THE WORLD WAR TWO GROUP discussion
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New Release Books on WW2
message 451:
by
'Aussie Rick', Moderator
(new)
Jun 20, 2012 02:01PM
Hi Wade, I'm very tempted to start reading it next but you know how those sort of plans go, another book grabs your interest before you know it :)
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By far Mr. Rick....the hardest is deciding on what to read or in which direction to turn...amazing how this event has and does influence our reading,viewing selections.I am not finished with reading Hitlers'plans to invade Great Britan, and already thinking which way to go next...Europe, Soviet Union ,the Med., Pacific, Africa,(??) ..it's all good though......
So jealous Rick I want that book!!!!!
Sorry, it's mine, not sharing :)
Want 'em both...gimme!
message 459:
by
Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces
(new)
I'm looking to buy this - just need a good review from Rick to take the plunge...
Oh the pressure!:-)
I'm afraid this September release (UK) may be a 'must have' book:
by Karl-Heinz GollaDescription:
The Fallschirmtruppe of the Wehrmacht won recognition for their valor and endurance not only from their fellow German soldiers, but from their former enemies as well. On the basis of careful and comprehensive research, including utilizing extensive unpublished documentary and personal materials, the author covers the history of the Fallschirmtruppe from its genesis and early training to its employment in combat in Scandinavia, the Albert Canal in Belgium, Holland, the Greek mainland and, of course, at Crete. The reasons for the remarkable successes of the German Fallschirmtruppe during this period are analyzed, as are also the conceptual weaknesses inherent in its formation, and the faults in the command and control during its combat employment. The author, himself a former Bundeswehr Fallschirmjager and General Staff officer, has also utilized accounts from those who fought the Fallschirmtruppe, and has thus been able to correct many errors perpetuated in previous books on this subject, besides providing more complete coverage. The text is supplemented by approximately 100 b/w photos and more than 25 detailed color maps. This is a remarkably detailed study, firmly based on documentary sources, and is destined to become one of the definitive works on its subject in the English language.
About the author:
Karl-Heinz Golla, born in 1939, joined the Fallschirmjäger of the Bundeswehr in 1958. After completion of officer training, he served as a platoon leader and company commander and then passed the General Staff course. He undertook several assignments as a General Staff officer in the fields of operations, war planning and doctrine in senior national and NATO commands. In between he was also a commander of an armored infantry battalion. He retired in 1994 with the rank of colonel. Since then he has authored several military history books, including Zwischen Reggio und Cassino: Das Kriegsgeschehen in Italien im zweiten Halbjahr 1943 (2004) and Der Fall Griechenlands 1941 (2007).
byJ. Todd Moye is available on the Kindle for only $1.99 at the moment. That is what I call a bargain.
My copy of Monte Cassino: Ten Armies In Hell by Peter Caddick-Adams arrived today and it looks pretty good :)
by Peter Caddick-Adams
On a trip to Powell's in Portland I picked up
and
. Both on sale of course!
Looks like some great books there John!
My copy of To the Gate of Hell: A Memoir of a Panzer Crewman arrived today and it does look like an excellent account. I was pleasantly surprised to find heaps of colour photographs taken by the author during the war, very nice.
by Armin Bottger
John wrote: "On a trip to Powell's in Portland ..."john, a dangerous place for a WW2 book shopper. amazing
you got out of there with only 2!
Recently picked up copies of these books:
message 469:
by
Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces
(new)
Nice group Steve, especially Hill 112: Cornerstone Of The Normandy Campaign by J. J. How which is cited as being an excellent account of that action. I have on my TBR but do not yet have a copy so will be really interested to hear your views.
Nice bunch of books Steve. I have been thinking about ordering copies of the first two titles you mentioned as well.
