Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Sparks on September 02, 2002, 04:49:57 PM
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I've just finished "Dead Engine Kids" by John Welch and found that fascinating - a diary mostly of a ball turret gunner in 17's over here in UK with 457th bomb group in late 44.
Just started "Low Attack" - personal accounts of raids carried out by Mossies of 105 and 139 Squadrons during 43 onwards - a good read with some mind blowing photos e.g. a bomb going through the roof of a factory 20ft from a rooftop ack postion.
Got "Typhoon Pilot" and "Diary of a Halifax Bomber" to get through yet.
Wondering what anyone else can recommend.
Sparks
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Stalingrad - Anthony Beevor.
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Terror in the Starboard Seat by Dave McIntosh
It's about a Mosquito navigator.
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Without any doubt, 'Enemy Coast Ahead' by Guy Gibson.
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Subaro Sakai's biography.
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(http://web.ecomplanet.com/NASH6425/ServerContent/MyCustomImages/NASH6425CustomImage0017748.jpg)
MA:VFA-136 <==NIGHT HAWKS==>
CT:VF27 Hellcats
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Tail of a Geanea Pig
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Battle of the Atlantic by Andrew Williams
Blood, Tears and Folly by Len Deighton
The Spirit of Kokoda by Patrick Lindsay
WW1:
Gallipoli by Les Carlyon
Tronsky
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Forgotten Soldier - Guy Sajer
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Chickenhawk
Low Level Hell
A Thousand Shall Fall
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"Brute Force" John Ellis
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Reach for the Sky - Douglas Bader
Fly for Your Life - Robert Tuck
I may have swapped the tittles with the subjects here..?
eskimo
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Wow - great list to go for
Aaron - I'll definitely look that one out.
DeSelys - just missed a copy of that this weekend - I help out once a month with a rare and secondhand avaition bookstall at an airshow and someone got it before I saw it - pristine first edition too :(
Swager - any authors for those ??
Anyone know the "definitive book on Galland?
Sparks
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Originally posted by Sparks
Wow - great list to go for
Aaron - I'll definitely look that one out.
DeSelys - just missed a copy of that this weekend - I help out once a month with a rare and secondhand avaition bookstall at an airshow and someone got it before I saw it - pristine first edition too :(
Swager - any authors for those ??
Anyone know the "definitive book on Galland?
Sparks
"The First and the Last", I think.
Horridio (sp?) is another great one.
eskimo
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Try "The Big Show" by Pierre Closterman, if you can find a copy.. Its out of print but still available now and then. Think I got mine from Amazon.com..
Good Luck
Bonden
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Originally posted by Bonden
Try "The Big Show" by Pierre Closterman, if you can find a copy.. Its out of print but still available now and then. Think I got mine from Amazon.com..
Good Luck
Bonden
I was lucky enough to buy a used 1951 Ballantine reprint of "The Big Show" at an airshow. It was very interestinging reading from the free French perspective.
"Tempest Pilot" is another good one, IMO. It's the true story of a Kiwi (the name escapes me now) serving in Europe. The pilot entered service and rose up to Squadron Leader during the war. IIRC, he once went pheasant hunting in Germany with Johnnie Johnson in a Storch. :)
I read "Blond Knight of Germany" but I didn't like it that much. While I liked reading about Hartmann and the air war over the Eastern Front, some of the people in the bio came off as almost fictional, 2-D characters rather than real human beings. That, and the slight hints of Cold War propaganda in the book kinda turned me off.
I have been trying to find a good non-fiction book about PBY pilots/squadrons. I haven't found any yet, but any leads would be appreciated. :)
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I just finished "Black Sheep: The Definitive Account of Marine Fighting Squadron 214 in World War II" by Bruce D. Gamble
The main things in the book that impressed me were:
1. The unbelievably bad living conditions, with insects and malaria and so on.
2. The ad-hoc way that missions were scheduled. A group of pilots would just grab a few planes and fly off to see if they could find something to shoot at. There are even a few cases where a single pilot would grab a plane and go off to strafe whatever he could find.
3. The ridiculous number of planes that were written off in non combat incidents, like mechanical failures (on any given mission up to 1/4 of the planes would never make it to the target because of mechanical problems), landing accidents and so on. Imagine if this was modelled in AH!
It is hard to imagine modern pilots having ony of these experiences in a war today.
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Warpath across the Pacific.
