Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: BFOOT1 on January 18, 2017, 05:30:38 PM
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Starting off my list in no particular order:
The entire series written by Donald Burgett about his experiences in the 101st Airborne.
All The Gallant Men written by Don Stratton about the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Two Man Air Force written about Don Gentile and John Godfrey, two aces of the 4th FG.
The Bedford Boys written about A Company, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division. This book gave me an insight into my grandfather's experience on D-Day.
With The Old Breed, written by Eugene Sledge about his experiences with the 1st Marine Division on Peleliu, and Okinawa.
The Star of Africa, which is about Hans Marsielle and his rise to fame during WWII.
The Filthy Thirteen, written about the Demolition Section of the 506th PIR.
Hans Sturm, A Soldiers Odyssey on the Eastern Front.
1000 Destroyed, The Life and Times of the 4th Fighter Group.
Scramble, written about Tom McNeil's service in the RAF.
:salute :cheers:
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With the Old Breed, by E. B. Sledge. My recommendation to anyone, if they are to read only one book in their lives about warfare, this should be it.
Now in no particular order:
Masters of the Air, by Miller. Covers the whole gamut from strategic considerations down to individual pilot stories about the 8th AF bomber guys.
Top Guns, by Foss and Brennan. Interesting stories from various US aces.
Samurai, by Sakai. The biography of Saburo Sakai, one of Japan's top aces.
Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, by Hornfischer. Awesomely detailed story of Leyte Gulf naval battle.
Neptune's Inferno, by Hornfischer. Story of the Guadalcanal campaign, which was a very evenly fought bunch of battles with surface-ship combat, carrier combat, air combat, and ground combat.
The Bravest Man, by Tuohy. Story of Dick O'Kane and the USS Tang submarine.
No Simple Victory, by Davies. A great history of WWII with aspects not known by most Americans.
America's Hundred Thousand, by Dean. Great details on all the major US WWII fighters.
The Lockheed P-38 Lighting, by Bodie. Excellent, very detailed, and entertaining history of the P-38.
And because I can't stop at just 10:
Zemke's Wolfpack, by Freeman. Great stories of Hub Zemke, the Wolfpack, and P-47's.
The First and the Last, by Galland.
There are a lot more. :aok
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The Tigers Are Burning - Martin Caidin
The Last Dogfight - Martin Caidin
Black Thursday - Martin Caidin
The Final Countdown - Martin Caidin
Whip - Martin Caidin
Ghosts of the Air - Martin Caidin
Forked Tailed Devil - Martin Caidin
The B-17: The Flying Forts - Martin Caidin
The Ragged Rugged Warriors - Martin Caidin
The Night Hamburg Died - Martin Caidin
A Torch to the Enemy - Martin Caidin
Samurai - Saburo Sakai and Martin Caidin
Sensing a theme yet?
Most of the others I have read are about tanks. Hundreds of them. Mostly technical. And there there are the ones by Lemay, Boyington, Guyton, Gamble . . .
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Sensing a theme yet?
Yes. We know now why you are so misguided.
- oldman
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Oh, and how could I forget:
Band of Brothers, Ambrose.
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Given Up For Dead - Bill Sloan
Flags of our Fathers - James Bradley
The Rommel Papers - B.H Liddell-Hart
The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors - James D. Hornfischer
A Question of Honor - Lynne Olson and Stanley Cloud
The Longest Winter - Alex Kershaw
I Could Never Be So Lucky Again - Gen. James Doolittle
Ghost Soldiers - Hampton Sides
The Rise and Fall of The Third Reich - B.H.Liddell-Hart
The Rise and Fall of the Luftwaffe - David Irving
Honorable Mention:
An Army at Dawn - Rick Atkinson
The Battle for Italy - Rick Atkinson
The Guns At Last Light - Rick Atkinson
All are exceptional books. Frankly, this list could be melded into hundreds of different ways. More Rommel, Luftwaffe, 8th AF, USN, etc.
