There, I was quietly reading "The longest day" for some information for another sub forum when I was struck by the thought that the copy I was reading, was the first "war" book I ever bought. I suppose it was because my father had taken me to see the screen version! I got it from a Jumble sale at a local school and cost me 3d! The next one was the "A Short History of the RAF Regiment" but that is another story. So what was the first war book you bought?
I am embarassed to admit that I can't remember, but I was well into adulthood by then. I was into general history long before I started reading military history. Over time, my interest began to focus on the 20th century, which meant that war was touched on in most of what I was reading in some way. I started to read more specialist military history to put flesh on the bones of events which had been briefly covered elsewhere. At the same time, my first career with the Ministry of Defence (ended around 1977) gave me a good deal of specialist knowledge about military arms and ammunition, including something of the history of the subject, which helped me to understand this aspect of military history. My interests are not just limited to the 20th century and I often take "excursions" into other topics and centuries. Recently, I have enjoyed reading about naval warfare in the age of sail and I am looking forward to next year's 200th anniversary of Trafalgar and the likely crop of new books.
I used to pinch some of my dad's books on WW2 (that's him in my avatar - he served in Italy)... and in the early 70s was an avid reader of 'Military Modelling' magazine which in those days was packed with historical stuff. I remember one of the first WW2 books I ever bought was 'Swastika At War' which was an illustrated history of the German Army in WW2 - many of the photos were in colour. A great book that sadly went when I left home and sold 99% of my WW2 library... spent the last ten years buying the titles all back again!
Cant remember exactly what it was but I think it was Max Hastings Bomber Command and Overlord, though I have bought and been given may since so I may be wrong but that is the first I remember buying
The first book about world war 2 that i read was the 'Dambusters' by Paul Brickhill, also i remember reading a lot of the books about the battle of Britain when i was much younger as i live just down the road (s) from 3 battle of britain airfields
