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What is the best war book you have ever read?


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FightenIrish35

Some new ones that I read and enjoyed the imagery/drawings is anything by BILL MAULDIN!!!!!

 

Simply awesome!!! thumbsup.gif

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Two of the best war books I've seen were books I never bought but only partially read on the installment plan at the local bookstore. One was ''Devil At My Heels'', about a guy from Torrance CA who was in the 1936 Olympics (he actually shimmied up a pole in front of one of the Nazi government buildings and ripped off a swastika flag; the Germans caught him but actually let him keep it). Later he was a B-24 navigator and nearly died after crashing into the Pacific; he and a comrade floated in a raft for something like two months at sea (I think he broke the record), even having an absolutely hair-raising encounter with a Great White shark late at night. He was captured by the Japanese. Anyway, the book is an awesome account of what some people of that generation went through.

 

The other book I can't recall the name of, but it came out just a couple years ago and was the story of a USAAF pilot at one of the German stalags. Does anyone know which book I'm speaking of? He actually had a fair-minded attitude towards the Germans which sort of surprised me.

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Since it is one of my favourite movies, my girlfriend bought me "The Thin Red Line" by James Jones a couple of months ago. I really recommend it to those who like the movie too, even though it's narrated in a different way. The book is based on the author's memoires (he was a WWII vet) but the story and the characters are fictional.

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Devils in Baggy Pants - Ross Carter

Band of Brothers

Patton, Ordeal and Triumph - Farago

Black Hawk Down

The Great Escape - Paul Brickhill

The Longest Day - Cornelius Ryan

The Mighty Eighth - Roger Freeman

 

Alan

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I read many german books about WW1 and WW2, only a few US ones. The best of them:

 

US:

Ghost soldiers

Jarhead

The thin red line (my favorite)

 

German:

L.Renn "Krieg" (WWI, a little bit like Remarque)

Karner "Im Auge des Jägers" (Bio of an high decorated Wehrmacht-Sniper)

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Ken_Carroll
Just wanted to get some ideas on some books to read. I like to read and want to collect books for my 2 boys (9,5).

 

I am reading a book called "God have mercy on us!," it is about the 97th Co, 6th Marines. I just got it today and I have only read a few pages, but the book it pretty witty.

There is no information about the author and it doesn't mention if he was part of the 6th Marines.

author: William T Scanlon

My personal favorite is "With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa" by E.B. Sledge. Absolutely frank and brutal commentary on war from a combat marine.

 

Regards,

 

Ken

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One of the best reads I've had recently was "The Black Sheep" by Bruce Gamble. It follows the whole history of VMF-214 from the time they where formed until Maj. Boyington commanded them. Great Book.

 

Chris

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mjerickson

May have mentioned it before but, the 2 books Ive read by Bill Sloan Given Up for Dead, and Brotherhood of Heros are the two best books on WWII in the Pacific Ive ever read. For you Korea Guys hes currently working on a book about the Pusan parimiter.

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For you Korea Guys hes currently working on a book about the Pusan parimiter.

 

I'll be looking forward to that.

 

Speaking of which, I forgot to mention "To The Last Man" by Frank Kestner; it's about that author's experience with an army combat engineer company at the Chosin Reservoir. It's a short book but I find it interesting as I have an interest in that campaign. It's a glimpse into a small army company in a sea of Marines. Kestner's also the guy who wired the Hungnam docks with explosives; the resultant huge explosions are usually seen in Chosin documentaries.

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Flyboys by James Bradley, really makes you understand the Japanese thinking concerning war.

 

Hitler's Last Soldier Out of print and hard to find, but one of the best stories I have ever read. What you've got here is the true story of a German who was taken prisoner in Africa by the U.S. during WWII, and brought to a prison camp in the U.S. One night he manages to escape, and has to start his whole life over again with a fake identity and background.

It's just like the movie "Fugitive", with several close calls early on on his new life in California. He doesn't live as a recluse, eventually getting married and living a very active life. I won't ruin the ending, but you won't be disappointed.

The German POW reads a book about German POW's in America and how of the 30 or so that escaped, only one was never caught, he relizes that this man is him. He calls the author in the middle of the night and tells him who he is. The author meets with him and writes this book. The man still lives out in Colorado.

 

 

Several copies of Hitler's Last Soldier are currently available on Amazon.com

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Gates of Fire by Pressfield does a great job of showing the thought process of the Soldier on the battlefield - not bad for fiction........... sort of

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Niner Alpha

Co. K by William March is the best WWI book by an American even though it is a novel.

 

Here is your War and Brave men by Earnie Pyle are terrific reads based on his newspaper stories as he followed the war.

 

The James Jones books are the best WWII Novels. From Here to Eternity, The Thin Red Line, and Whistle are really a trilogy with the characters changing names because of the ones he kills off early on. Jones died just as he got to the last Chapter of Whistle and William Morris finished it for him from his notes.

 

There is no good Vietnam War novel or history that I have found yet.

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A tough question since I've been reading them for about 55 years, but "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" stands out among books read in the past few years.

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A tough question since I've been reading them for about 55 years, but "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" stands out among books read in the past few years. Also a very early work of fiction on Vietnam was "Easy Victories" written under the pseudonym, James Towbridge.

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Just finished the book Ghost Soldiers. Its about the Rescue of the POW's at Cabanatuan by the 6th Ranger Batt. Just outstanding reading

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"Up Front" by Bill Mauldin should be required reading in every high school in this country! "Marine! The Life of Chesty Puller" by Burke Davis is my all-time favorite. Fought from the banana wars to Korea, winning five Navy Crosses - an excellent book.

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Still must say that one of the best books written about WWII combat in any theatre has to be: "With the Old Breed" by E.B. Sledge. Have so many others that it is hard to name one....I would have to say that "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" by William Shirer (spelling)? Very good, and have a couple copies (dont know why...same book) but very good insight into the rise of the TR none the less. Also a big Ambrose fan. Read lots of others mentioned here. Like the glider books....one of the best and very little known is "Lets Go" by Wayne Pierce...Cpt. 325th during the war. Very good, and a great personal account of N.Africa, Sicily, Italy, England, Normandy, Holland, the Bulge, and Germany with the 325 of the 82nd! Have lots others that are too numerous to list right now, but have enjoyed many, many hours of reading on military history topics! :rolleyes:

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The Battle for Dak To, The 173rd Airborne Brigade by CSM(ret) Okendo....hard to find and very expensive when you can find it.....great read though and well worth the money. CSM Okendo is now deceased...RIP Trooper!

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My top picks-not necessarily in this order:

We Were Soldiers Once, and Young

Green Berets at War

Here is Your War (Pyle)

Lines of Battle (Letters from WW2)

 

Jeff

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"Helmet for my Pillow" by Robert Leckie, and my ALL-time favorite,

 

"With The Old Breed" by E.B. Sledge. It was the FIRST Marine book I ever read (I was eight, I think), and I have read it at least 40+ more times since then. It will sit on my shelf for months and I'll get inspiration from somewhere to re-read it, and invariably I'll take away something I hadn't before.

 

I'm anxiously awaiting "The Pacific", so I can read it again, but "in color"! :thumbsup:

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