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An Army at Dawn - Rick Atkinson
The Battle for Italy - Rick Atkinson
I liked those, too. I plan to read the third in the series soon.
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The first one I read: https://www.amazon.com/THIRTY-SECONDS-OVER-TOKYO-Landmark/dp/B00BSGWLRA
The most recent I've read: https://www.amazon.com/Thunderbolt-Extraordinary-Story-Aviation-History/dp/1885354053
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I liked those, too. I plan to read the third in the series soon.
Since he delayed the Third one, with a couple of projects? I came away with that "it is missing that something you cannot place your finger on", type feeling. Well written, just not as sharp and crisp as the other two. Still a good read though. Others who have read it, agree as well.
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Great reads not yet mentioned.
Messerschmitts Over Sicily - Johannes Steinhoff
The Final Hours - Johannes Steinhoff
A Higher Call - Adam Makos
Luftwaffe Fighter Ace - Norbert Henning
Fighter Pilot: The Memoirs of Legendary Ace Robin Olds - Christina Olds and Ed Rasimus
The Jolly Rogers: The Story of Tom Blackburn and Navy Fighting Squadron VF-17 - Tom Blackburn
Woodbine Red Leader: A P-51 Mustang Ace in the Mediterranean Theater - George Loving
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Fighter Pilot: The Memoirs of Legendary Ace Robin Olds - Christina Olds and Ed Rasimus <---- I, too, like that one a lot.
Woodbine Red Leader: A P-51 Mustang Ace in the Mediterranean Theater - George Loving <--- I've got a signed version of this, but haven't read it yet. Good to know it's a good one.
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OK, since it's WWII in general, novels and non-fiction, whether earth-shaking or not, and in no particular order except for the first two:
Twelve O'Clock High (Bartlett and Lay)
The Mighty Eighth (Roger Freeman)
Bomber (Len Deighton)
A Soldier's Story (Guy Sajer)
The Battle of Casino (Fred Majdalany)
Rick Atkinson's trilogy (OK, cheating here)
The Two Ocean War (Samuel Eliot Morison)
Incredible Victory (Walter Lord)
Piece of Cake (Derek Robinson)
Up Periscope (Robb White)
- oldman
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Yes. We know now why you are so misguided.
- oldman
Hardly. Martin Caidin was a great man! I have all of those you posted too, but I also got the video for Piece of Cake.
I just started at the earliest authors.
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Nanette-Edwards Park
Wing Leader-johnnie Johnson
The Mighty Eighth-Roger Freeman
The Look of Eagles-johnny Godfrey
Flying Buccaneers-Steve Birdsell
Flying Fortress-Edward Joblonski
Good bye Darkness-William Manchester
Neptunes Inferno-James Hornfischer
Enemy at the Gates-William Craig
The Longest Day-Cornelius Ryan
All these were read early on and influenced the direction I went for more books. There are so many more I could list too.
<smacks Oldman>. The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer 😀
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Catch-22 - Joseph Heller :aok
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In no particular order:
Tuntematon sotilas by Väinö Linna (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unknown_Soldier_%28novel%29)
Ryhmy ja Romppainen books by Armas J. Pulla (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryhmy_ja_Romppainen).
That makes 15, but the last five aren't that much about WW2...
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Flyboys - James Bradley Not the WW1 movie.
Stalingrad - Anthony Beevor
The Retreat - Hitler's First Retreat - Michael Jones
Not 10, but 3 that stuck with me and which I think about a lot.
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Twelve O'Clock High (Bartlett and Lay)
That's my favorite. It will make you feel like you are part of a B17 crew.
When I read it the book was out of print, I found it at a book fair. When I was done with it I passed it on.
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WW2 in general? Most of my books are more specific to a given WW2 topic.
In no particular order.
