THE WORLD WAR TWO GROUP discussion
BOOK DISCUSSIONS
>
New Release Books on WW2
message 2951:
by
'Aussie Rick', Moderator
(new)
Mar 11, 2023 12:27PM
Something different Dipanjan, thanks for posting those details.
reply
|
flag
'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Something different Dipanjan, thanks for posting those details."welcome
A July release:
by Anthony Tucker-JonesDescription:
The Stalingrad battle and the Leningrad siege were just two of the brutal, devastating urban conflicts that marked the awful struggle between Germany and the Soviet Union during the Second World War. The cities were strategic fixed points in the sweeping advances and retreats of the opposing armies across eastern Europe. Yet no one has concentrated on these city battles before or has sought to tell the story of the campaigns through the fighting that took place in and around them. That is Anthony Tucker-Jones’s purpose in this concise and vivid history of the urban war on the Eastern Front.
Early in the war, during the Wehrmacht’s crushing offensives of 1941 and 1942, the Red Army was forced out of a series of key cities. Moscow was threatened, Leningrad surrounded. Then, after the climactic battle at Stalingrad, the Red Army with increasing confidence, speed and power drove the Germans from the Soviet and East European capitals they had occupied. The final urban battles were fought in Germany's cities, culminating in Berlin.
As he traces the course of the fighting for each city, Anthony Tucker-Jones looks at the local circumstances, the opposing forces, the strategic significance and the tactics employed. He focuses not only on the destruction and cruelty of such warfare, but on the heroism displayed on both sides and on the fate of the civilians who found themselves on the front line.
A June release:
by James ShelleyDescription:
The German part in the 19 August 1942 Dieppe raid has largely been ignored. Launched by Winston Churchill to appease his Soviet counterparts, Operation JUBILEE was one of the Allies’ greatest debacles of the war. The majority of the 6,100 soldiers and marines dispatched by Lord Louis Mountbatten were captured or killed. Just 2,211 of the 4,963 Canadians involved returned to England. Two years later the Canadian Army fought from Normandy into Germany with fewer men captured than at Dieppe.
By exploring the German experience, this superbly researched book provides answers to previously unasked operational questions. How well were the Nazi occupiers prepared for an attack on Dieppe? What threat did the raid pose to the Germans’ defense of mainland Europe? What lessons did the Wehrmacht learn, and did their High Command use the Dieppe experience when preparing for the inevitable Allied invasion of ‘Fortress Europe’? How did Hitler and his henchmen respond to the Western Allies' failure to break down their defenses in occupied western Europe? The book also addresses how Goebbels’ propaganda machine exploited the victory, and the reaction of the German people.
Drawing on extensive German source materials, the Wehrmacht's role in defeating Operation JUBILEE is comprehensively examined in fascinating detail, adding a new dimension to the history of this poorly-planned and under-resourced adventure.
Two more interesting books, thanks for the notification, Jerome.
I'm sure this June 2023 release will interest a few group members; "No Sacrifice Too Great: The 1st Infantry Division in World War II" by Gregory Fontenot.
No Sacrifice Too Great: The 1st Infantry Division in World War II by Gregory FontenotDescription:
The U.S. 1st Infantry Division (1st ID), familiarly known as the Big Red One, adapted to dynamic battlefield conditions throughout the course of its deployment during World War II by innovating and altering behavior, including tactics, techniques, and procedures. The evidence shows that both the Division's leaders and soldiers did so by thinking critically about their experiences in combat and wasting little time in putting lessons learned to good use. Simply put, they learned on the job-in battle and after battle-and did so quickly. This is remarkable in that the terrain, weather, and the enemy changed as the Division fought its way through North Africa, Sicily, France, Belgium, Germany, and finally Czechoslovakia; equally important were constraints imposed on the 1st ID by manpower shortages (some of them critical), structural changes, and even weapons capabilities, all of which required continual adjustment.
In telling the Division's WWII story, not only in the historical narrative but in an extensive Photographic Essay-which comprises 65 images, many of which have never been reproduced-to appear in the center of the work, Gregory Fontenot includes the stories of individual members of the Big Red One, officers as well as enlisted men, having gleaned information from the hundreds of memoirs, diaries, and postwar interviews he either consulted or personally conducted, making his third volume in the American Military Experience series a meaningful and memorable one.