Hundreds, maybe thousands of first hand accounts from a B25 squadron in the Pacific. It also has the most SPECTACULAR combat photos you will ever see-Photos of b25s dropping bombs on ships at 100 feet, Zekes scrambling from airfields, b25s exploding in midair, B25s strafing Japanese soldiers, all kinds of combat scenes.
I dont know if those other books are able to describe the danger of combat missions like this book. The photos, combined with the first-hand accounts behind them immerse the reader. At the end of the book, there is a section that list how every B25 was lost and whether or not the crew survived.
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Originally posted by Gryffin
I just finished "Black Sheep: The Definitive Account of Marine Fighting Squadron 214 in World War II" by Bruce D. Gamble
The main things in the book that impressed me were:
1. The unbelievably bad living conditions, with insects and malaria and so on.
2. The ad-hoc way that missions were scheduled. A group of pilots would just grab a few planes and fly off to see if they could find something to shoot at. There are even a few cases where a single pilot would grab a plane and go off to strafe whatever he could find.
3. The ridiculous number of planes that were written off in non combat incidents, like mechanical failures (on any given mission up to 1/4 of the planes would never make it to the target because of mechanical problems), landing accidents and so on. Imagine if this was modelled in AH!
It is hard to imagine modern pilots having ony of these experiences in a war today.
Ah yes, this reminds me of another excellent book:
Hell Island by Dan McCaffery.
Its all about the air war in Malta, a very good read.
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Originally posted by Curval
Stalingrad - Anthony Beevor.
Undoubtedly - he's the king.
I'm reading 'The Fall of Berlin 1945' right now - and it also kicks serious ass. The guy can write.
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The Ragged, Rugged Warriors by Martin Caidin.
Samurai by Saburo Sakai.
A Bridge Too Far Can't remember the author. The book was much better than the movie.
Stalingrad
Regards, Shuckins
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Originally posted by Fyre
A Bridge Too Far Can't remember the author. The book was much better than the movie.
Uh, Cornelius Ryan - he wrote the Longest Day as well.
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With the Old Breed by E. B. Sledge. It's a first hand account of the marine invasions andd subsequent campaigns at Peleliu and Okinawa. (The author was a mortarman with the 1st Marine Division.)
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Originally posted by majic
With the Old Breed by E. B. Sledge. It's a first hand account of the marine invasions andd subsequent campaigns at Peleliu and Okinawa. (The author was a mortarman with the 1st Marine Division.)
I just read that one Majic. Eugene B. Sledge was from my home town of Mobile, Alabama. I have met his son, who is a local historian and book reviewer in the local newspaper.
I liked the part where the Marines were in between campaigns and looking for something to reduce the boredom of waiting, so they bought up all the lighter fluid and used it to light up the thousands of land crabs roaming about...commenting that it reminded them of Jap tanks burning, as the flaming crabs continued scurrying about on fire, until finally stopping in smoldering heaps.
The book is unusual because it is written from a Private's viewpoint. Sledge was there on the front lines, and recorded his memories in the margins of a (contraband) Bible soon after the events of battle took place. It focuses on day to day events rather than overall strategy in the South Pacific campaigns.
This is a very good account of ground war, and an interesting read.
Les
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Another good one is "Is Paris Burning" by Dominique Lapierre . This is about the liberation of Paris. When it became apparent to Hitler that Paris would be liberated of the Germans, General Von Choltiz was ordered to destroy the historic and cultural centers of the city...thus the question Hitler kept posing to Choltiz, "Is Paris burning?"
Choltiz defied Hitler's orders, while maintaining the ruse of planting explosives throughout Paris, and hoping the Americans would get there before Hitler could figure out what was going on.
Les
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"Baa Baa Black Sheep" by Maj. Gregory Boyington USMC. His memoirs, including his time in a Japanese POW camp and life after the war. "Show me a hero and I'll show you a bum."
"To Fly and Fight" by Clarence "Bud" Anderson. This guy remembers everything! Covers his boyhood, his missions over Europe in WW2, and his jet time afterwards. Great reading. I got mine from his website and its autographed.
"Samurai!" by Saburo Sakai. A bit dramatic at times, but that may be a result of the translation. He was Japan's highest surviving ace until his death recently.
"I Flew For The Fuhrer" by Heinz Knoche. A war-time diary style of writing that lends tremendous insights into the thinking of the Luftwaffe pilots.
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Samurai from Sakai, First and Last from A.Galland, Stuka pilot from H-U Rudel and Divine Wind from Inoguchi, Nakajima and Pineau.
