OT: WW2 books

[ncc1701e]

With the new 1.09 naval rules coming, did anyone read this book?

World War II at Sea: A Global History by Craig L. Symonds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp0eZJp8GYw

I have ordered it already for my little Christmas. [:)]

Any other recommendation for WW2 naval books?

[ago1000]

I am presently on Chapter 12. Awesome book. Highly recommend it. Ian Toll's trilogy on the Pacific was also awesome too. I was thinking about Rommel's tactics book next.

Forgot to mention his approach is to look at all the seas(the world) as being one big Naval battle where something that happened in the Indian Ocean had impact on UK home fleet.

[Meteor2]

I was very impressed by (PTO):
John Tolland, „The rising sun“.
William Slim, „Defeat into Victory“

Narratives and very good to to read. Not a single minute of boredom. [;)]

[ncc1701e]

Thanks, I will have a look

[Meteor2]

And to go into more details of the 3rd battle of Kharkow, an interesting read is
Georg M. Nipe, „Last victory in Russia“.
A deep description from an operation standpoint with lots of pictures and maps.
Feb to March 43.
You may get a „feeling“ for the brutal details of this fluctuating fights.

[AlvaroSousa]

Battle of Brody 1941, Russia... largest lopsided tank battle you never heard of.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Brody_(1941)

[Edorf]

Regarding the WW2 naval war I bought this one

https://www.amazon.com/War-Seas-Maritim ... 0300254881

Content wise it is mostly the same as the book mentioned in the first post.

I don’t own this book but it seems interesting:

https://www.amazon.com/How-War-Was-Won- ... 110871689X

[Cigar King]

Ian Toll's trilogy on the Pacific was also awesome too.

Toll's work is good. Morrison still remains definitive as it was written shortly after the war and had access to (living) source material.

My main gripe with Toll is he writes like he's trying to prove something. He spent too much time with the thesaurus. Who uses "pilloried" for example?

[Cigar King]

Wow...I had no ide these books were so expensive. I bought mine a long time ago.

https://www.amazon.com/History-United-S ... 256&sr=8-1

Check your library, especially a university library.

[Meteor2]

I found, that

Richard B. Frank, „Guadalcanal“

is a good read. 600 well written pages.

[ago1000]

What's a good one for the Europe land war?

[Cigar King]

Suggest the green books for the US side.

https://history.army.mil/html/bookshelv ... saww2.html

The nice thing is it appears they are now available online, for free. I bought them years ago.

BTW, the pictorial record has some rare images.

[Edorf]

ORIGINAL: ago1000

What's a good one for the Europe land war?

Some suggestion are:

Single-volume of both theaters of WW2, operational history

https://www.amazon.com/Great-Crusade-Co ... 159797191X

For 1940

https://www.amazon.com/Blitzkrieg-Reali ... 8&qid=&sr=

Eastern Front 1941-45

https://www.amazon.com/Cataclysm-War-Ea ... 8&qid=&sr=

[ago1000]

Thank you all very much. Has anyone read the Rommel's tactic book. Is it worth reading?

[Cigar King]

Assuming you're talking about Infantry Attacks, I'd say it should be low on your list. It's more of a tactics paper, so unless you have read (or plan to) read others I'd focus elsewhere.

[Meteor2]

„Infantry attacks“ by GFM Rommel is a good read, too.
But it covers WW1, as you all know, where he got. the „Pour le Merite“, the highest German decoration.
The later Panzer general as infantry leader and the book was intended as an textbook for teaching infantry tactics.
When I remember, is is written approx. 1935.
In my libery for more than 30 years. [:D]

[OxfordGuy3]

If you're at all interested in the war in North Africa, I can highly recommend "The Desert Generals" by Correlli Barnett. It covers the war in North Africa from the initial Italian moves into Egypt in 1940 all the way to 1943. Was one of the first to deflate to Montgomery myth (he doesn't come out of it well), and also to recognise the achievements of some of the earlier British generals, Richard O'Connor in particular.

[Cigar King]

For North Africa I recall being impressed by the work done in the official Australian history. Just looked. It's online as well.

https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1417143

[Bennett]

This thread represents a serious threat to my bank account.