Hoi3 - Best WW2 books and movies (threads merged)

[Praetori]

A great many book reviews have already been posted. Beevor is a must although I sometimes feel he puts a little bit too much weight in his own judgments, at least in his later works.

Here are some of my own personal favourites that haven't been mentioned previously in the thread.
I would especially recommend the first book on the list.


Twilight of the Gods (Ragnarök: Swedish original title)
Written by a Swedish volunteer in the SS (Erik Wallin)
Google link
ISBN: 1874622167

This one is scary, gritty, personal and a disturbing insight into the hell that the final days of the war in Europe must have been for the ones involved.


Kursk 1943: A Statistical Analysis
Publisher: Frank Cass Publishers
Author: Niklas Zetterling, Anders Frankson,
ISBN: 0714650528
EAN: 9780714650524

A nice albeit heavy on the brain piece with some new interesting takes on the battle.


The Korsun Pocket: The Encirclement and Breakout of a German Army in the East, 1944
Publisher: Casemate Pub & Book Dist Llc
Author: Niklas Zetterling, Anders Frankson
ISBN-13: 9781932033885
ISBN: 1932033882

Could be seen as a sequel to the Kursk book, also a good read.


Normandy 1944: German Military Organization, Combat Power and Organizational Effectiveness
Author: Niklas Zetterling
PUBLISHER: Fedorowicz, J. J.
ISBN13: 9780921991564
ISBN: 0921991568

This book has it all if you're into facts about the Wehrmacht during the battle for normandy (7th army and panzers in particular). A very good read.

 

[Aleesboto]

What do you define as a WW2 book? That covers a broad territory from straight up fiction to biographies.

I don't have a wide range of background in WW2 books, but so far my favorites have been Samurai! by Saburo Sakai (his biography) and An Army At Dawn by Rick Atkinson (Torch and the American drive across North Africa).

Don't forget "The Day of Battle" his sequel about the fighting in Italy.

 

[Sarayakat]

"Oil and War" by Robert Goralski and Someotherguy.

 

[Galaxy]

I've always enjoyed the authors that can take you from the epic strategic issues and a paragraph later translate those decisions by the affect on the soldiers in the trenches (in those soldiers own words).

Old school: Barbarossa by Alan Clark started a life long love of the Russian front in WW2.

Newer: Army at Dawn & Day of Battle by Rick Atkinson Great books that are only brought down a slight tick by the constant emphasis of the errors by the allied commanders.

I rarely read fiction, but City of Thieves by David Benioff is a wonderful story about the siege of Leningrad.

 

[Dieselboater]

Great thread idea! I have read some of these, but now have about 5 years more to dive into!

One other that I enjoyed was
"The First and the Last - the Rise and Fall of the Luftwaffe: 1939-1945" by Adolf Galland...

 

[cougar46]

A War To Be Won by Williamson Murray and Allan R. Millett...

Great non-fiction book that goes deep into the strategic level of the war for all the major campaigns across the war and how politics and technology influenced both the decision to launch and eventual outcomes and implications. Really great book if you're interested in the military history of the war, I have most of it read with a couple of chapters left.

 

[unmerged(168898)]

"sink the bismarck" or "a bridge too far"

 

[Porkman]

I'll throw out some books about the China theater because those are really hard to find in English.

Nationalist China at War: Military Defeats and Political Collapse, 1937-45 (Hsi-Sheng Chi)

Very hard to find outside of libraries but well worth it. This books goes over the entire war from the start in 1937 to just beyond the surrender.

The Nationalist Era in China: 1927-1949 (Lloyd Eastman et al.)

This is by far the best book I have ever read on the situation during the war as well as before and after. It's full of political and military maneuvering, discussions about the problems of the nationalist army, relative troop concentrations, maps of communist base areas and anything else you might want.

 

[unmerged(23082)]

Absolute War

Absolute War by Chris Bellamy is an in depth analysis of the war in the East. Excellent read.

 

[unmerged(155402)]

Doesn't The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich have a DVD video?

 

[Doffe]

'The Forgotten Soldier' - Guy Sajer

I've been reading military history for 30 years and this is best book on WW2 I have ever read. It is also required reading for the US Army War College. I simply can't say enough great things about this book, a must read.

I couldn't agree more. A very, very good book about the common soldier enduring horrible conditions. A must read.

 

[MicBass]

I'll chime in with some books about the Battle of the Atlantic

Iron Coffins - Herbert Werner (I think Werner comes off as a crybaby)

Oh yes, I second that. (The recommendation, not the crybaby. ) Great read!

 

[unmerged(109424)]

Only English language book/Western one? OK.

First of all, DO NOT read "Berlin, the downfall - by Anthony Beevor" without taking it with a big spoon of salt.

Second, I recommend "When Titans Clash". Or any book by David M. Glantz. He is probably one of the very few Western writers who have very little bias, and try to see things from both Soviet and German perspective.

 

[unmerged(15146)]

One other that I enjoyed was
"The First and the Last - the Rise and Fall of the Luftwaffe: 1939-1945" by Adolf Galland...

Loved this - wish it was longer. (Even if he does "big himself up" ever so slightly at times)

Must also second all the nominations for Manstein's "Lost Victories".