Geevee wrote: "Nice group Steve, especially Hill 112: Cornerstone Of The Normandy Campaign by J. J. How which is cited as being an excellent account of that action. I have on my TBR but do not yet have a copy so..."Hi Geevee,
Just flipping through the pages of Hill 112 there are some great photos and I've read some excellent reviews, particularly from author Ian Dalglish who highly recommends the book. I'm looking forward to reading it and will let you know what I think of it.
'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Nice bunch of books Steve. I have been thinking about ordering copies of the first two titles you mentioned as well."Hi Rick,
I ordered the Mcmanus books after reading some excellent reviews on Amazon. Volume 2 in particular is said to be one the finest books on the Americans in Normandy.
OK, looks like I better get a copy. I just received his latest title; September Hope: The American Side of a Bridge Too Far. So maybe I should also get the first two books covering the Americans in Europe.
by John C. McManus
After some prodding by Steve I've just ordered a copy of both of these books:
and
by John C. McManus
Knowing you Rick I am sure not much prodding was needed.
'Aussie Rick' wrote: "OK, looks like I better get a copy. I just received his latest title; September Hope: The American Side of a Bridge Too Far. So maybe I should also get the first two books covering the Americans in..."Let us know what you think. An acquaintance of mine read it and was fairly dissatisfied. Most of the information was from second (and third)-hand sources and was readily avialble from other places. There is not enough on American planning nor about Gavin's decision to secure to Groesbeek Heights rather than seizing the Nijmegan Bridge. Apparently, lots of personal detail (and worthwhile for that) but it apparently fails to deliver any cogent analysis, other than what is commercially avaialble elsewhere.
Hi Nick, once I've read the book I will let you know how good or bad it is.
Good book (I think) which I am yet to read!
Just stumbled across this new title that may interest a few readers here:
by Gregory G. FletcherDescription:
On the morning of October 24, 1944, in the Sibuyan Sea amidst the Philippine Islands, VT-18, a close-knit squadron of six young American torpedo bomber pilots, departed the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid on a search and destroy mission. Their target: the super-battleship Musashi, the pride of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The pilots were tasked with preventing the immense enemy warship and the huge naval armada of which she was a part from inflicting unspeakable damage on the transports and supply ships that were supporting the American amphibious landings within nearby Leyte Gulf. Little did these young men know that they had embarked on the opening rounds of history's greatest--and last--epic naval battle. Two bomber crews launched in the first wave of attackers were shot out of the sky. Only pilot Will Fletcher survived the crash landing. Adrift at sea, Will made his way to land and escaped into the jungles of the Philippines, where he eluded capture by the Japanese with the help of Filipino guerrillas and joined their ranks against their common enemy. Intrepid Aviators is the thrilling true story of the brave bomber pilots, their daring duel with the Musashi, and Will Fletcher's struggle to survive as a guerrilla soldier. The sinking of Musashi inflicted a crucial blow in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and would mark the first time in history that aviators had sunk a Japanese battleship on the high seas.
Here is another new book due out in a few months which I am sure will interest a few readers here, it interests me!
by Joachim LudewigDescription:
The Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, marked a critical turning point in the European theater of World War II. The massive landing on France's coast had been meticulously planned for three years, and the Allies anticipated a quick and decisive defeat of the German forces. Many of the planners were surprised, however, by the length of time it ultimately took to defeat the Germans.
While much has been written about D-day, very little has been written about the crucial period from August to September, immediately after the invasion. In Rückzug, Joachim Ludewig draws on military records from both sides to show that a quick defeat of the Germans was hindered by excessive caution and a lack of strategic boldness on the part of the Allies, as well as by the Germans' tactical skill and energy. This intriguing study, translated from German, not only examines a significant and often overlooked phase of the war, but also offers a valuable account of the conflict from the perspective of the German forces.
