Wars and ConflictsΒ permalink
Recommended WW2 history books
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Message 1.Β
Posted by U13758378 (U13758378) on Sunday, 28th December 2008
Specifically relating to the Battle Of Stalingrad, the Afrika Korps (or Rommel himself), the Eastern Front or the Nazi War Machine (generals, how Hitler's decisions affected the war, noteworthy battles etc) overview.
I've recently read Steven Pressfield's 'Killing Rommel' and Lawrence Rees' WW2 Behind Closed Doors: Stalin, The Nazi's and The West' and would like to read other historical texts (preferably non-fiction) relating the the aforementioned subjects.
Thanks. -
Message 2
Posted by merlin (U10448262) on Monday, 29th December 2008
For a good 'overview' and background of those involved try:
Hitler's Generals by Richard Brett-Smith.
and,
The Road to Stalingrad by John Erickson - though I thought it would have benefitted from having maps included. -
Message 3
Posted by DANNY-FRANKS (U2186615) on Monday, 29th December 2008
"Lost Victories" by von Manstein is a good book. Pretty much explains the mistakes made by the Germans which led to their eventual defeat.
Also Soldiers of Destruction by Sydnor Jnr is an objective look at the Waffen SS Deaths Head Div from its formation and fighting which was virtually entirely on the Eastern Front.
If interested in the Italian campaign then I'd recommend Cassino: The Hollow Victory - The Battle for Rome, January-June, 1944 by John Ellis.
Enjoy your reading.... -
Message 4
Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Monday, 29th December 2008
For the Eastern Front, agree Ericson's "Road to Stalingrad" and "Road to Berlin" - still the best full history. Beevor's more recent "Battle for Stalingrad" and "Berlin" for those two specific battles.
On Rommel/Afrika Korps, David Fraser's biography "Knight's Cross" and Kenneth Macksey's "Rommel: Battles and Campaigns". Carver's "Dilemmas of the Desert War", although from the British point of view, is good on the command and logistic issues facing both sides, and gives Rommel's subordinates due credit.
For both, if you can find a copy, von Mellenthin's "Panzer Battles"; he served in the desert and on the Eastern Front (and, for that matter, in the West)mainly as a staff officer. You have to allow for his special pleading, though; he wrote the book at the time the Bundeswehr was reforming in the '50s, to prove that the Germans knew more about fighting the massed Soviet hordes than their new NATO chums. -
Message 5
Posted by Steelers708 (U1831340) on Monday, 29th December 2008
For Stalingrad anything my Jason D. Mark/Leaping Horse Books is excellent e.g.
Death of the Leaping Horseman: 24th Panzer Division in Stalingrad
An infantryman in Stalingrad by Adelbert Holl
Island Of Fire: The Battle for the Barrikady Gun Factory in Stalingrad
An Artilleryman In Stalingrad
For Eastern Front battles try:
The Caucasus and the Oil by Wilhelm Tieke
East Front Drama 1944 by Rolf Hinze
Decision in the Ukraine Summer 1943: IISS and III PanzerKorps by George Nipe
Tragedy of the Faithfull: A History of the III.(Germanisches) SS Panzer-Korps by Wilhelm Tieke
Battle for Budapest: 100 Days in World War II by Kristian Ungvary
Last Victory in Russia: The SS PanzerKorps and Manstein's Kharkov Counteroffensive by George Nipe
Last Laurels: The Defense of Upper Silesia January-May 1945 by Georg Gunter
Hells Gate: The Battle of the Cherkassy Pocket January-February 1944 by Douglas E. Nash
Drama Between Budapest and Vienna by Georg Meier
To the Bitter End: the Final Battles of Army Groups North Ukraine, A, Centre, Eastern Front 1944-45 by Rolf Hinze -
Message 6
Posted by Steelers708 (U1831340) on Monday, 29th December 2008
Memoirs and Auto/biographies
Grenadiers by Kurt Meyer (PanzerMeyer as he is known)
The Last Knight of Flanders: Remy Schrijnen and his SS-Legion "Flandern"/Sturmbrigade "Langemarck" Comrades on the Eastern Front 1941-1945 by Allen Brandt
Tigers in the Mud by Otto Carius
For Germany: The Otto Skorzeny Memoirs - Edited by Craig Luther & Hugh Page Taylor
With Rommel in the Desert by Heinz W. Schmidt ( a member of Rommels Staff)
Campaign in Russia by Leon Degrelle
Outermost Frontier by Helmut Pabst
Jochen Peiper: Commander Panzer Regiment Leibstandarte by Patrick Agte
Michael Wittman: And the Tiger Commanders of the Leibstandarte by Patrick Agte -
Message 7
Posted by Steelers708 (U1831340) on Monday, 29th December 2008
German unit histories:
The Leibstandarte by Rudolf Lehman (5 volumes, although vol.I & II are extremely rare and extremely expensive)
Das Reich by Otto Weidinger (volumes I to IV available in English at present)
Wiking by Peter Strassner (The best book on the 5th SS Pz Div available, the division fought entirely on the Eastern Front)
Prinz Eugen: the History of the 7 SS Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen" by Otto Kumm (the divisional commander)
Panzer Soldiers For "God, hounour, Fatherland" The History of Panzerregiment "Grossdeutschland" by Hans-Joachim Jung (former officer of the regiment)
The History of the PanzerKorps Grossdeutschland by Helmut Spaeter (3 volumes- Helmut Spaeter won the Knight's Cross with the Grossdeutschland)
Hitlerjugend: The History of the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend by Hubert Meyer
Like A Cliff in the Ocean: the History of the 3. SS Panzer Division "Totenkopf by Karl Ullrich (last Divisoinal CO)
Hitlers Spanish Legion: the Blue Division in Russia by Gerald R. Kleinfeld & Lewis A Tambs
The 1st Fallschirmjager Division in World War II by Ben Christensen
Twelve Years with Hitler: A History of 1. Kompanie Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler 1933-1945 by Hans Quassowski (member of unit)
Comrades to the End: the 4th Ss Panzer-grenadier Regiment "Der Fuhrer" 1938 - 1945 by Otto Weidinger -
Message 8
Posted by Steelers708 (U1831340) on Monday, 29th December 2008
Also anything by David Glantz is excellent for Eastern Front battles.
Most of his books deal with the Soviet side of things as he is acknowledeged as the foremost expert on the Soviet archives. -
Message 9
Posted by stalteriisok (U3212540) on Monday, 29th December 2008
ANYTHING by Beevor
st -
Message 10
Posted by Allan D (U1791739) on Monday, 29th December 2008
Alan Clark's Barbarossa
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Message 11
Posted by suvorovetz (U12273591) on Monday, 29th December 2008
Richard Raack, Stalin's Drive to the West
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Message 12
Posted by Mutatis_Mutandis (U8620894) on Tuesday, 30th December 2008
On the "Nazi War Machine", certainly "The Wages of Destruction" by Adam Tooze.
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