books to read before you die

Dragunov · Post by **Dragunov** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 5:59 pm

hey haen, is that in German?

i may be a language freak but i'm only fluent in english.

haen2 · Post by **haen2** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 7:37 pm

The text is in German AND English.
HN

Dragunov · Post by **Dragunov** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 8:09 pm

sweetness.

hucks216 · Post by **hucks216** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 7:15 am

"With The Old Breed" by E.B Sledge - quite possibly the best memoir I have ever read. The author served in the 1st Marine Division at Peleliu & Okinawa. I usually concentrate on the European side of WW2 but this book is just superb, you will not be able to put it down. You may need to use a book searcher to find it such as http://www.abebooks.com

Others that I would recommend are...
Red Storm On The Reich by Christopher Duffy
The Last Knight Of Flanders by Allen Brandt (about Remy Schrijnen & the Langemarck SS Sturmbrigade)
Armageddon by Max Hastings
Devils Adjutant (Peiper) / Steel Inferno & Men Of Steel (1st SS Pz Korps, vol 1&2) / Sons Of The Reich (2nd SS Pz Korps) by Michael Reynolds

Richard Hargreaves · Post by **Richard Hargreaves** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 7:53 am

Imad wrote:Normandy 1944 by Niklas Zetterling

? Really? Outstanding research and an absolute must for a historian of Normandy, but not very readable.

Anyway, my two penneth...

Alistair Horne - To Lose A Battle. One of the first war books I bought nearly 20 years ago. Still can pick it up now and re-read it from cover to cover.
Cornelius Ryan - The Last Battle. Better than either Longest Day or Bridge Too Far, yet not as well known sadly.
And, with reservations, David Irving - Hitler's War. Yes, the politics are dodgy, but it's very well written and eye-opening for a look at the war from the inner circle. His Rommel biography's outstanding.

Imad · Post by **Imad** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 3:30 pm

? Really? Outstanding research and an absolute must for a historian of Normandy, but not very readable

Well the book is a hard slog Halder, but a veritable treasure trove of useful information about the Normandy campaign. It reminds me of eating a meal with unprocessed barley bread - rather hard to digest, but eminently good for the system!
I was rather impressed with the author's riposte in the book to the likes of Stephen Ambrose that seem to have a mission in life of gratuitously denigrating the research of people like Trevor Dupuy and his QJM

Rudi S. · Post by **Rudi S.** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 10:48 pm

Presently, I am reading the book titled "From YALTA to BERLIN" - The cold war struggle over Germany. Author W. R. Smyser.
Smyser is one of America's leading experts on Germany. He served in Munich with the U. S. Army, as well as in Berlin and Bonn with the U.S. State Department. ... He also lectured on Germany and the European intellectual centers, and lectures on Germany and the European Union at Georgetown University.
Published in 1999; ISBN 0-312-06605-8
I highly recommend this book
Rudi S.

5RANGLIAN · Post by **5RANGLIAN** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 4:24 am

My favourites are books about the ordinary man at war, rather than those with lots of maps with arrows on them.

So, I really liked Sajer's book. If there are factual errors, I'm inclined to believe that they're the result of him not knowing what he was doing when he was in, and not remembering it very well when he came out.

From the British side, I also liked '18 Platoon' by Sidney Jary, for a memoir of what it was like to lead an infantry platoon in NW Europe, and 'None had Lances' (packed up now, so I can't give you the author), a history of the 23rd Lancers in Normandy, from the Regimental Association historian. good accounts of what it was like to be conscripted, then trained, and finally sent in on D-Day/D+1.

And, despite buying and reading Beevor's books, I find them too depressing to read again. The human cost of those battles was appalling.

phylo_roadking · Post by **phylo_roadking** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 8:17 am

5RA, that's maybe exactly the lesson we're supposed to learn, not more of this "dulce et decorum" cr@p

Pity the like hadn't been written - or read 1919-39.......I've read some of the between-the-wars histories of WWI and they're SO antiseptic and written through rose-tinted glasses its amazing!

Reb · Post by **Reb** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 8:57 am

Allow me to add "Panzer Tactics" which is Fedorowizc through STackpole.

This holds the answers for many of our questions about how tanks were deployed at the company and platoon level up to battalion. Has numerous pages from actual panzer manuals and excellent photographs - most of which I'd not seen before!

The photos are broken up quite evenly between the various marks of panzer. Support services and supply are explained as well as the specifics of loading and traveling by rail, road marches, refueling and working with pioneers are bridging sites.

It explains quite clearly the sequence of events and type of orders issues in an engagement. And explains with manual page - how the commander keeps the formation going in the right direction.

I'm not near the book right now but I've been meaning to mention this one because its so good. I don't remember the author's first name but his last name is Schneider. He was a company commander in WW2 and an officer in the Bundeswhere (Of which we has a few rude criticisms at the end of the book!).

I recommend this one without reservations for the people who are interested in granular detail. (or the photos which alone are well worth the price of the book) Got my copy at Barnes and Noble.

cheers
Reb

Wolery · Post by **Wolery** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 7:44 pm

It's not strictly a WWII book, but Claudia Koonz's The Nazi Conscience is a fascinating read.

Tom Houlihan · Post by **Tom Houlihan** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 6:13 am

Wolery wrote:It's not strictly a WWII book, but Claudia Koonz's The Nazi Conscience is a fascinating read.

That it was! Very interesting!

As for Mein Kampf, what more can we say? I truly wanted to read it, in the hope of better understanding Der Führer. I got all the way through the end of the book, and realized I didn't understand a damned thing I read! Maybe it's one of those books you have to read two or eight times to fully comprehend?

Dragunov · Post by **Dragunov** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 9:29 pm

I was wondering about mein kampf, I won't read it for now... it must be real socialist if it's banned in Germany.

anything to say about Speer's autobio/memoirs? if it's 450 more pages of boring, i wont bother.

panzerschreck1 · Post by **panzerschreck1** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 1:48 am

Wir sind wieder stolz Deutscher zu sein!

That autograph is coming from a Yank?
And you have no political agenda? come on!

This is the silliest thang...i heard in a long time

Oh..yes ... Hitler was a madman ....same goes for his university quality books he wrote..

5RANGLIAN · Post by **5RANGLIAN** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 2:44 am

NachtJaeger wrote: So indeed it may be boring and a hassle read a sentence three times to understand it, but all that work pays once you comprehend the teachings of Der Fuehrer. Generally I'm trying to say the book is boring and difficult to read but it's worth it once you hear Hitler's words of wisdom.

Mods, can we do something about this guy? Too many people paid too high a price for us to be subjected to sh1t like 'Hitler's words of wisdom'.

This kind of thing can give Feldgrau a bad name.

And no, Nachtjaeger, your right to free speech does NOT trump my right to live in a Nazi-free world.

Feldgrau.net

books to read before you die

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Before you die