My FIL is one of the, if not the smartest men I know. He immerses himself in reading and has an extensive library. I would like to get him a WWII history book (his favorite genre) for Christmas, and would entertain any options you all have.
If he hasn't read it already, Flags of Our Fathers. I found it riveting.
It might not be quite what you're looking for but I'm currently reading "Shadow Divers". It's about a group of deep sea divers that located a sunken WW2 U-Boat. It's well written and very interesting. Until now I didn't realize just how dangerous wreck diving was.
Any from an aviator's perspective??
Any from an aviator's perspective??
If you interested in the German perspective then 'Stuka Pilot' (1948) by Hans Ulrich Rudel or 'The First and the Last' (1953) by Adolph Galland are also recommended. Rudel is more from the pilot's perspective while Galland's work includes more regarding his time as General of the Luftwaffe.I enjoyed "The Blond Knight of Germany," written by Eric Hartmann, the top air ace of WWII (or of any war). He shot down 352 Allied aircraft (almost all were Soviet). Hartmann was most proud not of his kill count, but that he'd never lost a wingman. He had two tactics he credited with his success:
1) Never get into a dogfight. On the Eastern front, there were plenty of easy targets, and he took almost all of his shots as unobserved "pounces" on them, with a high-speed pass on his part, then off he'd go. He figured that in a dogfight the odds get a lot closer to even--that's not a smart bet when he could easily get much better results with unobserved pounces.
2) When closing on a target, wait until the very last possible moment and open up at incredibly close range. He thought long-range shots were dumb (inaccurate, wasted ammunition that could be used to attack another target, gave away your presence/position to the target). He didn't shoot until the target aircaft filled his windscreen, and the parts flying off the target plane were the biggest threat he faced (his plane was crippled/forced down approx 8 times by debris from planes he'd destroyed.)
The book is not without controversy, Hartmann has been accused of sanitizing his account of Wehrmacht actions on the eastern front. But I found it interesting including his discussion of his time in Soviet captivity (approx 10 years-as you might guess, this is not light reading) and of the politics of the German Cold War Luftwaffe. As it turns out, Eric was a little too outspoken for his own good.
It's not a new book, and your FIL may already have it/may have read it.
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