Reviews:
"Greg Fontenot's No Sacrifice Too Great follows the First Infantry Division from the beaches of the Mediterranean and Normandy through the fields of France to the forests of Germany. Throughout, the author demonstrates that if war is a learning contest, then the "Big Red One" was among its best students and had few peers in adaptation, innovation, and improvisation. The division's fabled story and eventual success does much to explain the vital American contribution to Allied victory in World War II and the liberation of continental Europe, and offers a model for building highly effective organizations in the future."--Christopher M. Rein, author of The North African Air Campaign: U.S. Army Air Forces from El Alamein to Salerno and Mobilizing the South: The Thirty-First Infantry Division, Race, and World War II
"As the number of WWII veterans has declined precipitously in recent years, and those few veterans who are still alive are in their 100s--and because the gap between the WWII generation and current generation that knows little about the military continues to widen--a book such as this is vital in keeping this information alive."--Flint Whitlock, editor of WWII Quarterly magazine, author of The Fighting First: The Untold Story of the Big Red One on D-Day
"Gregory Fontenot, with a deep knowledge of World War II history, a rich, profound understanding of how armies work, and the heart of a soldier, provides an excellent study and analysis of the campaigns and battles of the 1st Infantry Division, the Big Red One, in World War II, in his book, No Sacrifice Too Great. This book is informative, well-written, dramatic, rich in insights, and deeply instructive for leaders at all levels."--Adrian R. Lewis, The David B. Pittaway Professor of Military History, University of Kansas, author of Omaha Beach: A Flawed Victory and The American culture of War, 3rd Edition, retired soldier, U.S. Army Ranger.
"The U.S. Army of World War II fielded many superb fighting formations, but the 1st Infantry Division, the famous Big Red One, surely has a valid claim to be the greatest of them all. From North Africa to Sicily to Omaha Beach and the Battle of the Bulge, the Division was right there in the heart of the greatest land battles in history. Who commanded and inspired this great outfit? Who stood in its stalwart ranks? Most importantly, how and why did this division, more than all the others, learn how to fight and win against the tough and lethal German Army? In No Sacrifice Too Great, 1st Infantry Division Gulf War combat veteran and renowned military historian Gregory Fontenot explains it all with candor and insight. It's a great American story by our Army's premier soldier-scholar."--Daniel P. Bolger, Lieutenant General, U.S. Army, Retired and author of The Panzer Killers: The Untold Story of a Fighting General and His Spearhead Tank Division's Charge into the Third Reich
Another June 2023 (UK) release that may also interest a few group members; "Cinderella Boys: The Forgotten RAF Force That Won the Battle of the Atlantic" by Leo McKinstry.
Cinderella Boys: The Forgotten RAF Force that Won the Battle of the Atlantic by Leo McKinstryDescription:
The remarkable story of the unsung RAF wing who rescued Britain from Hitler's U-boats and made Allied victory possible.
In early 1943 Britain was engaged in an epic struggle for survival. As the deadly wolf packs of German U-boats roamed the Atlantic, supply lines and shipping losses fell victim to the carnage.
In desperation, Churchill turned to the RAF's maritime wing - an overlooked, underfunded force known as "The Cinderella Service". But the ascendancy of the U-boat forced a change in attitude. Provided with the long-range planes, depth charges, rocket projectiles and radar equipment with which to challenge the enemy. The Cinderella boys provided vital air defence the whole way across the Atlantic. The German hunters were now the hunted, and - in a stunning defeat - had fully retreated by the summer of 1943.
The transformation of Coastal Command from a ramshackle outfit into a vast, formidable organisation provided one of the turning points of the war, keeping Britain in the war and opening the way to D-Day in 1944. But they never received the credit they deserved.
Based on a wealth of new sources, including from diaries, log books, official records, archives and interviews, Leo McKinstry shines a new light the courageous pilots, ingenious scientists and political risktakers - many of them outsiders - who defended the freezing Atlantic from Nazi rule.
Looks like June 2023 has a few good new books being released, including this new book by Peter Hart; "Footsloggers: An Infantry Battalion at War, 1939-45".