Inside the Third Reich, Albert Speer
Adolf Hitler, John Toland
Rising Sun, John Toland
Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Liddel-Hart
Incredible Victory, Walter Lord
Day of Infamy, Walter Lord
Loyalty is my Honor, Gordon Williamson
The Blood Soaked Soil, Gordon Williamson
The Complete WW2 set, Time Life books
The Complete Third Reich set, Time Life books
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In order:
1. Unbroken (May be my favorite book WW2 or any era).
2. A Higher Call
3. Enemy at the Gates
4. Masters of the Air
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<smacks Oldman>. The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer
Ouch! That hurt!
....well-deserved, though....apologies to Omar Bradley...
- oldman
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Catch-22 - Joseph Heller :aok
I agree Bozon but I would add
The Lady Be Good
:aok
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In no particular order...
Samurai!
Stuka Pilot
To Hell and Back
The First and the Last
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
Yeager
Shattered Sword
The Other Battle
Tale of a Guinea Pig
Sea of Thunder
(Fate is the Hunter -- Listed as an aside since World War II is part of it any way...)
Fiction Honorable Mentions:
Goodbye, Mickey Mouse
Bomber
The Gray Eagles
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Hah, TYVM Brooke, I've been trying to remember the name/author of this book -
Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, by Hornfischer. Has a great passage about the 5" guns fire control, and a gunnery officer training all 5 guns on a can at a Japanese officer on a beach with sword in air, and him obliterating him with one volley (discussion on WW2 gunnery systems and accuracy).
One book I haven't seen mentioned, A Thousand Shall Fall, by Murray Peden, Canadian who flew bombers for the RAF, Stirlings, Lancs, and B17s. Best bomber from WW2 book I've read.
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Hah, TYVM Brooke, I've been trying to remember the name/author of this book -
Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, by Hornfischer. Has a great passage about the 5" guns fire control, and a gunnery officer training all 5 guns on a can at a Japanese officer on a beach with sword in air, and him obliterating him with one volley (discussion on WW2 gunnery systems and accuracy).
One book I haven't seen mentioned, A Thousand Shall Fall, by Murray Peden, Canadian who flew bombers for the RAF, Stirlings, Lancs, and B17s. Best bomber from WW2 book I've read.
Take a look at THE OTHER BATTLE. Written by a Lanc Navigator. Really in depth account of the RAF vs LW nighttime air war. Amazing.
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Panzer Battles
A Bridge Too Far
The Longest Day
The Last Battle
One Square Mile of Hell
The Lucky Ones
No Surrender
An Army At Dawn
The Day of Battle
The Guns At Last Light
War As I Knew It
The Longest Battle
Guadalcanal Diary
The Rising Sun
Brazen Chariots
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Nanette-Edwards Park <---- I bought and read that one based on Guppy's suggestion. It was great. What a great writer that guy was, too. He went on to be an editor and writer for Smithsonian magazine.
My favorite line was him talking about the color green in jungles of New Guinea. :aok
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To Hell and Back <--- I've read that one. I, too, think it's great.
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo <--- This is a great movie, too.
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A Bridge Too Far <--- that one is a great movie, too.
Also, Theirs is the Glory. A movie on the same topic, but everyone in it is a veteran of the real battle. Outstanding.
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As a kid I read my copy of 'Reach for the Sky' until it literally fell apart.
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Great book on the German army's last hurrah, "Men of Steel", 1st SS Panzer Corps 44-45, by Michael Reynolds.
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George G. Blackburn's 'Guns' Trilogy; Where the Hell are the Guns?, The Guns of Normandy, and The Guns of Victory are excellent. Memoirs of a Canadian Artillery Forward Observer.
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All the ones written before the US actually participated :old:
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All the ones written before the US actually participated :old:
Canada was there at the get go! :salute
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When did the European war start pipz?
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All the ones written before the US actually participated :old:
You mean before the US actually saved you from speaking German.
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When did the European war start pipz?
