tregaskis' "Guadalcanal Diary" as mentioned earlier is excellent. I was sad when I finished it because it was so good, and he left Guadalcanal before the campaign was over.

I second up front by Bill maudlin. The United States Navy in ww2 and also the United States marine corps in ww2 by S.E. Smith. How about a question of honor by Lynne Olson and Stanley cloud. A book about polish pilots in ww2

SPEARHEAD, by Adam Makos.

I really liked the “Liberation Trilogy” books by Rick Atkinson. The books aren’t exclusively from the perspective of individual soldiers like most of the other books mentioned thus far, but he weaves in first person accounts, usually a few specific ones that continue through the entire book. From a broader perspective he also discusses things that are seldom, if ever, mentioned in most overall histories, from VD and desertion rates to the effects of massive thefts and diversions of materiel at the ports where it was unloaded, often by local hires. He is also very blunt in discussing the incompetence and failures of the top leadership on both sides, something else that many historians have tended to gloss over.

I really like his approach.

Atkinson's trilogy is the best source for a complete overview of American involvement in the MTO/ETO currently available. As far as I'm concerned, it's required reading for any WW2 history buff, or American military history buff.