Footsloggers: An Infantry Battalion at War, 1939-45 by Peter HartDescription:
The only way to truly understand what it was like to fight in the Second World War is to listen to the experiences of those men who were there. And often, there was nowhere more dangerous than on the ground.
In Footsloggers, Peter Hart reconstructs one infantry battalion's war in staggering detail. Based on his interviews with members of the 16th Durham Light Infantry, Hart bears witness not only to their comradeship, suffering, dreadful losses and individual tragedies, but also their courage and self-sacrifice as they fought their way across North Africa, Italy and Greece. This is a human look at the inhuman nature of war from the author of At Close Range and Burning Steel.
This new book offers something a bit different in regard to WW2 history; "Between God and Hitler: Military Chaplains in Nazi Germany" by Doris L Bergen.
Between God and Hitler: Military Chaplains in Nazi Germany by Doris L BergenDescription:
During the Second World War, approximately 1000 Christian chaplains accompanied Wehrmacht forces wherever they went, from Poland to France, Greece, North Africa, and the Soviet Union. Chaplains were witnesses to atrocity and by their presence helped normalize extreme violence and legitimate its perpetrators. Military chaplains played a key role in propagating a narrative of righteousness that erased Germany's victims and transformed the aggressors into noble figures who suffered but triumphed over their foes. Between God and Hitler is the first book to examine Protestant and Catholic military chaplains in Germany from Hitler's rise to power, to defeat, collapse, and Allied occupation. Drawing on a wide array of sources – chaplains' letters and memoirs, military reports, Jewish testimonies, photographs, and popular culture – this book offers insight into how Christian clergy served the cause of genocide, sometimes eagerly, sometimes reluctantly, even unknowingly, but always loyally.
A new book on an interesting subject: Kolberg, Goebbels's most ambitious propaganda piece to bolster the mood of the German people during the latter stages of WW2
Hitler's Last Chance: Kolberg: The Propaganda Movie and the Rise and Fall of a German City
I found an interview with the author here:
https://www.tracesofwar.com/news/1177...
To the End of the Earth: The US Army and the Downfall of Japan, 1945 by John C. McManus
May 2023
Synopsis
From the liberation of the Philippines to the Japanese surrender, the final volume of John C. McManus's trilogy on the US Army in the Pacific War
The dawn of 1945 finds a US Army at its peak in the Pacific. Allied victory over Japan is all but assured. The only question is how many more months—or years—of fight does the enemy have left. John C. McManus’s magisterial series, described by the Wall Street Journal as being “as vast and splendid as Rick Atkinson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Liberation Trilogy,” returns with this brilliant final volume. On the island of Luzon, a months-long stand-off between US and Japanese troops finally breaks open, as American soldiers push into Manila, while paratroopers and amphibious invaders capture nearby Corregidor. The Philippines are soon liberated, and Allied strategists turn their eyes to China, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and the Japanese home islands themselves. Readers will walk in the boots of American soldiers and officers, braving intense heat, rampant disease, and a by-now suicidal enemy, determined to kill as many opponents as possible before defeat, and they will encounter Japanese soldiers faced with the terrible choice between capitulation or doom. At the same time, this outstanding narrative lays bare the titanic ego and ambition of the Pacific War’s most prominent general, Douglas MacArthur, and the complex challenges he faced in Japan’s unconditional surrender and America’s lengthy occupation.
Boudewijn wrote: "A new book on an interesting subject: Kolberg, Goebbels's most ambitious propaganda piece to bolster the mood of the German people during the latter stages of WW2[bookcover:Hitler's Last Chance: ..."
Sounds like something a bit different Boudewijn!
Darya Silman wrote: "To the End of the Earth: The US Army and the Downfall of Japan, 1945 by [author:John C. McM..."
On my to-buy list :)
Centuries Will Not Suffice: A History of the Lithuanian Holocaust by Prit ButtarOn the Amazon page, the release is scheduled for July 2023, but the author on his Twitter posted that the release would be in 2 weeks.
