Book suggestions for WWII buff

[Gumby]

Let me suggest a slight tangent. I have read many books about WWII, but only recently have I started to read about the plunder and destruction of artworks that occurred during the war. It is quite fascinating to read about the organized looting practiced by the Nazis, as well as the efforts by many (including Germans) to preserved the cultural patrimony of Europe.

Some of the books I have enjoyed are:

The Lost Museum: the Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the World's Greatest Works of Art by Hector Feliciano
The Book Thieves: The Nazi Looting of Europe's Libraries and the Race to Return a Literary Inheritance by Henning Koch
The Rape of Europa by Lynn H. Nicholas
The Monuments Men and Saving Italy both by Robert M. Edsel

 

[kgtest]

Let me suggest a slight tangent. I have read many books about WWII, but only recently have I started to read about the plunder and destruction of artworks that occurred during the war. It is quite fascinating to read about the organized looting practiced by the Nazis, as well as the efforts by many (including Germans) to preserved the cultural patrimony of Europe.

Some of the books I have enjoyed are:

The Lost Museum: the Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the World's Greatest Works of Art by Hector Feliciano
The Book Thieves: The Nazi Looting of Europe's Libraries and the Race to Return a Literary Inheritance by Henning Koch
The Rape of Europa by Lynn H. Nicholas
The Monuments Men and Saving Italy both by Robert M. Edsel

Ohh! What a nice surprise! If you had to pick the best of these... which and why?

 

[kgtest]

As always you folks over delivered.

 

[kgtest]

Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger, WW1 but a very good book and I imagine your FIL would enjoy it

I snagged Blood Red Snow, and the Forgotten Soldier, but now I need to sneak into his Library because I have a hunch he has Forgotten Soldier already.

Also Franklin and Winston and Flags of our Fathers. He MIGHT have Franklin and Winston already...

This guy is well read lol. I might sneak a pic of his library.

 

[kgtest]

Love Stories of WW II by Larry King. I still grab it from time to time and read a chapter. NOT strictly a chick book.

https://smile.amazon.com/Love-Stori...s+of+wwII+by+larry+king&qid=1576419570&sr=8-3

"Both poignant and inspiring, these are the moving stories of men and women who met amid the chaos of the most devastating war in history and became the loves of one another’s lives. Many are now enjoying their seventies and eighties together after more than fifty happy years of marriage.

They met in many remarkable ways, some in the briefest of chance encounters, and their love endured heart-rending ordeals of long separation and the constant threat that a husband or lover might not return. As these couples reflect on the profound experience of the war, the stories they most like to tell are of the deep bonds they forged during that tumultuous time, bonds so strong that they lasted a lifetime."

Interesting! I might snag this for myself.

 

[kgtest]

Hornfischer has been mentioned. For me, Neptune's Inferno is by far his best book, and one of the best history books I've read, and I have read alot. It covers the naval side of the Guadalcanal campaign. Never knew a 6-inch gun light cruiser could be such a stud. We owe a debt to those surface ship men.


Shattered Sword by Parshall and Tully is the best book on Midway I've read. Clears up some bogus conventional wisdom. Goes back to some primary sources. Good discussion of how Japanese doctrine was flawed.


For me the best WWII novel is definitely Herman Wouk's two books. Winds of War, and War and Remembrance. Yes, I know they made a cheesy mini-series from these books back in the early 80's. The books are treasures.



Bonus book: Moscow 1812 by Zamoyski. Yes, different war but what a read! Nappy's march on Moscow was one tough campaign.

Incredible list! I might have to snag Winds of War and War and Remembrance.

 

[kgtest]

my dad was in the aleutians during the war as a bombardier. There is very little information or books written about the aleutians. I did find a small private museum in anchorage this summer and bought a book "the forgotten war" by stan cohen. He arrived there after we took back the eastern islands and flew (whenever they could due to weather) to bomb japan.

awesome!

 

[kgtest]

Hornfischer has been mentioned. For me, Neptune's Inferno is by far his best book, and one of the best history books I've read, and I have read alot. It covers the naval side of the Guadalcanal campaign. Never knew a 6-inch gun light cruiser could be such a stud. We owe a debt to those surface ship men.


Shattered Sword by Parshall and Tully is the best book on Midway I've read. Clears up some bogus conventional wisdom. Goes back to some primary sources. Good discussion of how Japanese doctrine was flawed.


For me the best WWII novel is definitely Herman Wouk's two books. Winds of War, and War and Remembrance. Yes, I know they made a cheesy mini-series from these books back in the early 80's. The books are treasures.



Bonus book: Moscow 1812 by Zamoyski. Yes, different war but what a read! Nappy's march on Moscow was one tough campaign.

