What do you read at the moment?

Book discussion and reviews related to the German military.

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Richard Hargreaves
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Re: What do you read at the moment?

Post by Richard Hargreaves »

Is that the book from the early 50s, Hans? It's on my (very lengthy) wishlist...

There's also a sizeable chapter in the Spiwoks book on the city's fall.

If you can track down a copy, this is the most recent study on the fall of Nuremberg.

http://www.librarything.com/work/10530940/book/65694300

and this is excellent on the last major bombing raid:

http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/3925002332/
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Hans
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Re: What do you read at the moment?

Post by Hans »

Hi Richard,

Yes, it's the 1952 edition. It's damn good, well told yet shattering. To think that the Brits deliberately destroyed the maternity hospital in the belief that Liebel [Oberbürgermeister] was there beggars belief.

Raises a lot of questions in my mind which I should have asked when my mother & stepfather [Polish] were alive as well as the relatives in Germany. Guess it was not important to me at the time. Yet it also answers a lot of questions re the attitude and behaviour of my family and other Nürnbergers which I sometimes could not understand, particularly my 7 year older sister who was smack bang in the middle of this "Saustall" and was looking after me on 2.1.1945 as our home was destroyed [yet again], whilst our mother was at work as a Red Cross nurse. As I was only 1 at the time, I have no personal recollections and that must surely be a good thing.

Thanks for the references.

- Hans
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Du deutsches Vaterland?
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Richard Hargreaves
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Re: What do you read at the moment?

Post by Richard Hargreaves »

Hi Hans,

I don't think there's a book in English which really covers just how much Germany was truly pummelled in the final 12 months of the war. Sure, there are books on Dresden and Berlin. There's even one imminent on Breslau. There's also a substantial number of books on the immediate aftermath of the war. But I've not found one in English that captures the sheer devastation of all of Germany in 1945.

Luckily I believe someone is working on such a volume. :wink:
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Dutto1
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Re: What do you read at the moment?

Post by Dutto1 »

Battleground Prussia by Prit Buttar.A brilliant debut book it must be said,good text plenty of first-hand accounts-a must have Ostfront book !
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Re: What do you read at the moment?

Post by Dutto1 »

Fatal Crossroads-The Untold Story of The Malmedy Massacre by Danny S.Parker.

I am about three quarters of the way through this book and it is proving a a superb read . Danny Parker has wrote what i think is the definetive account of what happend on that fateful day 17th December 1944.There is page after page listing his sources.
The book is easily in my top 5 this year.
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Re: What do you read at the moment?

Post by Jan-Hendrik »

Just arrived:

2nd Edition of Die Weserlinie - Kriegsende 1945 by Hermann Kleinebenne ...600pages of Endkampf8)
Now avaiable at the author:

[email protected]

for small 29,95€ :up:


Jan-Hendrik
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Re: What do you read at the moment?

Post by Jukka Juutinen »

Most recently I began reading the biography of the 3rd top Finnish ace Eino Luukkanen by Jukka Piipponen. A most interesting person, but sadly mr. Piipponen is an annoying author as he does not list his sources, let alone footnoting his work. And quite often he has lifted entire passages from other authors' works without referencing to them. Yet the publisher keeps telling me that "majority of readers do not want footnoting as they would detracty their attention."
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Re: What do you read at the moment?

Post by Jan-Hendrik »

Jan-Hendrik wrote:Just arrived:

2nd Edition of Die Weserlinie - Kriegsende 1945 by Hermann Kleinebenne ...600pages of Endkampf8)
Now avaiable at the author:

[email protected]

for small 29,95€ :up:


Jan-Hendrik
Edition is limited to 1000 copies

:[]

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Helmut
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Re: What do you read at the moment?

Post by Helmut »

Servus,
I have been reading THE END by IAN Kershaw. A lot of information but somewhat dry reading. I think he could have shortened he book by at least 25% by not being quite so repetitious.

Regards adn happy New year

Helmut
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Re: What do you read at the moment?

Post by Charles Trang »

"Blood, Steel and Myth" by George Nipe. As usual, he and RZM have done a great job. Very nice reading indeed. Just a remark however concerning the naming of the units. Leibstandarte was never the 1.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "LSSAH" nor Das Reich was the 2.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Das Reich" nor Totenkopf was the 3.SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Totenkopf". The numbers appeared in October 1943 and SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "LSSAH" became 1.SS-Panzerdivision "LSSAH", SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Das Reich" 2.SS-Panzerdivision "Das Reich" and SS-Panzergrenadier-Division "Totenkopf" 3.SS-Panzerdivision "Totenkopf". See the SS-FHA order : SS-FHA, Amt II Org.Abt. Ia/II, Tgb.Nr. 1574/43 g.Kdos., v.22.10.43 Bezeichnung der Feldtruppenteile der Waffen-SS.
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Re: What do you read at the moment?

Post by Charles Trang »

I have just finished the reading of the book. I would like to add something to George Nipe's excellent work concerning his conclusion and more precisely to his writings concerning the II.SS-Pz.Korps losses at Prochorowka and its vicinity. SS-Pz.Rgt.3 fielded 11 Tigers on the morning of 12th July and only 1 left in the evening. George Nipe's conclusion is that Totenkopf lost 10 Tigers that day. I would rather say that 10 Totenkopf Tigers were put out of action that day. In fact, on 16th July, SS-Pz.Rgt.3 had 9 Tigers ready for action. SS-Pz.Rgt.3 lost only one Tiger during the whole operation "Zitadelle" (Totalausfall or write off). It was Tiger Nr.912 which was destroyed by an artillery shell (Artillerievolltreffer). It began the battle on 4th July with 15 Tigers (11 ready for action). So by the end, when Totenkopf began to step backwards, SS-Pz.Rgt.3 had still 14 Tigers (7 ready for action on 18th July). On 29th July, it received 8 Tigers from the Leibstandarte, bringing its total to 22 ! By 30th July, 10 Tigers were ready for action. Two of them were lost the following day in front of hill 213,9 in a battle that George Nipe had described outstandingly in "Decision in the Ukraine".
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Re: What do you read at the moment?

Post by R. Evans »

Stalin- The Court Of The Red Tsar by Simon Sebag Montefiore

Chilling.
Artillerymen believe the world consists of two types of people; other Artillerymen and targets.
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Re: What do you read at the moment?

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Image
Artillerymen believe the world consists of two types of people; other Artillerymen and targets.
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Re: What do you read at the moment?

Post by hucks216 »

Currently reading Silent Victory by Clay Blair about USN Submarine operations in the Pacific. A very interesting read and amazing at just how many missed opportunites there were to sink Japanese carriers, battleships and other major surface units due to either faulty torpedoes, poor positioning or just bad luck.

And good to see that To The Caucasus And The Austrian Alps: History Of The 23rd Panzer Division by Ernst Rebentisch is due to be released in a softback version at a bargain price of £16. Waiting has paid off!
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Re: What do you read at the moment?

Post by John W. Howard »

Silent Victory is very good.
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