Synopsis
'Centuries Will Not Suffice' explores how different people responded to the Lithuanian Holocaust and the roles that they played. It considers the past history of the perpetrators and those who took great risks to save Jews, as well as describing the experiences of many who were caught up in the maelstrom. Unlike the figures at the top of the Nazi hierarchy, the men who were responsible for these killings have been largely forgotten. Karl Jäger was a senior SS figure who was in charge of the units that carried out most of them. He complained that his experiences caused him to suffer nightmares but continued to order his units to carry on and refused offers of sick leave on the grounds that he regarded it as his duty to remain in his post. He took refuge in compiling painstakingly detailed reports of the killings, listing the numbers executed at every location and breaking them down into men, women and children. The roles played by other figures, from Himmler and Heydrich at the summit, through the ranks of men down to Martin Weiss and Bruno Kittel who were personally responsible for carrying out Nazi policies, are all described. Before the German invasion of Lithuania, two diplomats – Chiune Sugihara from Japan and Jan Zwartendijk from the Netherlands – recognised the great danger that lay ahead for the Jews of the Baltic region and did what they could to help them escape. Karl Plagge, a major in the army, did all he could to save Jews. What perhaps make the terrible story of the Baltic genocide unique is that the Nazi regime was able to rely upon collaboration by convincing the populace that the Soviet invasion of the area was the responsibility of the Jews.
Darya Silman wrote: "Centuries Will Not Suffice: A History of the Lithuanian Holocaust by Prit ButtarOn the Amazon page, the release is scheduled for July 2023, but the author on his..."
Thanks for the notification, Darya, sounds like an interesting account.
A December release:
by Michal A. PiegzikDescription:
At the beginning of June 1942, in the wake of the enormous Japanese struggle to bring a conclusive victory in the Pacific War, the Imperial Japanese Navy commenced Operation ‘AL’ (AL 作戦, AL Sakusen). Among the objectives of this bold plan, was the 2nd Kidō Butai carrier-borne strike on the American military base at Dutch Harbor and seizing part of the United States territory, namely the western part of the Aleutian Archipelago in the North Pacific. Operation ‘AL’, elaborated by the Navy General Staff (軍令部, Gunreibu), was a response to a gamble by the Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet (連合艦隊, Rengō Kantai) to seek a decisive naval battle in the Central Pacific near Midway. Senior naval staff, being reluctant about Admiral Yamamoto’s plan of putting on-edge the Nippon Kaigun’s main striking potential, desired to secure the northern approach of the home islands and prevent the potential US-Soviet military cooperation against Japan. By conquering two islands in the Aleutians, Attu and Kiska, the Japanese Army and Navy intended to turn them into bastions that, directly supplied from Kurile Islands, would check the American advance from the north by at least the summer of 1943.
Despite the initial supremacy at sea in the North Pacific, the Japanese could only defend their newly established positions in Aleutians and wait for the opponent’s move. The great disaster at Midway scuttled the plan to create a greater defensive perimeter, stretching from the far north to the Central Pacific, to intercept American carriers on their way to strike Tokyo again. Ironically, after the battle of Midway, neither the Americans had enough forces to reconquer two lost islands, nor could they predict the enemy’s long-term objectives. Japanese presence on the US land, remote on maps but seen as a natural highway to Alaska’s doors, also wreaked havoc among military personnel and politicians in Washington D.C., sharing the same fear of an attack on the Western Coast.
The Aleutian campaign was never meant to threaten Alaska or Seattle significantly. After the withdrawal of the Japanese carriers from the North Pacific, nothing but a stalemate could be achieved by Nippon Kaigun. Due to limited resources and severe weather conditions, the struggle for the Aleutians turned into the exchange of blows, while waiting for the outcome of the Guadalcanal Campaign.
Volume 1 covers the events from Operation ‘AL’ (including the Japanese raid on Dutch Harbor and the invasion of Attu and Kiska) to the American landing on Adak in late August 1942.
Into the Endless Mist is an account of the forgotten struggle in the Aleutians, based on meticulous research of American and Japanese primary sources, testimonies, monographs, and papers. The book’s goal is to present the most objective image of a campaign in which the weather largely decided victory and defeat – or life and death.
Thanks for posting this. I was stationed on Adak (just a few islands to the East from Kiska) back in the early 80s. There was still a lot of WWII flotsam around the area. It would have been a hell of a place to fight. I'll be looking forward to this series publication.
A November release:
by James HollandDescription:
Following victory in Sicily, while the central command planned the spring 1944 invasion of France, Allied troops crossed into southern Italy in September 1943, expecting to drive Axis forces north and liberate Rome by Christmas. Italy quickly surrendered but German divisions fiercely resisted, and the hoped-for quick victory descended into one of the most challenging and protracted battles of the entire war.