"In Deadly Combat" by Gottlob Biderman tells the story of an average, faceless German landser in an average, faceless division from first blood in Poland to the nightmare of the Courland pocket and is a brilliant read.

"Panzer Operations" by Erhaud Raus is an excellent insight into the Eastern Front - a bit less removed from the action than Manstein. (There's a great piece about how his men were held up by a lone KV-1 and how they eventually dealt with it.)

 

[Greybriar]

I also recommend The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer and A World at Arms by Gerhard L. Weinberg.

 

[unmerged(148691)]

Catch 22
The Naked and the Dead

 

[brisduv]

A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II by Weinberg is a good place to start. (I am usually wary of books with the words "global" and "history" in the title, but he does a good job)

I started reading WW2 history books as a teenager and this was the first title I've found that gives an in-depth overview of not only the major powers but also the minor nations involved, the politics behind many of the seemingly weird military decisions of both sides. I just started reading it this year (I get a few pages down every few days, it's a BIG book) and am impressed by the thoroughness of Weinberg's research. He tends to pull no punches when talking about Nazi attrocities, spending a bit too much time on them for my tastes but I suppose he wants to remind us of the darkest side of the war. It is a great overview for an HOI3 player, some of his revelations that Hitler always wanted a first rate navy to fight the USA but put it off to knock off the USSR first was new to me. This book convinced me that if Hitler and many of the German generals really knew how big the Soviet army really was they would have not attacked them.

I like The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer, it's panned by academics because Shirer wasn't one, love the intellectuall snobbery there...still a great read.

Read this over 30 years ago, still have it and should dig it out sometime.

As you know WWII is a pretty broad topic, so I can see these recommendations leaning a lot of different ways depending on what aspect of the war you're looking for.

Personally, I though von Manstein's "Lost Victories" was a great read, taking you on a personal tour of WWII through the von Manstein's eyes. Most of the book is spent on the eastern front, from his command of a Panzerkorps in Armee Group North, to his tour with 11th Army in the Crimea (and then back up north again), to Army Group Don during Stalingrad and finally through to his now re-named Army Group South during the Kursk fiasco and the battle for the Dneiper and western Ukraine, right up until he's sacked in favor of Model.

I also enjoyed Glantz' "Before Stalingrad: Barbarossa" which takes you up through Typhoon. Has a really useful Appendix with Barbarossa OOB info in it, though I assume you can find that information in a lot of different places. (can you tell i'm an Ostfront buff?)

And of course you can' beat my old college textbook Keegans "The Second World War" for a broad overview of the entire war.

And i'm sure there are dozens of others which are great as well.

Lost Victories is another fine title I read long ago, Keegan's book I am currently re-reading, probably my favorite book on grand stategy of WW2.

I've only read Liddell-Hart's "History of the Second World War". I don't know what's the consensus on it... is it any good?

Another outstanding book I first read in the 70's and currently am re-reading. I'd say his overall analysis is right on and each part of the war is well descibed. His description of 'indirect strategy' in this and his "Strategy" book are especially useful in confusing and ripping up HOI3's AI.

Two books not mentioned I can recommend:

The German Army 1933-1945 by Matthew Cooper is very well done, gives a great analysis of the buildup to WW2, myths about 'blitzkrieg' and Barbarossa and just a fine overview of the German army.

The Pacific Campaign, The U.S.-Japanese Naval War 1941-1945 by Dan van der Vat is a fine modern look at the Pacific war for those of us who find that immense theater of interest.

 

[The Witch-King]

I'll throw in some more fiction here:

- Sven Hassel's roguish stories focusing mainly on the men in a German penal batallion on the Eastern Front. There are more than a dozen novels to pick from. (The 1988 film "Wheels of Terror" aka "The Misfit Brigade" is based on one of his books, in case it rings a bell)

- I also second "Catch 22" by Joseph Heller, a brilliant read.

- And then there's Peter Rabbit Tank Killer...

EDIT:

- Oh, and "The Unknown Soldier" by Väinö Linna. An absolutely brilliant and very grim novel about Finnish soldiers on the Eastern Front 1941 onwards.

 

[Erebos]

I couldn't agree more. A very, very good book about the common soldier enduring horrible conditions. A must read.

I must admit that a couple of days ago I put "The Forgotten Soldier" back in the shelf at the bookstore after reading the back. I tend to mistrust books that have spelling errors on the backside ("Grosse Deutschland" instead of "Großdeutschland") and claiming that recruits that didn't live up to the expectations of their drill sergeants were shot looked ... a bit bizarre. Meh, but maybe I'll get it second-hand, since so many people here recommend it.

EDIT: For those who speak German (or at least are able to read it)
Das Kriegstagebuch des OKW (roughly: War Diary of the German High Command)

 

[KLorberau]

Achtung Panzer by Field Marshall Guderian......tells about all of the problems of him trying to get the German Panzer arm off of the ground and all of the bickering between the "old" breed.

One of my favorite fiction books is called "1946" by Newt Gingrich......yes old Newt........History Professor before he was in Congress....Very good read about an alternate history with Germany coming to America in 1946 to destroy USA's atomic bomb facilities.......Has lots of historical figures in it, including Otto Skorzeny leading the German Commandos on the mission. Great fiction book. Really enjoyed it.

KLorberau