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I finally read a book I've been meaning to read for decades. All my friends kept telling me about "The Road to Stalingrad" by Benno Zieser and that I should read it. I just finished it. It's a very good narrative from the German grunts point of view and a quick read. If you haven't already read it, I recommend reading it if you can find a copy. Definitely a wargamer kind of book. The copy I read is a Ballantine paperback printed in 1956. Don't know if it's still in print.

Hope I can still find it Dave.

This is a book I would like to read as I am replaying SPWAW LV and just got Korsun Pocket.

Thanks for the heads up!

I'd strongly recommend Robert Massie's "Castles of steel: Britain, Germany and the winning of the Great War at Sea." This is a follow up to Massies 1991 "Dreadnought," a history of the naval arms race between Britain and Germany up until 1914. Massie is the premier naval historian of our day. His massive histories read like a novel as he captures the drama and personality of the events he writes about. "Castles" gives the reader the look and feel of the age of the battleship. You can practically feel the salt-water spray on your face as you read about the exciting chase and battle sequences of the little known but strategically important naval battles and campaigns of the Great War. It is truly a follow up to Mahan in that he is able to explain what early 20th century naval strategy was all about.

"Castles of Steel" was outstanding!!! Very detailed but a gripping read, one of the better books I've read lately.

I see lists of must read books now and then, but nothing has ever equalled a book I have called Tank War 1939-1945 by Janusz Piekalkiewicz translated from the German original called Krieg der Panzer 1939-1945.

It's non fiction and a Chronology type work, but done with a focus on what was happening today in armoured fighting matters. Richly illustrated and crawling with maps. It covers every square inch of the war, and leaves no sector out if armour was involved.

It is basically a Steel Panthers dream reference, as it tells you what was happening anywhere. It allows the ability to plan out scenarios amazingly well.

At the risk of sounding wet behind the ears, has anyone here read Richard Atkinson's "An Army at Dawn." I've read dozens of books about the World War Two, and I just love this one. I think weaving personal battles accounts with the overal strategy is very well done. For example, he writes about the grand strategy then what Eisenhower believed to be the grand strategy; the grand strategy in motion, the tommies getting slaughtered to the sound "whipcracking" 88's is not forgotten.

I tried to get through "Dreadnought" but its still sitting on my shelf. Maybe it livens up in the second half. the first half is rather slow to me.

ORIGINAL: ShermanM4

At the risk of sounding wet behind the ears, has anyone here read Richard Atkinson's "An Army at Dawn." I've read dozens of books about the World War Two, and I just love this one. I think weaving personal battles accounts with the overal strategy is very well done. For example, he writes about the grand strategy then what Eisenhower believed to be the grand strategy; the grand strategy in motion, the tommies getting slaughtered to the sound "whipcracking" 88's is not forgotten.

Hi sherman,
I thought that book was great too. It is part of a 3 book series on the US Army in WWII. The next is about the US army in the med and then Europe to follow. Atkinson does a great job of weaving everything together. I really enjoyed his desription of the interaction between higher level commanders.

Although he was great on the strategy and operations part, I felt that for the size of the book, he came up short on the doctrine of the US Army and the evolution of that doctrine after the initial encounter with the Germans. Also, he was very light on the role of the artillery in the desert. IMHO, the US Artillery was the only branch that measured up in the initial clashes. While I am nitpicking, I also found a dearth of technical detail on the weapons themselves and the shortcomings of those weapons that contributed to the initial failure.

Having said all that, it was still a great book to read.