Please recommend reading on wwii combat

NaKATPase · Post by **NaKATPase** » Fri Aug 23, 2002 5:44 am

I'm looking for books that detail platoon, company, and/or battalion level leadership and combat during the second world war.

To put a finer point on it, I've just finished "Panzer Battles" by v. Mellenthin, and "Panzer Leader" by Guderian, and both of these are interesting accounts of operational decision making during the war.
I'm looking for a similar type of account, but focused on lower levels of command. American, British, German or Russian sources would all be of interest to me.

Thank you for any suggestions you might be able to give!

Bing · Post by **Bing** » Fri Aug 23, 2002 6:02 am

For a viewpoint which covers every aspect of WW2 combat in France, Max Hasting's "Overloard" can't be beat. Impressive - the way Max takes the reader all the way from the grunt with the rifle in the ditch to the highest levels of command.

For me, it is the best thing about the book. This is not to say other authors have not done the same - in my experience few have approached Hastings in achieving results.

Possibly you will not like some of what you read - don't expect John Wayne stuff. War is dirty business; it is after all about killing people. Hastings brings that through better than most. There is an extended passage concerning the utter destruction of a British infantry unit, it is somber reading but I believe essential in conveying the nature of modern warfare.

For ETO the Hastings book is a strong recommendation. Five out of five stars. I have been rereading the book annually for about ten years.

Bing

tracer · Post by **tracer** » Fri Aug 23, 2002 8:31 am

Bing, thanks for jogging my memory: I ran across this book back in college, but forgot the title and author. I did a search on Amazon.com for 'Max Hastings' and came up with several matches.

'Overlord' seemed a little pricey at $22 for paperback so I looked in the 'used' section at Amazon and bought a hardcover edition for $5.50! While there I also picked up two of his out-of-print books: 'Das Reich: March of the Second SS Panzer Division Through France' ($8.00, hardcover) and 'Victory in Europe: D-Day to V-E Day' ($1.99!!!, hardcover). All 3 were listed as 'very good condition, with dust jacket', and with shipping cost a total of $25.

Thought I should mention this in case anyone was in the market for 'hard to find' books.

stevemk1a · Post by **stevemk1a** » Fri Aug 23, 2002 10:13 am

Hi! The best tactical level books I have read are Charles B. Macdonald's "Company Commander", and (not too sure if it's fact or fiction) Guy Sajer's "Forgotten Soldier". Although it's not strictly a WWII book, John Keegan's "Face of Battle" is a great read. I remember reading "Forgotten Soldier" about 20 years ago or so ... that book got me started wargaming.

VikingNo2 · Post by **VikingNo2** » Fri Aug 23, 2002 10:48 am

www.usmc.mil

We have a required reading list that has tons of books about tactic's, leadership ect....

If you can't find it let me know and I'll send the list to you

Semper Fi

Bing · Post by **Bing** » Fri Aug 23, 2002 6:28 pm

Tracer - Yeah, I just checked and $22.95 is way out of line for the kind of paperback "Overlord" is - the B&W illustrations aren't even that good. I've tried the used books search that amazon.com furnishes - got my Bishop's Encyclopedia of Weapons of WW2 thru that service and had a choice of many different prices, I took the lowest price for a "good condition" copy from a bookseller in Oregon and it turned out great: The book was in reality brand new, or at least you couldn't tell if it had been read at all. By all means - it is the way to go to hold down book prices these days.

I haven't read Max's other books, will get around to it some day. Very busy these days with Microsoft Train Sim, MOHAA, RtCW and Madden Football 2003, plus the occasional WAW PBEM game.

Max is a heck of a writer, isn't he? A bit confused in his feelings towards the quality of US troops - pounces on every opportunity to tell us how terrible they were (while never mentioining how bad the Wehmacht was in 1937 and 38), then praises the American action in the Carentan. He does admit the 82nd and 101st were reasonably good soldiers and does so up front. He doesn't seem to understand that defensive fighiting is by its nature a lot less difficult than assault. Other than Max not being a perfect human being, I enjoy "Overlord" tremendously and recommend it whenever possible. Darn fine book.

Bing

Jim1954 · Post by **Jim1954** » Fri Aug 23, 2002 7:22 pm

Infantry Aces and Panzer Aces by Franz Kurowski. Detailed tactical actions of various Knight's Cross recipients careers.

Les_the_Sarge_9_1 · Post by **Les_the_Sarge_9_1** » Fri Aug 23, 2002 9:15 pm

What really sucks about all the titles I "might" suggest, is you would only encounter them by blind chance in a dusty old second hand book store probably.

So it tends to take some of the starch out of me quoting them.

I do have a series of books called collectively "Combat".
4 of them, European Theatre, Pacific Theatre, War against Germany, and War Against Japan.

I have rarely found a better set of books. I have one done for WW1 and one for the Civil War as well.

Good luck in finding these treasures though.

Bing · Post by **Bing** » Sat Aug 24, 2002 12:01 am

An excellent source of books on any aspect of war is "Articles of War" booksellers. When they were located in Skokie, IL and I lived in the area and spent more money there than I did on food and clothing. They have moved, apparently but their new webiste gives you a good rundown on their services and book finding abilities. Just go to Google and type in "articles of war" and you'll be there.

Caveat: The price for some used books is far out of proportion to their worth, don't be surprised if you find it this way. OTOH, AoW have turned up dozens of affordable surprises for me over the years. I miss them a lot, now that they and myself have moved in opposite directions.

Bing

Heide · Post by **Heide** » Sat Aug 24, 2002 12:30 am

Another thumbs up for "The Forgotten Soldier". Good viewpoint of a German soldat.

tracer · Post by **tracer** » Sat Aug 24, 2002 4:03 am

Originally posted by Bing

Max is a heck of a writer, isn't he? A bit confused in his feelings towards the quality of US troops - pounces on every opportunity to tell us how terrible they were (while never mentioining how bad the Wehmacht was in 1937 and 38), then praises the American action in the Carentan. He does admit the 82nd and 101st were reasonably good soldiers and does so up front. He doesn't seem to understand that defensive fighiting is by its nature a lot less difficult than assault. Other than Max not being a perfect human being, I enjoy "Overlord" tremendously and recommend it whenever possible. Darn fine book.

Bing

I only had a couple hours to skim thru certain parts of 'Overlord' back in 1985. I literally stumbled on it in the most unlikely place: the library at Harvard Medical School in Boston! During my clinical rotations we were given access to their library, and I spotted it one night on a cart of donated books they were selling. I opened it to a random spot, started reading, and next thing I knew it was 2 hours later and the library was closing...his style of writing sucked me right in. I tried to remember the author/title several times since then, but when you posted the above message it finally 'clicked'.

I'll let you know if I find his other books in the same league as 'Overlord', and the condition they arrive in. Thanks again for jogging my 'rapidly rusting' memory