Oh that Clostermanns book "Big Show" is quite good too thought his other books... well... suck.
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My favorite:
VMF-323 Death Rattlers by William Wolf
(http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0764309536.01._PE_PI_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg)
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Originally posted by airspro
Tail of a Geanea Pig
that book is a genuine work o' fiction, frequently misplaced in the history section of bookstores. see the 'about the author' section...there are too many great ones to really pick out a best book, and i limit myself exclusively to autobiographies or books written by people who were directly involved...BTW "fly for your life" was not written by Stanford Tuck & "Reach for the Sky" was not written by Bader. Bader did write a great book called "Fight for the Sky" about the early war over western Europe
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Three way tie
Left To Die: The Tragedy of the USS Juneau - Dan Kurzman
Flags of our Fathers - James Bradley Jr. (in constant coorespondance with him)
Ghost Soldiers - Hampton Sides
Karaya2
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Four books come to mind.
Axis: The Luftwaffe Fighter Force : A. Galland, et al
Gets deeply into the numbers and stats.
The First and the Last: A. Galland
Air War politicaly etc. From his view of course
Allied: Yeager........by Yeager. Goes past WW2 but
is a fine read.
To Fly and Fight: Charles "Bud" Anderson
Simple book, but does a good job of describing
War experiences. Yeagers Wingman by the way.
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The First Team and The First Team at Guadalcanal by John B. Lundstrom. These two books cover about the first year of the war in the Pacific and deal almost exclusively with fighter operations and the tactics developed by guys such as "Jimmy" Thach and Jimmy Flatley. Very fascinating and highly recommended if you have any interest in the PTO.
Victory Roll: The American fighter pilot and aircraft in World War II by William Wolf. Absolutely one of the best books on US fighter pilots that I have found. It covers all the services, and lists US aces by service, aircraft type, theater etc. Just an incredible amount of information and trivia. This book is to the fighter pilots what America's Hundred Thousand was to their aircraft (well, at least IMO)
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I enjoyed Donald Burgett's books:
Currahee!: a Screaming Eagle at Normandy
The Road to Arnhem: A Screaming Eagle in Holland
Seven Roads to Hell
Beyond the Rhine: A Screaming Eagle in Germany
They were all good, but Currahee was the best.
Burgett's work seemed to match the events in Band of Brothers, which is not surprising since he was in the same regiment.
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Originally posted by Kratzer
Undoubtedly - he's the king.
I'm reading 'The Fall of Berlin 1945' right now - and it also kicks serious ass. The guy can write.
Hmmm...next trip on a plane I'll pick that up.
One thing that struck me about "Stalingrad" that I didn't know before, was Nikita Kruschev's (sp?) role in that battle. When the film "Enemy at the Gates" was reviewed by some know-it-alls on the WW2Online's BB I remember some guy claiming that the scene in which Kruschev berated all the Commissars and got the general to shoot himself was BS and that the former head of the Soviet Union was not even at Stalingrad.
Fact is, he was the third highest ranking officer to be at Stalingrad and after reading that book it appears that the scene in the film was probably repeated numerous times in reality.
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Company Commander
and
The Battle of the Hürtgenwald.
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Company Commander was good.
Have you tried to read his (Charles B. MacDonald) 'A Time For Trumpets' about the Battle of the Bulge? Damn that was a brutal read... don't know why - a lot of of it was really interesting and engaging, but I slogged my way through that one. Partially, I think it was the poor maps included that made locations confusing. I'm glad I've read it, but I don't think I'll read it again. :)
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Originally posted by Kratzer
Company Commander was good.
Have you tried to read his (Charles B. MacDonald) 'A Time For Trumpets'
3 times:) and you are right, a tough read. I think because it's written more as a study, text book. It's my "Travel Guide" when I go to Belgium. I go about 3-4 times a year.
Have you read his book "The Siegfied Line Campaign" ?
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Originally posted by majic
With the Old Breed by E. B. Sledge. It's a first hand account of the marine invasions and subsequent campaigns at Peleliu and Okinawa. (The author was a mortarman with the 1st Marine Division.)
I agree. His words created images that are forever burned into my mind. To understand what the Pacific Theater was about, island to island, this is a must read. ( IMO )
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The best non fiction book I have ever read about war was
GUNS UP!
By Johhnie M Clark.
It was fantastic. You felt like you where there with him.
About a Marine M60 gunner in Vietnam.
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Originally posted by Monk
Have you read his book "The Siegfied Line Campaign" ?
