Favourite War Books

[William Webb Ellis]

OK, I just did the Favourite War Movies.

Let's try books, an be fact or fiction.

In no order

Birdsong
A Very Long Engagement
Enemy at the Gates (I know you will all say it is full of mistakes, but good pulp fiction none the less)
Winged Dagger: Adventures on Special Service
Death's Men

I have others but my brain is sore. 

 

[orange.paint]

Soldat

My Jihad


Both real accounts,Soldat follows a German arty officer's career from personal accounts.Really great read.

My Jihad personal accounts of an American who goes off to fight Jihad in Chechnya ,Albania and other countries.Brilliant read.Graphic.

 

[armyboytncoy]

FREINDLY FIRE

its about the Americans that bombed the Canadians

 

[Thompson]

The Passing Of The Night  My Seven Years As A Prisoner Of The North Vietnamese

By General Robinson Risner

The title says it all
Great Read

 

[Hunter]

Friendly fire was a really good, and I think very important read.  It took a long time to get through though; I found myself having to re-read a lot in order to keep track of the complex relationships between the players and the various roles & responsibilities. 

My favourite books are the Guns trilogy by George Blackburn.  It's a great history of the 4th field artillery regiment durng wold war 2, and an excellent insight into the lives of canadian soldiers.  I plan to re-read them in order in the near future.  The first one I read was the Guns of Normandy, while I was there for the 60th anniversay of D-day.  It was amazing to read the first-hand accounts of the battles that took place while I was actually visiting there.  Particularly moving was my visit to the Canadian War cemetary  at Beny-sur-Mer, and reading the names of some of the boys (literally, boys) mentioned in the book.  My favourite part of that book was the story about some Canadian troops that found a farmer's stash of Calvados and drank it all, laying themselves flat out in the process.  The farmer was mightily pissed about it.  He had kept it hidden from the nazis for 4 years and the Canadians find it in 20 minutes.  Go figure.

I tend to read history more than fiction, but I have to say I really did enjoy reading Michael Karpovage's Operation Flashpoint.  I thought it was an interesting take on the potential separation of Quebec.

 

[armyboytncoy]

a friend told me about one called tarnished brass, he said that it was the best he ever read, the only problem every store i go to u have to order it there never on the shelf

 

[Michael OLeary]

a friend told me about one called tarnished brass, he said that it was the best he ever read, the only problem every store i go to u have to order it there never on the shelf

Seach the forums on "Tarnished Brass", you'll find some comments on it.

 

[socialhandgrenade]

A very good book is My War Gone by i miss it so .It is written by Anthony Loyd .It is about the war in yugoslavia. 

 

[mcchartman]

I have always enjoyed reading books about the German perspective during World War II, and I know I’m not alone in this world - although most around here might concentrate on the Canadian point of view. Nevertheless, I can suggest a selection of books I have read and really enjoyed:

“Hitler and his Secret Partner”, by James Pool (1997)
A truly fascinating read. It is important to note however that it cannot be termed strictly a war book, seeing how the author follows the rise of Adolf Hitler to power and analyses his associations which provided the funding which allowed this ascension. Despite this, this book is so well written that I cannot miss this opportunity to recommend it.

“Masters of Death”, by Richard Rhodes (2002)
Written by a Pulitzer prize recipient, this historical account reveals the organization and operations used by the Einsatztruppen deployed in 1941 in eastern Europe with the specific mission to carry out the mass extermination plans set out by the German masterminds. Ultimately, the psychological strains on these men lead the German leaders to seek a more efficient way of proceeding with the killings - the more well-known extermination camps. An account which is not always easy to read, but of which subject should be ignored by none.

“The Lost Battle”, by Callum MacDonald (1993)
A detailed account of the 1941 invasion of Crete which saw the first mass operation by the famed German Fallschirmjaeger (paratroopers) but ultimately led the Germans to cast aside the airborne troops for further operations. Because the subject is relatively narrow, and the number of troops involved relatively low (when compared to operations taking place against the USSR anyways) the author goes into a lot of details making this a riveting read.

“Lightning War”, by Ronald E, Powaski (2003)
This book details Fall Gelb (Operation Yellow, or the German invasion of France and the Low Countries) from its earliest stage all the way to its conclusion. The author’s style in this one quite simply captivated me. Great read.

All four are truly superb books. I realize that none of them involves Canadian troops but you never specified it had to be centered on Canadian operations. Anyways, give any one of these a try. You won’t regret it.

 

[JBP]

Some are sci-fi, but still very awesome reads and some classics...

1.) Starship Troopers - The original book
2.) On My Way to Paradise - Not well known but a fantastic book I found by mistake, I would highly recommend it, anyone want info/author I can dig the book up...
3.) Shake Hands with the Devil - You should know who that's by... Gives you a very different look at things and the geo-political aspects that can hold a soldier down
4.) The Best Military Science Fiction of the 20th Century
5.) Blood on the Snow - Personal account of a German WW2 machine gunner in the Russian theatre... AMAZING book, fantastic for seeing things from the other viewpoint.
6.) The Avro Arrow - Not really a "war" book, but, interesting anyway to those who are fellow aviation enthusiasts.

Those are some of my favorites, not really in any specific order.

 

[MikeL]

Soldat
Currahee
Band of Brothers
Charlie Rangers
The March Up
Generation Kill
In The Company Of Soldiers
Black Hawk Down
Forget the name of it, but its a book written by Matt Eversman an some other Rangers an PJs during the battle of Mogidishu(?)
Phantom Warrior Series, about L Co Ranger, 101st Airborne an the LRRPs before them
Reluctant Warrior

 

[GK]

I'm not sure I would say it is my favorite, but I just finished reading Spare Parts by Buzz Williams and enjoyed it alot.

 

[winchable]

Well timed topic,
"About Face" By Col. Hackworth.
After finally getting to it (after having it for a while) it tops my list, right up until the focus seems to shift at the end.

 

[Kat Stevens]

I mentioned it in another thread. "Quartered Safe Out Here" by George MacDonald Fraser... Excellent grunts eye view of the Burma Campaign.

 

[Beast 77]

Beyond Survival by Gerald Coffee. Memoire about the seven years he spent as a POW in Vietnam.

 

[Infantry_wannabe]

One of the best war books I have read is called With The Old Breed. It's written by a US Marine named E.B. Sledge who fought in World War Two at Peleliu and Okinawa. Sledge is very good at describing how it felt to be an infantry mortarman in these battles. From the dead bodies and the maggots, to the brutality brought on by hellish conditions, to the psychological toll of such intense combat, the book is a classic. The writer shows the hell of war but also has obvious pride in what he and his fellow Marines did. It's also good because it shows just how bad the little-known battle of Peleliu was. The casualty rates were similar to Iwo Jima in the rifle companies apparently, but Peleliu isn't well-known because it was smaller and there were essentially no reporters on that operation.

I've read and liked many of the books mentioned so far by others. Maybe I'll check out some of the ones I haven't read.

 

[1feral1]

Vimy by Pierre Burton. They Called it Passchendaele by Dancocks is also a good read.


Cheers,

Wes