WWII Books to read

[AlanG]

I'm an avid reader of WWII books and especially Battle of Britain and Bomber Command 1943 onwards type books.

Could some of you recommend some more books for me to read? I have already read;

Tail-end Charlies - John Nichol & Tony Rennell

Aircrew - Bruce Lewis

The Most Dangerous Enemy - Stephen Bungay <<< Most excellent book

Bomber Crew - James Taylor & Martin Davidson

Under the Wire - William Ash

Fighter Pilot - Paul Richey

First Light - Geoffrey Wellum

Ten Fighter Boys - Athol Forbes & Hubert Allen

Boldness Be My Friend - Richard Pape

Eighth Air Force - Donald R Miller

Special Op: Bomber - Steve Darlow

Duel of Eagles - Peter Townsend

I've also just ordered;

Nightfighters Over the Reich (Luftwaffe at War) - Manfred Griehl

A Willingness to Die - Brian Kingcome

One of the Few: A Triumphant Story of Combat in the Battle of Britain - Johnny A. Kent

Nine Lives - Alan C. Deere

The Big Show - Pierre Clostermann

Enemy Coast Ahead - Guy Gibson V.C.

Gunner's Moon: Memoir of the R.A.F.Night Assault on Germany (Eyewitness of World War II) - John Bushby

I have on my wish list (on Amazon);

Luftwaffe Fighter Pilot - Wolfgang Fischer

Nightfighters: Luftwaffe and RAF Air Combat Over Europe - Colin D. Heaton

I Flew with Hell's Angels - William Albertson

Last Of The Few - Max Arthur

Last Of The Few - Dilip Sarkar

Hurricane: The Last Witnesses - Brian Milton

Achtung Spitfire - Hugh Trivett

Luck and a Lancaster - Harry Yates

Spitfire on my Tail - Ulrich Steinhilper

First and the Last - Adolf Galland

Sorry for this being long winded but are there any more decent book i should look at getting? Defo into the combat side of things more then the politics

[Guest]

Wow, that is some list. Sadly, i do not read that many books anymore (other than Audio Books) and they don't do many books like this on Audio. If they start making stuff like this available on a Kindle, I will get one of them

[Guest]

I've just finished Special Op Bomber. - fantastic book!!

[Guest]

Not just WW2 but any of the forgotten voices books are 1st class from ww1 to the Falklands , also Sniper One by Sgt Dan Mills based in Iraq is another great read , I could go on and on with books

Richy

[AlanG]

I have the Forgotten Voices about the Holocaust. Amazing book if you know what i mean. Also got the Final Solution. Both are very sobering.

[spanner570]

Allyne, you won't be dissapointed with Pierre Clostermann's book. I have it in paperback, a great read.

I have been itching to post about a book but as I thought it was only aircraft books you were after I didn't want to waste your time.

But now I see there is a more general book chat going on and seeing as how the G.B. is the Eastern Front then try and get hold of this :-

The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer...It is a true account of his time in the German army in WW2 from joining up, advancing through Russia and finally retreating to the Baltic ports in 1945. It is a stunning, vivid account of combat, mostly in Russiia. A better book you will be hard pushed to find..ever!

560 pages of the most powerful reading experience you will ever have.

I've read it twice!

Ron

[stona]

As far as the bombing offensive goes I'd suggest.

"Jane's Battles with the Luftwaffe: The Bomber Campaign Against Germany 1942-45" by Theo Boiten and Martin Bowman

Any of Martin Middlebrook's bomber command books,three spring to mind.

"The Nuremberg raids"

"The Berlin raids"

"The Bomber Command diaries".

If you fancy a historical trek or two,this is a good 'un

"Bases of Bomber Command Then and Now" by Roger A. Freeman

As for the BOB if you want a detailed analysis rather than a regurgitating of the myth I suggest

"The Battle of Britain-then and now" by Winston Ramsey.

Also an interesting read is

"Finding the Few: Some Outstanding Mysteries of the Battle of Britain Investigated and Solved" by Andy Saunders.

I enjoy a first hand account as much as the next man but there is nothing like a well researched book to tell the story.

Cheers

Steve

[AlanG]

Steve i have seen the Winston Ramsey book and was going to add it to my wish list. The best BoB book i've read so far and not one believing the myths is The Most Dangerous Enemy - Stephen Bungay. I still read it every so often.

[slupanter]

I think a dam good start. I've started most of them

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[stona]

I notice "Inside the Third Reich" which I'd recommend to anyone. For more on Albert Speer I'd suggest "Albert Speer,his battle with the truth" by Gitta Sereny. It makes for some uncomfortable reading.

Holocaust reading should include "Hitler's willing executioners" by Daniel Goldenhagen. It can be a bit heavy going but also makes some very uncomfortable arguments.

In another medium, I have struggled to watch all of the film "Shoah". Shoah is a nine-hour film completed by Claude Lanzmann in 1985 about the holocaust. Not nice,but absolutely irrefutable by the deniers who were prevalent at the time. Remember that odious little "historian" David Irving.

Cheers

Steve

[slupanter]

I've got the Shoah. It's really is worth it.

[AlanG]

Allyne, you won't be dissapointed with Pierre Clostermann's book. I have it in paperback, a great read.

You're not wrong there. I've just about finished it. Only got it on saturday. It's a riviting read and certainly opens your eyes to certain things. It's one i shall defo read again and again

[PJP]

Books - if you want a view from the other side, you could do a lot worse than "I flew for the Fuhrer" by Heinz Knoke and "the Straits of Messina" by Johannes Steinhof.

Both are quite old now and may be difficult to find, but well worth the search. They show only to well what it was look to be on the wrong end of it, no leave, limited rest periods, constant losses of friends and fellow pilots etc., etc.

If you can't find them, let me know and I'll look for my copies.

Must agree about "the Big Show" and "Forgotten Soldier", both superb, gripping books although both start quite slowly.

If you need more ideas let me know and I'll have a think rather than posting gut reactions.

I need more reading time!!

Peter