Best WW2 Related Book You Have Read

Totally agree with the recommendation of the Army Battlefield Guide - an outstanding read.

My blood runs cold at the thought of a Tom Cruise B of B movie - presumably more of the same stuff that was in 'Pearl Harbor'.

Simon

 

My latest book purchase is "Fighter Pilot" by Paul Richey,i havn't red it,but after reading the preface in the front of the book,i had to have it.Has anyone red Fighter Pilot ??.

Steven

 

Not knocking Ambrose-I met him briefly in the USA and many of his books are superb, e.g. 'Rise To Globalism', 'Nixon' and 'Undaunted Courage'. Unfortunately he became a bit of one-man publishing industry towards the end of his life and I have heard allegations from friends across the pond that he left the legwork on some of his books to researchers (a la Tom Clancy). There are some factual howlers in books like 'Band of Brothers' and 'Citizen Soldiers' which seem to be the product of sloppy research. And of course he was accused of plagiarism with regard to his last book on the US Army Air Force.

 

Best books I have read on WWII:
Sidney Jary '18 Platoon'
George MacDonald Fraser 'Quartered Safe Out Here'
Louis Allen 'Burma: The Longest War'
Carlo D'Este 'Decision In Normandy'
Anthony Powell 'The Valley of Bones'
The War Diaries of Field Marshall Lord Alanbrooke
Correlli Barnett 'The Desert Generals'
Max Hastings 'Overlord'
R.V. Jones 'Most Secret War'
Pierre Clostermann DFC 'The Big Show'
Ken Tout 'Tank'
E. B. Sledge 'With The Old Breed'
John Ellis 'The Sharp End'
Ronald Lewin 'Ultra Goes To War' and 'Slim: The Standard Bearer'
David Irving (before he went crackers) 'Rommel: Trail of the Fox'
Charles MacDonald: 'A Time For Trumpets: The Untold Story of the Battle of the Bulge'
An eclectic collecton!

 

Paul Richey's book 'fighter pilot' is one of the best, if not the best accounts of both being a fighter pilot & of a fighter squadron ever published, it was published in the early part of the war, 1941, 1942? , it still can't be beaten

Interesting, later on in life, Paul Richey was thinking of suing the publishers of 'Piece of Cake' by Dereck Robinson, remember the TV series?, <_< he died before he could take it further

For further reading, try 'Fighter Pilots summer' by Paul Richey & Norman Franks, it's the follow up and cover's his further period of service in 609 Squadron & later on in Burma

Rod

 

Originally posted by walker1914@Feb 29 2004, 07:13 AM
Paul Richey's book 'fighter pilot' is one of the best, if not the best accounts of both being a fighter pilot & of a fighter squadron ever published, it was published in the early part of the war, 1941, 1942? , it still can't be beaten

Interesting, later on in life, Paul Richey was thinking of suing the publishers of 'Piece of Cake' by Dereck Robinson, remember the TV series?, <_< he died before he could take it further

For further reading, try 'Fighter Pilots summer' by Paul Richey & Norman Franks, it's the follow up and cover's his further period of service in 609 Squadron & later on in Burma

Rod


Thanks for that,looks like i picked a good one then.I will keep a look out for "Fighter Pilots Summer".

I remember Piece of Cake,i watched every one.I remember some fuss at the time about the Squadron leaving or leading their CO to his death in a dog fight (there is an expression for it,but can't remember it at the moment).

What was Paul Richey considering sueing them for ??

Steven

 

Paul Richey was thinking of suing for plagiarism, that 'Piece of cake' was based on his book, also he was furious, about how the character's were portrayed both in the book & the TV series, he was adamant that that it was nothing like that in real life, and he was not alone in that view!!

 

Anotjher good one is ' The Last Enemy ' by Richard Hilary.
Paul Richey's books are excellent.

Louis Allen's 'Burma: The Longest War' - THE definative on Burma IMHO.

Dunkirk by A D Divine. a lot of detail sadly now out of print.

Aye
MalcolmII

 

For those interested in Raf & aerial warfare, the Grub Steet books can't be beat, especially the books by Norman Franks, Brian Cull & Chris Shores, also published by them is 'To Live Among Heroes', written by the doctor of 609 squadron during his time with from 1944 to 1945, a truly superb book

Also the two Anthony Beevor books, Stalingrad & Berlin, Stalingrad a all time classic!!

Also two books from Stephen Bungay books, The Most Dangerous Enemy, about the
Battle of Britain & Alamein

Also Martin Middlebrook's books about Arnhem & the bomber offensive's

 

My collection of books is virtually all WWI related, but one WWII book I've read and enjoyed is:

Firemen at War by Neil Wallington. The book is about the work of the Fire Service during the Blitz.
Neil was a career Fireman, starting his career in the London Fire Brigade and progressing through the ranks until he became Chief Fire Officer of the Devon & Cornwall Fire Brigade. He was also my Assistant Chief Fire Officer (and close neighbour) in Bedfordshire back in the late 80's.
He has a love of the Fire Service and that is felt when you read this book.

 

For an interesting read I would recommend 'The Long Walk' by Slavomir Rawicz

 

Would you class this as fiction or autobiography?
Ali

 

Something i totally forgot about when i posted the original thread.What about all those countless books by Sven Hassell.

I was rumaging through some books at a second hand book stall and came across "Legion of the Damned".It reminded me i'd actually red quite a few of his books some years ago,but not having seen one for some years i'd forgot all about him.

Steven

 

Originally posted by Ali Hollington@Apr 7 2004, 09:26 AM
Would you class this as fiction or autobiography?
Ali
Ali...................It's my understanding that Rawicz's book is based on his actual experiences when escaping from the Soviet Gulag..............perhaps there is some embelishment, I really don't know, but it's a cracking read irrespective

 

Originally posted by STEVEN@Apr 7 2004, 07:01 PM
Something i totally forgot about when i posted the original thread.What about all those countless books by Sven Hassell.

I was rumaging through some books at a second hand book stall and came across "Legion of the Damned".It reminded me i'd actually red quite a few of his books some years ago,but not having seen one for some years i'd forgot all about him.

Steven
From what I understand the only Sven Hassel book with any thread of truth in it was 'Legion of the Damed'....................All the others are pure fiction & some were even ghost written & Old Sven's name put to them purely to make them more marketable.

 

Cornelius Ryan's trilogy The Longest Day, A Bridge Too Far and The Last Battle would be high on my list.

I remember reading Eric Williams The Wooden Horse, PR Reids Colditz books and Paul Brickhills the Dambusters several times each as a kid, so I must have thought them great at the time, though havent read any of them since.

My favourite? Possibly Bill Slim's Defeat Into Victory - it used to be (and probably still is) the most quoted book on morale and leadership at Sandhurst.

 

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I was never a fan of Sven, but a friend of mine at school, Max Kemp was an afficionado and delighted in pointing out the numerous continuity errors in those books and the 'Leo Kessler' series.

 

Havent read the Stalingrad book by Anthony Beevor so i'll probably do that in the near future. Up till now my best WW2 book is William Craig's "Enemy at the gates : The battle for Stalingrad"..........magnificent/fantastic read.

 

Stalingrad and Berlin are both excellent books. An earlier title by Antony Beevor is Crete, it about..... you get the picture. It was the first book I read on the German invasion and sparked an interest which then lead my to read Alan Clark's Fall of Crete, again excellent. Sometimes this can lead to distraction as after reading Clark's Crete I then felt the urge to read his Barbarossa, where next?
Ali