Reviews:
"Much has been written in English on the Normandy invasion and campaign, as well as on later events, but virtually nothing is known of the crucial period from mid-August to mid-September 1944. Ludewig is the first historian to document in detail the Wehrmacht's retreat from France from the German perspective. He has produced a very solidly researched and documented study on a neglected area of the 1944 campaign in France. His analysis is clear and his explanations of German skill and missed Allied opportunities judicious." - Stephen G. Fritz, (author of Ostkrieg: Hitler's War of Extermination in the East)
"A detailed, comprehensive account of the Wehrmacht's retreat from France. In spite of the desperate conditions under which it was conducted, it allowed the Germans to reconstitute a front along the Reich's western frontier and continue the war into 1945 at terrible cost to everyone. This is a major contribution to the history of World War II." - Williamson Murray
"Ludewig has written a first-rate historical study that sheds important light on a critical period of World War II in western Europe. His solidly researched and well-documented book provides a much needed German perspective on planning and conduct of operations that has been lacking in English for far too long." - John T. Greenwood, editor of From Normandy to Victor: The War Diary of General Courtney H. Hodges and the First U.S. Army
"Authoritative, compelling, and very-well researched. Rückzug is an invaluable addition to our understanding of the European war in 1944-1945, offering a long, hard look at the other side of the hill." - Rick Atkinson, (author of An Army at Dawn and The Day of Battle)
One more new book to get some of the readers here excited:
by Franco David MacriDescription:
Japan’s invasion of China in 1937 saw most major campaigns north of the Yangtze River, where Chinese industry was concentrated. The southern theater proved a more difficult challenge for Japan because of its enormous size, diverse terrain, and poor infrastructure, but Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek made a formidable stand that produced a veritable quagmire for a superior opponent—a stalemate much desired by the Allied nations.
In the first book to cover this southern theater in detail, David Macri closely examines strategic decisions, campaigns, and operations and shows how they affected Allied grand strategy. Drawing on documents of U.S. and British officials, he reveals for the first time how the Sino-Japanese War served as a “proxy war” for the Allies: by keeping Japan’s military resources focused on southern China, they hoped to keep the enemy bogged down in a war of attrition that would prevent them from breaching British and Soviet territory.
While the most immediate concern was preserving Siberia and its vast resources from invasion, Macri identifies Hong Kong as the keystone in that proxy war—vital in sustaining Chinese resistance against Japan as it provided the logistical interface between the outside world and battles in Hunan and Kwangtung provinces; a situation that emerged because of its vital rail connection to the city of Changsha. He describes the development of Anglo-Japanese low-intensity conflict at Hong Kong; he then explains the geopolitical significance of Hong Kong and southern China for the period following the German invasion of the Soviet Union.
Opening a new window on this rarely studied theater, Macri underscores China’s symbolic importance for the Allies, depicting them as unequal partners who fought the Japanese for entirely different reasons—China for restoration of its national sovereignty, the Allies to keep the Japanese preoccupied. And by aiding China’s wartime efforts, the Allies further hoped to undermine Japanese propaganda designed to expel Western powers from its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.
As Macri shows, Hong Kong was not just a sleepy British Colonial outpost on the fringes of the empire but an essential logistical component of the war, and to fully understand broader events Hong Kong must be viewed together with southern China as a single military zone. His account of that forgotten fight is a pioneering work that provides new insight into the origins of the Pacific War.
Reviews:
"Sophisticated, pioneering, and a significant contribution to the field of World War II studies. Macri’s research is meticulous, exhaustive, and well balanced; his writing is cogent and smooth. An admirable work.” — Miles Maochun Yu, (author of The Dragon’s War: Allied Operations and the Fate of China)
“Massively researched and splendidly narrated, this is the best available international history of Hong Kong during the China-Japan war.” — Akira Iriye, (author of China and Japan in the Global Setting)
“Outstanding. Sweeping in scope and illuminating.” — Edward J. Drea, (author of Japan’s Imperial Army: Its Rise and Fall)
“An impressive addition to the literature of the Pacific War.” - Xiaobing Li, (author of A History of the Chinese Army)
'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Here is another new book due out in a few months which I am sure will interest a few readers here, it interests me![bookcover:Rückzug: The German Retreat from France 1944] by Joachim Ludewig
Des..."