James Holland’s The Savage Storm, chronicling the dramatic opening months of the Italian Campaign in unflinching and insightful detail, is unlike any campaign history yet written. Holland has always narrated war at ground level, but here goes further by chronicling events almost entirely through the contemporary eyes of those who were there on all sides and at all levels—Allied, Axis, civilians alike. Weaving together a wealth of letters, diaries, and other documents—from the likes of American General Mark Clark, German battalion commander Georg Zellner, Italian politician Filippo Caracciolo, and many others—Holland traces the battles as they were experienced across plains, over mountains, through shattered villages and cities, in intense heat and, towards the end of December 1943, frigid cold and relentless rain.
Such close-up views persuade Holland to recast important aspects of the campaign, reappraising the reputation of Mark Clark himself and other senior commanders of the U.S. Fifth and British Eighth armies. Given the shortage of Allied shipping and materiel allocated to Italy because of the build-up for D-Day, more was expected of Allied troops in Italy than anywhere else, and a huge price was paid by everyone for each bloodily contested mile. Putting readers vividly in the moment as events unfolded, with characters made unforgettable by their own words, The Savage Storm is a defining account of the pivotal months leading to Monte Cassino, and a landmark in the writing about war.
Jerome wrote: "A November release: by James HollandDescription:
Following victory in Sicily, while the central command planned th..."
One can only hope that Holland will be more properly critical of Allied generalship (particularly Monty and Alexander) than he was in his Sicily opus .
"The Golden Doves" by Martha Hall Kelly, best selling author of "Lilac Girls".Partner book: A Woman of No Imporance", by Sonia Purnell.
Both about French resistence.
Nick wrote: One can only hope that Holland will be more properly critical of Allied generalship (particularly Monty and Alexander) than he was in his Sicily opus.Very unlikely. I'm a fan of Holland's podcast (with Al Murray), where they're firmly pushing back against the Allied-command-was-always-crap school of thought.
They've been teasing this book there for a while, and I am looking forward to it.
Just a few days away from the release of TO THE END OF THE EARTH, the final book in John McManus' trilogy on the U.S. Army's war in the Pacific. Expect it to be released on May 2nd if the gods of publishing are generous to us mere mortals...
James wrote: "Just a few days away from the release of TO THE END OF THE EARTH, the final book in John McManus' trilogy on the U.S. Army's war in the Pacific. Expect it to be released on May 2nd if the gods of p..."I will have to order my copy once I get back home to Australia.
Perhaps this book has already been mentioned by on of the group members, but latest installment of John McManus's Pacific War triology is out now:To the End of the Earth: The US Army and the Downfall of Japan, 1945
Part I and Part II are now for approx. $3.50 on Amazon:
Fire and Fortitude: The US Army in the Pacific War, 1941-1943
Island Infernos: The US Army's Pacific War Odyssey, 1944
An October release:
by Rex BashfordDescription:
There have been many books on Adolf Hitler and specific military campaigns and battles during the time of the Third Reich. However, there has never been a comprehensive analysis of Hitler’s role as the supreme military leader of the Third Reich across all the major campaigns. He combined every senior position in government and the armed forces until he was at the same time Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Chancellor, Minister of War and Commander-in-Chief of the Army. He was involved in every aspect of the German war effort including new weapons development. How well did he perform these roles? He called himself a genius and was described as “the greatest German military leader of all time” by one of his most senior military leaders – was he? What does the evidence show?
This book analyzes each of the Third Reich’s military campaigns and the programs for the development of new weapons including the V1, V2 and the A bomb paying special attention to Hitler’s role in them. The book is based entirely on the evidence of the most senior military personnel who were there at the time, from their contemporaneous diaries and subsequent writings. The sources used include the diaries and recollections of three Chiefs of the Army General Staff, Field-Marshals Rommel, von Rundstedt, von Bock, von Kliest, von Manstein, numerous other senior generals, Hitler’s military adjutants, ministers of his government and evidence from the Trial of the Major War Criminals at Nuremberg. Is there a consistent thread in this evidence?