Nope.
But before I started Beevor's new book, I read 'In Deadly Combat' by Gottlob Herman Bidderman (I think that's how it goes), about his experience on the Eastern front. Not as good as 'the Forgotton Soldier', but good... also would've benefited enormously from better maps (it only had one, that showed all of the eastern front :))
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Battle: the Story of the Bulge is a good read.
I particularly like this passage;
Task Force Jones was also probing for an escape to the west. The column hurried blindly down a dirt road which soon dwindled to a cow trail leading into the Salm River. Half a dozen tanks and trucks trying to cross became mired. The rest of the column turned north and, after a few miles, came to a ford. The column crossed the Salm and headed west. Half an hour later it entered the darkened village of Provedroux.
The commander of the lead Sherman tank, noticing parked vehicles on the main street, ordered a halt. Then he saw they were German. He shouted, "Fire!"
The town was soon in chaos as Americans and Germans milled around confusedly. An American half-track burst into flames. The men tumbled out, looking for cover. One was Sergeant John Banister of the 14th Cavalry Group but the past two days a member of Task Force Jones. In eight days he had missed death a dozen times.
An American tank destroyer rolled by, decks covered with infantrymen firing rifles. "Climb on soldier," called its commander from the turret. "This one's going out."
Banister ran after the vehicle. Someone grabbed his hand and pulled him aboard.
"Know who you're riding with?" asked the man who had helped him, pointing at the commander. "Lieutenant Bill Rogers."
"Who's he?"
"Why, hell," said the other proudly, "he's Will Rogers' boy."
American tanks, half-tracks, trucks, jeeps, and men on foot had now turned to the north, hoping to cross the east-west highway from Vielsalm before they were caught from behind.
An hour later Rogers' tank destroyer reached the road. Banister saw abazookaman digging a foxhole. Dirty, unshaven, unpereturbed, exhausted, he could have posed for Mauldin's "Willie." "Are you looking for a safe place?" he drawled.
"Yeah," said Banister.
"Well, buddy, just pull your vehicle behind me." He hitched up his droopy pants. "I'm the 82nd Airborne, And this is as far as the bastards are going."
Regards, Shuckins
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I know some of the history snobs scoff at his work, but I kind of enjoy Stephen Ambrose's books. I really liked his book on D-Day. Though they are not as in depth as some of the other books out there, the y are veryreadable, something i look for when reading about the land war (some of that crap is very boring to me). I really enjoyed the section about the 2nd Rangers and Point du Hoc. Those guys were straight out studs.
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I think Ambrose's stuff is great. He's a good writer, and all the recent hubub aside, he's brought the time period to a helluva lot more people than any other history writer, and anything that increases the general public's knowledge of WWII, or history in general, is a good, good thing. Most people know dick. As far as US involvement in north western Europe goes, I think he's a good source.
You should read the D-Day follow up - Citizen Soldiers - it is also a good read.
Oh yeah - thought of another 'popular' one that I read recently - Flags of Our Fathers - James Bradley. A good book - the wrap up at the end hit me right... there... you know?
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Sweifurt-regensburg
excellent book..has accounts from all sides...
USAF members....German Civilians...German Luftwaffe...and the Slave laborese who were working in factories as they were bomed...
Saburo Sakai's book.....dam he is bad ass
Ploesti............
dam i cant remebr authors of Sweinfurt(I think it was Middlebrook...)..
And Ploesti...not sure who wrote it bu tthats was its name....
Love BiGB
xoxoxo
Reading a Book now..."DEATH TRAPS".....about armored divisons in Europe..the guy who accounted for all Battle damaged Shermans..ie "DeathTRaps"
OOO).... IRON COFFINS is excellent to...Herbert Werner...U-Boat cptn
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Kay has always complained about what to find, her live-in dweeb, Ozark for Christmas. ;)
Thanks guys, my list is complete! :)
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anyone ever read "doorknob five two"?
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My favourite by far is:
From Omaha To The Scheldt the story of 47 Royal Marine Commando
Mainly because this is my Uncles Commando and he's mentioned a number of times in this book. Also my cousin was in the same Commando and is now serving in the Special Boat Squadron.
...-Gixer
The Horse Soldiers
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"JG26 Top Guns of the Luftwaffe"
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Most of my favorites have gotten mentioned already--"Samurai!", "JG26", "The Longest Day", and "Blood, Tears, and Folly". "Enemy at the Gates" is also pretty good.