This is a new title due out in a few months covering the liberation of Paris in 1944, looks pretty good:
by Michael NeibergDescription:
Acclaimed historian Michael S. Neiberg provides a revealing new look at the drama surrounding the Liberation of Paris in 1944, as the Allies struggled to reclaim Europe, Hitler plotted Paris's destruction, and a handful of conspirators strove to save the City of Lights. In "The Blood of Free Men", acclaimed historian Michael S. Neiberg provides a thrilling new history of the Liberation of Paris, showing how a host of brave fighters, commanders, and officials saved the city and, in the process, shaped the outcome of World War II. The Liberation of Paris was a chaotic, complex operation that could have easily ended in the city's ruin. Paris was only spared from being turned into a rubble-heap thanks to the efforts of a complex network of players, some of whom seemed to be working against each other. While the Allied Forces largely ignored Paris (focusing instead on reaching Germany), the French themselves were deeply divided. French political cells competed for control of the Resistance within Paris. Outside the city, Charles de Gaulle and his Free French Forces aimed to direct the Resistance and establish themselves at the head of France upon its liberation. Determined to stop these fragmented forces was the occupying German army, which clung to Paris with ever more ferocity as the Allied army approached from its Normandy beachhead. As Neiberg demonstrates, the Germans were at first far more concerned with Paris's well-being than were the Allies. Paris had been a relatively minor strategic priority for the Allies in the broader scope of the war, but as a major transportation hub for German troops and materiel in the region the city was critical to Germany's stranglehold on France. German commanders knew that, in order to move their forces freely within those parts of western Europe still under Axis control, they would have to keep Paris intact and in order for as long as possible. Many French citizens had themselves been content to forego outright confrontation with the occupiers in favor of city-wide stability; most Parisians lived alongside German troops in relative peace for the early years of the war. But that facade was broken by the time the Allies flooded into Normandy. Tracking the movements of entire armies as well as the machinations of individuals on the ground, "The Blood of Free Men" provides an arresting narrative of the Liberation, as well as an authoritative explanation of its place in the scope of World War II and in French history at large. Gripping, fast-paced, and populated with unforgettable characters, it tells the full story of one of the war's defining moments, when a tortured city and its inhabitants stood up to reclaim their liberty.
Reviews:
“‘Paris will be transformed into a heap of rubble,’ ordered Adolf Hitler in August 1944. The heroic story of how that crime against civilization was prevented is grippingly told in this diligently-researched and extremely well-written book. You can almost hear the bullets ricocheting across the boulevards.” - Andrew Roberts, author of The Storm of War
“With this fascinating book, Michael Neiberg, one of America’s leading historians of World War One, turns to consider 1944. He brings a wealth of expertise as a scholar of French history, and offers a well-written and exciting treatment.” - Jeremy Black, author of The Politics of World War Two
“Michael Neiberg’s fast-paced and well researched account of the liberation of Paris has all the detail, tension, and contradictions of a ‘you-were-there’ drama. And for a change, the French are heroes: not only the Parisians who joined the final insurrection, but above all Charles de Gaulle, that stubborn patriot whose opponents in the summer of 1944 included the Americans and Communists as well as the German occupiers.” - Alan Riding, author of And The Show Went On: Cultural Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris
Another book due out in a few months, this one covers Poland and WW2 and sounds quite interesting:
by Halik KochanskiDescription:
The Second World War gripped Poland as it did no other country in Europe. Invaded by both Germany and the Soviet Union, it remained under occupation by foreign armies from the first day of the war to the last. The conflict was brutal, as Polish armies battled the enemy on four different fronts. It was on Polish soil that the architects of the Final Solution assembled their most elaborate network of extermination camps, culminating in the deliberate destruction of millions of lives, including three million Polish Jews. In The Eagle Unbowed, Halik Kochanski tells, for the first time, the story of Poland’s war in its entirety, a story that captures both the diversity and the depth of the lives of those who endured its horrors.