Im not sure but it wasn't in 1941 I bet! :old:
Although it did make a fantastic movie in the following years! :aok
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Citizen Soldier by Stephen Ambrose is a must read.
Serenade to the Big Bird: B-17 copilots account of flying a Fortress in 43-44.
Dirty Little Secrets of World War II: Full of facts and interesting tidbits about the war that aren't commonly known.
Islands of the Damned by R.V. Burgin. He was a mortar team commander in the Pacific (the same team Eugene Sledge was part of).
Yeager
There's been so many good books over the years I've read that I can't remember the names of. Bantaam Paperbacks used to produce tons of first hand account paperback books.
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Im not sure but it wasn't in 1941 I bet! :old:
Although it did make a fantastic movie in the following years! :aok
John Belushi was very good at depicting a WWII pilot the film 1941 :old:
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In no order of importance
The First Team by John Lundstrum: Pacific Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway
Sunburst by Mark Peattie: The rise of Japanese Naval Air Power, 1909-1941
Air War against Japan 1943-1945 by George Odgers
Fighters over the Desert by Christopher Shores and Hans Ring The Air Battle in the Western Desert June 1940 to December 1942
Thunderbolt by Robert S. Johnson with Martin Cadin
Zemke's Wolf Pack as told to Roger Freeman
Gabby A fighter Pilots Life by Francis Gabreski as told to Carl Molesorth
The First and the Last by Adolph Galland
The Fw 190 in Combat by Alfred Lewis
1000 Destroyed by Grover C. Hall, Jr. and.......
Anything by Warren Bodie: Some of these books are over 40 years old and may be difficult to locate. All great reads.
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All the ones written before the US actually participated :old:
Everyone knows that when those guys what are called the Germans or whatever bombed Pearl, starting world war one, the US was there from the start to fight them. And to fight those other guys who were with them, like the North Koreans.
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Nanette-Edwards Park <---- I bought and read that one based on Guppy's suggestion. It was great. What a great writer that guy was, too. He went on to be an editor and writer for Smithsonian magazine.
My favorite line was him talking about the color green in jungles of New Guinea. :aok
Brooke, the guy in my avatar is the real Guppy from the book. Took me almost 30 years to ID him. Hamilton Salmon Jr, Princeton Class of 1938. His Dad, Hamilton Salmon Sr was in fact a WW1 pilot
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Ghost Mountain Boys: Their Epic March and the Terrifying Battle for New Guinea--The Forgotten War of the South Pacific
Stuka Pilot
A Stranger Unto Myself
They Call it Pacific
By Dammit, We're Marines
War in the South Pacific
American Knights
A Bridge Too Far
Brave Men by Ernie Pyle
Alamein
Roll me over
Deliver us from Darkness
Tonight we die as men
A fine night for tanks
Company Commander
Marine tank battles in the Pacific
A time for trumpets
Tanks in Hell (story of Marine tanks on Tarawa)
Fallen Fortress
The Jolly Rogers
The First Hellcat Ace
Hellcat Aces of VF-9
F6F Hellcat vs. A6M Zero-sen
The Long Range Desert Group
PT 105
Tank-Fighter Team (account of a French tank commander during Battle for France)
War stories of the Battle of the Bulge
The Miraculous Torpedo Squadron
The Wrong Stuff
Lion Rampant
By Tank Into Normandy
Just a small selection of books I have on WW2 that I recommend for reading.
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The Wrong Stuff
I loved that one. A great book with a different style than any other WWII account a person is likely to read. Also, has one of my favorite descriptions of a fight:
From "The Wrong Stuff", by Truman Smith (WWII bomber pilot)
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There were about 60 of the Bandits – obviously not Friendlies – and they queued up above our right flank. . . .
I switched to the Fighter Channel to hear if anyone had called Balance for support. What I heard chilled the pee in my bladder, because I had never heard such terror in a voice. It sounded more like a woman screaming for her life. Not a yell. Screaming!