Two others that have stuck with me, but I don't remember all the details about them: A book I read several times when I was a kid, called "Iron Coffins." I don't recall the author's name, but he served on five different U-boats from 1939-1945 and was one of the very few captains to survive the war. Awesome book, it really shows the terror and claustrophobia of life on a U-boat.
The other one was a book about the attack and sinking of the USS Indianapolis. I'm damned if I can remember the title, though. :( It was a good read, that much I do remember.
I just got through reading David Frasier's biography of Erwin Rommel, "Knight's Cross." Get it if you're into Rommel at all. It's astounding what Rommel did with the Afrika Korps before he met his match in Montgomery--and Rommel's WW I exploits were pretty impressive too.
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Fighter Pilot's Summer by Norman Franks & Wing Cmdr Paul Richey
The American Airman in Europe by Roger A. Freeman.
Red Tails Black Wings by John B. Holway.
WWI:
Over The Battlefronts by Peter Kilduff (he has Richtofen book that is also good)
Lafayette Escadrille by Herbert Molloy Mason Jr.
-SW
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Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut. Sort of non-fiction anyway, but based on reality. A great protrayal of what it was like to be under that carpet bombing. Oops, sorry. Strategic bombing with the Norden "Bomb in a pickle barrel" bombsight.
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Moose..Iron Coffins was written by Herbert Wener....
excellent book
Opening scene....
They are going out on his firts patrol...just a test run...
Dive DivE....Dive!!!!!!!!!
OHHH mY GOD WEa re TAKING on WATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We are sinking........OH MY GOD we are going to die on a our first run!!!!!!!!!!!
They hit the bottom of the ocean.."LUKY the were in shallow water!!!!!!!!!!!
OK..who left the wrench in the exahust valves of the diesls!!!!!!!!!
The valve got jammed open!!!!!!!!!!
They surived...but ...That is one hell of a way to start a tour!!!!!!!
poor--Poor..U boat sailors:(
BiGB
xoxo
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To Fly and To Fight. Been mentioned before but it's a great read, not just WW2 but well worth it. Col. Anderson has led an amazing life. He incidently was NOT Yeagers wingman as some people have heard. Anderson and Yeager were both flight leaders the only time they flew wing was on their final mission where the went for a joyride and buzzed just about everything in France and Spain.
Also I enjoyed
Fire In The Sky by Eric Bergerud, in depth historically analysis of the war in the south pacific... very dry reading but very informative, I couldn't fly through it like I've done with other books but I picked away at it for a few weeks and I'm glad I did.
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Originally posted by Mathman
I know some of the history snobs scoff at his work, but I kind of enjoy Stephen Ambrose's books. I really liked his book on D-Day. Though they are not as in depth as some of the other books out there, the y are veryreadable, something i look for when reading about the land war (some of that crap is very boring to me). I really enjoyed the section about the 2nd Rangers and Point du Hoc. Those guys were straight out studs.
I like Ambose too...which is why I bought The Wild Blue. But it was about as "wild" as a church group outing.
He is starting to use his name and reputation to sell crap IMHO (in a very Stephen King kinda way).
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"The Rising Sun" by John Toland.
An engrossing look at WWII from the Japanese viewpoint. My favorite part of the book is the description of the Battle of Guadalcanal. The hardships the Japanese soldiers endured during their time on Guadalcanal is amazing.
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War Diary of Helmut Liepfert - By Helmut Liepfert (sp), 200+ kill ace on the Eastern Front. He flew with JG 52
A Bridge Too Far
Six Armies at Normandy
To Fly and Fight - Bud Anderson
No End Save Victory: Perspectives on World War II - Collection of short stories. From the Poles' defense at the beginning to an interview with a kamakazi pilot who survived his attack run during Leyte Gulf.
Soldier - Guy Sajer, infantryman on the Eastern Front.
And there is another book written by a platoon leader who landed in Italy and fought there. But I can't remember the name.
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Jolly Rogers is my favorite but if you read that then you must also read BaaBaa Blacksheep as that book is really in terms of events and warzone a precurser to Jolly Rogers within span of a month as VF-17 came on station in the Solomans, Boyington went missing in action.
Funny, read alot of books on war but I also know alot of people who have experienced it in two different armies. Its basically the same, you do what your told and sometimes you dont like it and it gets you killed. War is HELL. What I get from these books is the story of these young men and who they are and how they did things when they were young. Not how many kills or how they were heros or whatever. In real life, I pick my friends the same.
:)