Most histories of the European war focus on the Allies’ determination to liberate the continent from the fascist onslaught. Yet the “good war” looks quite different when viewed from Lodz or Krakow than from London or Washington, D.C. Poland emerged from the war trapped behind the Iron Curtain, and it would be nearly a half-century until Poland gained the freedom that its partners had secured with the defeat of Hitler. Rescuing the stories of those who died and those who vanished, those who fought and those who escaped, Kochanski deftly reconstructs the world of wartime Poland in all its complexity—from collaboration to resistance, from expulsion to exile, from Warsaw to Treblinka. The Eagle Unbowed provides in a single volume the first truly comprehensive account of one of the most harrowing periods in modern history.
Review:
"An informative, authoritative and wide-ranging account of the tragedy that befell Poland and its inhabitants, Gentiles and Jews, during the war and its aftermath. The less well-known story of the Poles deported to the Soviet Union is particularly vivid and moving. An engaging and important book." - Hubert Zawadzki (Author Of A Concise History Of Poland)
This new title from the prolific Canadian author Mark Zuehlke is due out in December, it may interest a few members here:
by Mark ZuehlkeDescription:
With its trademark "you are there" style, Mark Zuehlke's tenth Canadian Battle Series volume tells the story of the 1942 Dieppe raid. Nicknamed "The Poor Man's Monte Carlo," Dieppe had no strategic importance, but with the Soviet Union thrown on the ropes by German invasion and America having just entered the war, Britain was under intense pressure to launch a major cross-Channel attack against France. Since 1939, Canadian troops had massed in Britain and trained for the inevitable day of the mass invasion of Europe that would finally occur in 1944. But the Canadian public and many politicians were impatient to see Canadian soldiers fight sooner. The first major rehearsal proved such a shambles the raid was pushed back to the end of July only to be cancelled by poor weather. Later, in a decision still shrouded in controversy, the operation was reborn. Dieppe however did not go smoothly. Drawing on rare archival documents and personal interviews, Mark Zuehlke examines how the raid came to be and why it went so tragically wrong. Ultimately, "Tragedy at Dieppe" honors the bravery and sacrifice of those who fought and died that fateful day on the beaches of Dieppe.
message 488:
by
Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces
(new)
message 489:
by
Geevee, Assisting Moderator British & Commonwealth Forces
(new)
I've been thinking long and hard about the book on Poland Geevee, its still sitting in my shopping basket at Bookdepository.
I got this one for my birthday
Since he is one of personal heros, I am really looking forward to it.
I only purchased a copy last month and it does look like a pretty thorough account, nice present Happy :)
I puchased copies of these two books today and both look pretty good:
by Gregory G. Fletcher
by Walter R. Borneman
Some excellent books there Steve, nice buys. Did you get new or second hand or a mixture? First Light is one of my all time favourite books covering the Battle of Britain and I really enjoyed along with Together We Stand.
Indeed nice titles Steve. though your interest seems to be hovering around war in Europe and North African end game.. will be waiting to read your reviews
Nice haul.
Steve wrote: "Just picked up the following books..."Nice selection, The Last Lion 2: Winston Spencer Churchill Alone 1932-40 is one of my all-time favorites.
Mike wrote: "Steve wrote: "Just picked up the following books..."Nice selection, The Last Lion 2: Winston Spencer Churchill Alone 1932-40 is one of my all-time favorites."
Then you will be happy to know that Volume 3 The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Defender of the Realm, 1940-1965 written by Paul Reid based on the the notes of William Manchester is scheduled for release in November and can be pre-ordered now on Amazon.
'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Some excellent books there Steve, nice buys. Did you get new or second hand or a mixture? First Light is one of my all time favourite books covering the Battle of Britain and I really enjoyed alon..."Together We Stand is new and the rest are used. Most of them I found in the used bookstore yesterday for $0.50 to $3.00.
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