“BALANCE-ONE, this is VINEGROVE ONE! OH, MY GOD! HELP US! BANDITS! COME HELP US!! THEY’RE SHOOTING THE SH*T OUT OF US!! BALANCE – VINEGROVE, OHHH MY GOD!!!” The voice faded into sobs and was unintelligible. . . .
He had to be inexperienced to even expect we would get any help from our scheduled escort, BALANCE-ONE.
“VINEGROVE-ONE, this is BALANCE-ONE."
No sh*t! There really was a Balance-One out there someplace. He actually answered the call for help . I couldn’t believe it, because nobody had ever come to our rescue before, except that one time MY FRAN checked on us.
“BALANCE-ONE, this is VINEGROVE-ONE,” came the reply from our Fighter Channel Guard, “We’re south of the target. Where are you?”
“Well, we’re just a little busy right now Vinegrove-One."
I couldn’t believe the calmness in Balance’s voice. If they were “busy,” there was a slaughter going on in the busy-ness of killing and being killed. Yet, his voice was unruffled, as if he were a salesperson willing to wait on you as soon as he was free.
. . .
This time the Bandits queued up on our left flank at 9 o’clock high and their number seemed to have diminished to about fifty, still outnumbering us two-to-one, ship for ship.
Out of the habit I had formed , I looked over my shoulder in the opposite direction of the obvious threat, so as to avoid any surprises – and was I SURPRISED!
There were two little “dots,” way up at 3 o’clock high and they were coming in our direction in a hurry. They were aircraft. I could even make out, as they neared, that they had twin engines and twin-boom tails. That could mean only one thing. They were American P-38 Lightnings – BALANCE ONE!
Before my goose-flesh got too happy, I thought, BALANCE? That was no balance. Two Friendly fighter escorts and FIFTY BANDITS?
Make that FIFTY BANDITS and only one Friendly, because one of the two Friendlies started flying zig-zag over the top of us, like a mother hen protecting her chicks, and the other Friendly kept going until he was above the group of FIFTY BANDITS.
Boy, this was going to be some kind of a performance . One P-38 was going to protect the bomb group by himself and the other P-38 – by himself – was going to take on FIFTY BANDITS(?).
Now I had seen all kinds of competition, but this was like a single matador jumping into the arena with 50 killer bulls. Somebody was going to get killed for sure. But if victory was going to go to the guy with the biggest “balls,” then BALANCE-ONE was, unbelievably, the 50 to 1 favorite.
My God! Balance One flew out over the top of the Bandits, rolled upside down into a “split-S” and dove straight down for the FIFTY BANDITS!. He must’ve eaten nails for breakfast.
G*dd*mned American fighter pilots: vain, insolent , conceited, arrogant, cocky and impertinent Fighter Jocks! God bless ’em all. My skin crawled and my eyes got moist – “Greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for another.”
There was no doubt, it was a “gutsy” move and I was impressed. Such bravery also impressed the fifty Bandits, because – as if one plane – they all pitched forward into a vertical dive to get away from my hero, the “Forked Tailed Devil,” as the Luftwaffe had dubbed the P-38. This was the cool voice on the radio who had been “Just a little busy right now.”
Swinging back and forth behind the Bandits, he blew up two ME-109’ s before they all dove into the cloud deck below us – with Balance One still tailing them.
WOW! What a show! It was well worth the high price of admission. Only the inside of my oxygen mask could have heard my “Thank you Mr. Balance,” and – “Where in hell are you going?” as I addressed our Top Cover who also took off for the wild blue yonder at the conclusion of their performance.
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Company Commander
How could I forget Company Commander! Great book!
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Good list AkAk, added a few that I haven't read, quite a few in fact.
I've noticed that many of the books in the thread are only a few dollars, some less, as Kindle/Ebooks, and that the used section on Amazon has many in hard and soft cover for 1 cent used in decent shape, plus 6 bux shipping. Grabbed a whole bunch for under 50 dollars in the last couple days.