Best WW2 Book You Have Read in 2013

[Kris]

Colin wrote: "Kris wrote: "I am looking forward to getting The Rzhev Slaughterhouse The Red Army's Forgotten 15-month Campaign against Army Group Center, 1942-1943 I have read little about this p..."

Colin, the length of the conflict also is staggering. I imagine many of the survivors must have gripping accounts.

[happy]

Kris wrote: "I am looking forward to getting The Rzhev Slaughterhouse The Red Army's Forgotten 15-month Campaign against Army Group Center, 1942-1943 I have read little about this part of the ea..."

If you haven't read it already, another pretty good one about Rzhev is Glantz's

Zhukov's Greatest Defeat: The Red Army's Epic Disaster in Operation Mars, 1942

Glantz tells the story of the Red Army's attempt to reduce the salient at the same time as Stalingrad.

[Kris]

happy wrote: "Kris wrote: "I am looking forward to getting The Rzhev Slaughterhouse The Red Army's Forgotten 15-month Campaign against Army Group Center, 1942-1943 I have read little about this p..."

I have seen that book a few times as I like Glantz's stuff so on to the TBR pile it goes...

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

A nice addition Kris :)

[happy]

Kris wrote: "happy wrote: "Kris wrote: "I am looking forward to getting The Rzhev Slaughterhouse The Red Army's Forgotten 15-month Campaign against Army Group Center, 1942-1943 I have read littl..."

Yes - the ever expanding TBR pile :)

[Colin]

Kris wrote: "Colin wrote: "Kris wrote: "I am looking forward to getting The Rzhev Slaughterhouse The Red Army's Forgotten 15-month Campaign against Army Group Center, 1942-1943 I have read littl..."

You have no idea. both Germans and Soviet. The Red Army threw Ukrainians (not Russians) in at a large rate, because they were expendable.

[Anne]

I absolutely loved "A Higher Call" . It truly is one of the best books I read this year and ranks very high on all time favorites.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Great to hear you enjoyed A Higher Call Anne. That is one book I do need to try and read as soon as possible, thanks for mentioning it in this thread.

[Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces]

Me too Rick, and it seems Anne's liking this was mirrored by a number of other people in the group too.

[Elinor]

My interest in wartime fiction is not so much military strategy but the hearts and minds of the people who lived through it. Pastoral is about a young bomber pilot and his girlfriend, a member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force who is serving on his station. Her character is just as strong as his. Nevil Shute is a master story-teller and this novel is one of my all-time favourites. Read about my love for wartime history at www.elinorflorence.com and check out my blog called Wartime Wednesdays.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Thanks Elinor for your recommendation for the best WW2 book you have read in 2013.

[Francisco Javier]

My five star book for 2013 was

"Normandy 1944" by Dick Stodghill

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Great recommendation Francisco, thanks for mentioning this book, it sounds very interesting.

[Lilo]

My Name Was Five: A Novel of the Second World War
by Heinz Kohler

Please read my review.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces]

Francisco Javier wrote: "My five star book for 2013 was

"Normandy 1944" by Dick Stodghill"

Thanks Francisco this looks very good, and if you are writing a review I look forward to reading it. May I recommend these two which might be of interest:

Fear is the Foe: A Footslogger from Normandy to the Rhine by Stanley Whitehouse

Quartered Safe Out Here by George MacDonald Fraser

[Mikey B.]

Probably my favourite of 2013 - extremely well-written, but long was
by andPaul Reid

Actually Paul Reid did most of the work - as William Manchester had suffered a writers block for several years and died in 2004.

[Dj]

So I have been tossing over in my mind what the best book I read last year was and then it hit me that I was being an idiot. The best book I read was an easy one. It was one that really changed my view on birographies and gave me a deep insight into someone that I have come to respect from past reading:



So there you go. I should stop trying to over think things.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Nice recommendation Dj. It is hard though sometimes eh!

[Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces]

and a book by a group member too Dj :)

[Lilo]

"Patton's Oracle", by (group member) Robert Hays, has been on my priority TBR-list for quite some time. I hope I'll get around to read it in the near future.

[Dj]

Yeah especially trying to remember which ones I read when. LOL.


'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Nice recommendation Dj. It is hard though sometimes eh!"

[Dj]

It is well worth the effort and the wait.

Lilo wrote: ""Patton's Oracle", by (group member) Robert Hays, has been on my priority TBR-list for quite some time. I hope I'll get around to read it in the near future."