Hitler's Shattered Dreams of Empire is the second of a three part in depth study and deals with Hitler’s influence on the crucial battles on the eastern front resulting from the Nazi invasion of the USSR in 1941 'Operation Barbarossa' together with the allied invasions of 'Festung Europa' and the Ardennes Offensive in 1944-45.
A September release:
by Teddy J. UldricksDescription:
The most devastating war in human history continues to generate substantial interest, not only among historians but also among students and the reading public, in the form of popular movies and television shows, books published and sold, and enrollment in college classes on the war. Although much has been written on the subject, the history of the Second World War is still very much a work in progress. World War II continues to be contested territory for historians. Long-held views and widely accepted interpretations are challenged on all sides. The availability of new sources (from Russia and China, for example) and innovative approaches have inspired a steady stream of recent, specialized studies which offer new perspectives on key turning points in the origins, course, and consequences of the conflict. The author will provide a clear, balanced, one volume introduction to the Second World War for general readers and students.
Thanks for posting the details of those two new books Jerome, I'm sure some group members will be interested.
This new Australian release has just hit the shelves over here and it may be of interest to some group members; "Kriegies: The Australian Airmen of Stalag Luft III" by Kristen Alexander.
Kriegies: The Australian Airmen of Stalag Luft III by Kristen Alexander
I received a notification from a UK bookshop that this new release was available for order; "The Battle of Stalingrad: Then and Now" by Karel Margry. Besides covering one of my favourite topics, I quite enjoy "Then and Now" books, having their volumes; "The Battle of the Bulge", "Panzers in Normandy" and "Ruckmarsch". So, it didn't take long to press the 'order' button!
The Battle of Stalingrad: Then and Now by Karel MargryDescription:
Stalingrad was not only the most-crucial battle on the Eastern Front, it was the main turning point of the whole Second World War in Europe. The Third Reich had suffered setbacks earlier, notably at El Alamein in North Africa in October 1942, but the scale of the fighting on the Eastern Front was incomparably larger than any of the other war fronts and it was the fate of the armies there that decided the outcome of the global conflict. After the demise of the German 6. Armee at Stalingrad in February 1943 it was clear that Nazi Germany would lose the war. This book brings together three After the Battle stories devoted to that historic struggle. It opens with a detailed account of the fight for the city of Voronezh. Lying on the great Don river, it was a prime initial objective of the German summer offensive towards the Caucasus launched on June 28, 1942. Possession of Voronezh would secure an eastern anchor point for a northern defensive line needed for the southward advance to Stalingrad. The city was taken with relative ease in early July but, when the Soviets launched a counter-offensive, the Heeresgruppe Süd commander, Generalfeldmarschall Fedor von Bock, allowed his panzer and motorised divisions to be drawn into the protracted fight. This week-long delay which infuriated Hitler severely disrupted the timetable for the main offensive, and fatally contributed to the failure to seize Stalingrad in a surprise raid. The main part of the book is taken up by a comprehensive description of the gargantuan seven-month battle for Stalingrad itself. All stages are described in detail: the advance of the German armies to the city in August, the stubborn and heroic defence of the besieged Soviet 62nd Army against overwhelming German superiority in September-November; and the subsequent encirclement and annihilation of the doomed 6. Armee in the winter, ending in total capitulation on February 2, 1943. Due to the wholesale destruction of the embattled city, it was long thought impossible to apply After the Battle's 'then and now' format to Stalingrad but with the help of a local expert and acknowledged student of the battle, Alexander Trofimov, we managed to match up numerous combat photos taken all over the city, giving full treatment to the months-long struggle for the city on the Volga. The same goes for Voronezh where we found another local expert, Sergey Popov, who achieved equally astounding comparisons. Without them, this book could not have been made. The German catastrophe at Stalingrad, with around 150,000 men killed or succumbing to the winter cold and around 100,000 taken prisoner (of whom only some 5,000 survived captivity), remained a national trauma in Germany. Coming to terms with the event proved difficult, the sorrow over the loss of so many German lives being surmounted by guilt over the fact that Germany had been the aggressor. In many ways, Stalingrad became a taboo, remembered in silence but avoided in public discussion. Illustrative of this is the fact that it took a full 50 years before a major feature film on Stalingrad could be produced in Germany. It was only in 1992 that the German film industry felt the time was ripe and produced and released Stalingrad, the first full-fledged war movie on the battle. We include the story of the making of this film as an epilogue to the main story. 260 b/w illustrations
Aussie, that's the book I want to buy. Visiting Stalingrad has been my dream for some years
Darya Silman wrote: "Aussie, that's the book I want to buy. Visiting Stalingrad has been my dream for some years"I wouldn't mind visiting there one day as well, once things get back to normal that is!