I recall my FIL mentioning how the Japanese Doctrine was flawed...I wonder if he has read Shattered Sword. I am literally a moron compared to everyone in this thread when it comes to WWII but I was sort of scratching my head when he was telling me about what the Japanese text books said etc. back then.

 

[Telly]

I'm reading "Air Apaches", The true story of the 345th bomb group and its low, fast, and deadly missions in WWII. By Jay A. Stout. A 2019 book. I never thought much of the B-25 medium bomber, it seemed out of place compared to the B-17 and B-24. Turns out it was, but was re-purposed as a low-altitude strafer after a field modification of getting rid of the glass nose and installing a lot more 50 cals. Then that became a factory model. An interesting book looking at it through a bomb group in the island-hopping campaign in the Pacific.

 

[CoolRich59]

With The Old Breed By Eugene Sledge

...

The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer

I read a lot of history from this period. The Old Breed is one of the best books I have ever read. Period.

The Forgotten Soldier is very good also.

In the same vein (first person accounts) D-Day Through German Eyes by Holger Eckhertz is very good.

Some other suggestions:
-- Stalingrad by Antony Beevor
-- Max Hastings has written a lot of great WWII history. I particularly liked: Inferno, Armageddon, and Retribution.
-- Rick Atkinson's trilogy of the European theater is excellent: An Army at Dawn, The Day of Battle, and The Guns at Last Light.
-- On the Pacific front, Ian Toll's trilogy of Pacific Crucible and The Conquering Tide are excellent as well; the third installment, Twilight of the God, is due out in July.
-- James Hornfischer's Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors is outstanding.
-- Finally, I thought John Toland's The Rising Sun and Hampton Sides' Ghost Soldiers were excellent in helping to understand the Japanese perspective of the war.

 

[camfused]

I highly recommend Homer Hickam's Torpedo Junction. The story of the U-boat war off the US east coast, that was not well known at the time. Fascinating/frustrating.

The facts that Homer researched were so interesting, that he created a series of fictional books about a Coast Guard sailor named Josh Thurlow, based on the Outer Banks during WWII. The Keepers Son is the first one. I also recommend those.

 

[folivier]

There is a local story about a U-boat off the coast of Louisiana that was sunk and in the floating debris were items from small town local stores. Particularly French bread wrappers from a well known bakery.

 

[Gumby]

Ohh! What a nice surprise! If you had to pick the best of these... which and why?

Probably the foundation book to read is the Rape of Europa by Nicholas, which covers all aspects of the looting, preservation and recovery of Europe's art treasures, immediately before, during and after the war. In The Lost Museum, Feliciano builds on the earlier work of Nicholas. He had access to various records that she didn't have, and the cooperation of some of the families that were victims, and so can give a fuller account. The Book Thieves is mostly focused on books and libraries and especially on the destruction of Hebrew and Yiddish works as a cultural genocide to accompany the physical genocide of the Jewish people. And here I must correct myself - Henning Koch was the translator; Anders Rydell is the author. The two Edsel works are entertaining (Monuments Men was made into a movie), but narrower in focus, concentrating primarily on the work of the US and British military officers tasked with preventing the wanton destruction of important cultural assets during the Western allies' invasion of Italy and France.

 

[Accidental Retiree]

Check out Private Lucky: One Man’s Unconventional Journey from the Horrors of Nazi Occupation to the Fulfillment of a High-Flying American Dream, by Melissa Guzzetta.

I haven’t read it yet, but I know the woman who wrote it
and recall her working on interviews with her subject.

It’s on Amazon.

 

[threegoofs]

With The Old Breed By Eugene Sledge

Brave Men by Ernie Pyle

Blood Red Snow by Günter Koschorrek

Black Edelweiss by Johann Voss

The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer

The Forgotten Soldier is a must read.

It is a foot soldiers first hand account of the German defeat in the East. The stuff in there is not usually found in most histories.

Another must read is “Enemy at the Gates” by William Craig - an account of the snipers in Stalingrad. It was made into a movie, but the book is much better.

 

[Badger]

It sounds like he would enjoy "B-17s Over Berlin - Personal Stories from the 95th Bomb Group" edited by Ian L Hawkins. You can get a good condition copy or better from Abe Books on line for about $5. There about 75 stories/interviews from the men who flew B-17s. Each story is about 1 to 6 pages long so it can be picked up an read at any time without having to keep track of a plot but I bet he won't be able to put it down.


Cheers!

 

[Fermion]

I am fascinated by the Enigma code machine and the work that went into breaking it. There are probably several good books about this.

I would also LOVE to have a Enigma machine but they are $$$ even for ones in poor condition.

 

[eytonxav]

Surprised no mention of Bill O'Reilly's books, Killing the Rising Sun and Killing Patton.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

I would add two of my favorites.