[Jill H.]

by William Craig (no photo)

I suddenly realized one day that the majority of my WWII reading choices were set in Europe and North Africa, and very few in the Pacific theater. So I picked up this book (published in 2005) in a library sale bin and certainly picked the right one!!

This is a well written history that begins when the Japanese are starting to lose the war, although the first chapter reviews the war from Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, and the various islands that the Japanese had conquered. But it is about the fall of Japan and it begins when the majority of the Japanese Navy is on the bottom of the ocean and the Air Force has resorted to the kamikaze. We learn the personalities of the Japanese military leadership, part of whom knew the war was lost and part who wanted to fight it out to the end in the home islands. Plots were boiling under the surface, especially after the nuclear bombs were dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. We learn the power of Emperor Hirohito when the chips are down and he announces that surrender is the only choice. He prevails, of course and the some of the leading military leaders commit hari kari in humiliation for failing their Emperor. We follow the activities of accomplishing unconditional surrender up until the famous four words uttered by General MacArthur on board the USS Missouri......"These proceedings are closed".

Highly recommended......an excellent book for the WWII buff.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Excellent selection Jill, I purchased a copy after I realised that the author had written the classic book on Stalingrad; Enemy at the Gates. I must confess to not having read it yet though :(

by William Craig

[Mike, Assisting Moderator US Forces]

Jill wrote: " by William Craig (no photo)

I suddenly realized one day that the majority of my WWII reading choices were set in Europe and North Africa, and ..."

Added TBR.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Your TBR list must be getting quite long Mike :)

[Mike, Assisting Moderator US Forces]

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Your TBR list must be getting quite long Mike :)"

Probably still shorter than yours but yes. I didn't need to add another but, dang it, the book just looks too good.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Can't be helped eh!

[happy]

Jill definately hasn't helped my TBR - I didn't think it could grow any faster, then she showed up :)

Jill

Thank You Ma'am

[Jill H.]

happy wrote: "Jill definately hasn't helped my TBR - I didn't think it could grow any faster, then she showed up :)

Jill

Thank You Ma'am"

You are more than welcome, happy. I feel the same way about Aussie Rick ......in another club where we met, he made my TBR list go into high gear.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

I am sure it's been a two way street :)

[Jerry]

Jill wrote: " by William Craig (no photo)

I suddenly realized one day that the majority of my WWII reading choices were set in Europe and North Africa, and ..."

"Downfall" is very good on the collapse of the Japanese regime.

[Gerald]

Mike wrote: "Death in the Baltic: The World War II Sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff by [author:Cathryn J...."

I agree, Mike. I read this book last year.

[James]

A very hard choice but I'd say The Bitter End by Lex McAulay. It covers the New Guinea beach head battles of Gona, Buna and Sanananda. I chanced upon an old paper back copy in a second hand bookshop and I'm glad I did.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Hi James, it is indeed a classic account. Have you read Paul Ham's book Kokoda?


(no cover) To The Bitter End: The Japanese Defeat at Buna and Gona 1942-43 by Lex McAulay

by Paul Ham

[James]

Hi Rick, I haven't read Paul Ham's Kokoda but if it is as good as his book on Vietnam I should be well worth a look. Peter Brune's A Bastard of a Place rates highly for me.

Cheers

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

Hi James, if you enjoyed his book on Vietnam I am pretty sure you will enjoy Kokoda not to mention his recent book on Sandakan:

by Paul Ham

I totally agree that A Bastard of a Place is also an excellent book on the fighting in New Guinea.

[Colin]

If you want to read a couple of books on Vietnam, one I coauthored, but the other written by Col. Nick Rowe who was a friend and my recruiter, see "Five Years to Freedom" and "Noble Warrior", good stories in the first person.

[Colin]

I would also suggest a film about Aussies in Vietnam, called "The Odd Angry Shot", with a good recognizable cast.

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

That movie was a classic Colin, didn't think too many people outside of Australia would know of it!

[Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces]

Not seen that gents and so one to look out for, thanks.

[Dimitri]

Good question, I joined GR mid-year. But the registered winner is
Thunder in the East: The Nazi-Soviet War, 1941-1945

[Lilo]

Maybe not the best-written book but, definitely, the most important book:

It Can't Happen Here, by Sinclair Lewis (written 1935, published 1936)

It Can't Happen Here

['Aussie Rick', Moderator]

I'll set up a 'Best book of 2015' thread soon and you can register your votes there if you like.

[Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces]

Good idea thanks Rick.