Cornelius Ryan was the one who hooked me early on. Longest Day, Last Battle, Bridge Too Far. All must haves. Really humanized things instead of just the facts.
Took a while for Ambrose to grow on me, then he blew it with that sorry effort and the 'borrowing' of text from other authors. Wild Blue was a dud.
Roger Freeman-His 8th AF stuff is tops
Edward Joblonski-Flying Fortress-speaks for itself.
Steve Birdsall-Flying Buccaneers, Log of the Liberators etc. Great stuff.
John Stanaway-Kearby's Thunderbolts, Possum Clover & Hades, Attack & Conquer, etc etc. You want to know 38s in combat, he's the guy.
Alfred Price-Too many to list.
Martin Middlebrook-His book on the Nuremburg Raid is one of the very best.
Bruce Robertson-Kinda forgotten now, but one of the greats. Heinz Narrowa is another in this group.
Jeez the list is long and could be a lot longer
BTW Seeker? You forgot Robert Graves, Issac Rosenberg and Edmund Blunden on your list of WW1 Poets
Dan