Jimmy Stewart - Bomber Pilot

A Hell of a War


The first is a biography on Jimmy Stewart's experience as a Bomber Pilot. The second is an autobiography written by another of Hollywood's biggest stars at the time, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. He served as a Beach Jumper in the Navy.


Both are great reads about two Hollywood Stars who stepped up and served in harms way, then returned home to resume their lives.

 

[camfused]

...I would also LOVE to have a Enigma machine but they are $$$ even for ones in poor condition...

My daughter's friend is a cryptography nerd, and has one that she built. I'll ask her where she got the kit.

 

[kgtest]

It sounds like he would enjoy "B-17s Over Berlin - Personal Stories from the 95th Bomb Group" edited by Ian L Hawkins. You can get a good condition copy or better from Abe Books on line for about $5. There about 75 stories/interviews from the men who flew B-17s. Each story is about 1 to 6 pages long so it can be picked up an read at any time without having to keep track of a plot but I bet he won't be able to put it down.


Cheers!

Thank you sir!

 

[kgtest]

I would add two of my favorites.


Jimmy Stewart - Bomber Pilot

A Hell of a War


The first is a biography on Jimmy Stewart's experience as a Bomber Pilot. The second is an autobiography written by another of Hollywood's biggest stars at the time, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. He served as a Beach Jumper in the Navy.


Both are great reads about two Hollywood Stars who stepped up and served in harms way, then returned home to resume their lives.

All of you have such interesting contributions that provide really a totally unique perspective if one were to read all of these. I ordered about 8 of all the recommendations and will continue to pull from this list. I am actually interested in reading a few of these now lol. You all are incredibly wise people!

 

[Badger]

"The Great Escape" by Paul Brickhill documents the true story of a mass escape by Allied prisoners of war from a German POW camp. This is a small paperback. It was made into a TV movie years ago with an all-star cast including Richard Attenborough, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, and James Garner.

My father was a B-17 pilot that was shot down over Germany and transported to this POW camp (Stalag Luft III). He was involved with the tunnels and served by helping distribute the dirt coming from the tunnels. One account he told me was they would use the firepond in the winter to get rid of some of the dirt. When the Spring temperatures melted the ice all that was left was a mud hole. He spent almost 2 years there before the Germans cleared the camp on a forced march in the middle of winter. Many died of starvation and exposure to the freezing weather. He was able to smuggle out the diary he kept during the time he was a POW.

A book on the account of the forced march is "Maybe I'm Dead" by Joe Klaas. There are a few very good copies available on abebooks.com for under $4 including shipping.
Another excellent book if you can find one is "Clipped Wings" by O.M. Chiesl. Again a few copies can be found on abebook.com It is the best book about WWII POWs in Stalag Luft III. Hundreds of pictures and text to describe life there.


Cheers!

 

[friar1610]

I am fascinated by the Enigma code machine and the work that went into breaking it. There are probably several good books about this.

I would also LOVE to have a Enigma machine but they are $$$ even for ones in poor condition.

In that general vein, "Code Girls" by Liza Mundy about the women (many - but not all - graduates of elite women's colleges) recruited to work in code breaking in both DC and Hawaii during the war. There was one such woman, a former WAVE, in my American Legion post.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Sorry, I'm late to this post. This topic is right up my alley. I'm currently more of a book collector than reader, but hope that someday when I FIRE I can get though my collection (which after reading all of these recommendations will be growing immensely).

Here are a few I don't believe have been mentioned that I thought were excellent reads:

WWII Aviation:
Flyboys: A True Story of Courage by James Bradley. "This acclaimed bestseller brilliantly illuminates a hidden piece of World War II history as it tells the harrowing true story of nine American airmen shot down in the Pacific. One of them, George H. W. Bush, was miraculously rescued. What happened to the other eight remained a secret for almost 60 years."

Wing Ding: Memories of a Tail Gunner by Gene T. Carson

Aviation (military - non WWII)
Devotion by Adam Makos. Not WWII, but Korean War and aviation. "Devotion tells the inspirational story of the U.S. Navy’s most famous aviator duo, Lieutenant Tom Hudner and Ensign Jesse Brown, and the Marines they fought to defend. A white New Englander from the country-club scene, Tom passed up Harvard to fly fighters for his country. An African American sharecropper’s son from Mississippi, Jesse became the navy’s first black carrier pilot, defending a nation that wouldn’t even serve him in a bar."

Naked in Da Nang: A Forward Air Controller in Vietnam by Mike Jackson

Non-Aviation WWII:
In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors by Doug Stanton

Operation Iceberg: The Invasion and Conquest of Okinawa in World War II by Gerald Astor