Aussie, the borders are not closed, here at least. People travel between Russia and Estonia as if nothing is happening
A September 2024 release:
by Peter HarmsenDescription:
The wartime interest in Greenland was a direct result of its vital strategic position—if you wanted to predict the weather in Europe, you had to have men in place on the vast, frozen island. The most celebrated example of Greenland’s crucial contribution to Allied meteorological services is the correct weather forecast in June 1944 leading to the decision to launch the invasion of Normandy. In addition, both before and after D-Day a stream of weather reports from Greenland was essential for the Allied ability to carry out the bombing offensive against Germany.
The Germans were aware of the value of Greenland from a meteorological point of view, and they repeatedly attempted to establish semi-permanent weather stations along the sparsely populated east coast of the island. This resulted in an epic cat-and-mouse game, in which US Coast Guard personnel assisted by a celebrated sledge patrol manned by Scandinavian adventurers struggled to locate and eliminate German bases before they could make any difference. It's a story seldom told, but the fact remains that Greenland was the only part of the North American continent in which German troops maintained a presence throughout almost the entirety of the war.
At the same time, the US entry into the war triggered an enormous American effort to hastily establish the necessary infrastructure in the form of harbors and air bases that enabled Greenland to form a vital link in the effort to send men and supplies across the North Atlantic in the face of stern opposition from the German Navy. While Allied ships were passing through Greenland waters in massive numbers, planes were plying the so-called Snowball Route from Greenland over Iceland to the British Isles.
This gave rise to number of tragic incidents, such as the sinking of the transport ship SS Dorchester off Greenland in February 1942, leading to the deaths of 674 out of 904 men on board, including the “Four Chaplains”—representing the Methodists, the Reformed Church, the Catholic Church, and Judaism—who gave up their life jackets to save others. In July the same year, in one of the most massive, forced landings in history, “the lost squadron,” six P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft and two Flying Fortresses, crash-landed on a Greenland glacier.
A March 2024 release:
by Mike CroissantDescription:
In April 1945, Linz was one of Nazi Germany’s most vital assets. It was a crucial transportation hub and communications center, with railyards brimming with war materiel destined for the front lines. Linz was also the town Hitler claimed as home and had long intended to remake as the cultural capital of Europe, filling its planned Fuehrermuseum with world-famous art stolen from his conquered territories.
Inevitably, Linz was also one of the most heavily defended targets remaining in Europe. The airmen of the Fifteenth Air Force were a mix of seasoned veterans and newcomers. As their mission was unveiled in the predawn hours of April 25th, audible groans and muffled expletives passed many lips. The reality of that mission would prove more brutal than any imagined.
In the unheated, unpressurized B‑24 Liberator and B‑17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers, young men battled elements as dangerous as anything the Germans could throw at them. When batteries of German anti‑aircraft guns opened fire, the men flew into a man‑made hell of exploding shrapnel. Aircraft and men fell from the sky as Austrian civilians on the ground also struggled to survive beneath the bombs during the deadly climax of Hitler’s war.
Drawing on interviews with dozens of America’s last surviving World War II veterans, as well as previously unpublished sources, Mike Croissant compellingly relates one of the war’s last truly untold stories—a gripping chronicle of warfare, the death of Nazi Germany, and the beginning of the Cold War. It is also a timeless tale of courage and terror, loss and redemption, humanity and savagery.
Sounds like an interesting book, thanks for posting the details, Jerome.
The Forgers: The Forgotten Story of the Holocaust's Most Audacious Rescue Operation by Roger Moorhouse
Release date: August for the UK, October for the US, 2024 for Poland (the information taken from the author's Twitter account)
Synopsis
The secret history of one of the largest—and least-known—rescue operations of World War II
Between 1940 and 1943, a group of Polish diplomats in Switzerland engaged in a wholly remarkable—and until now, completely unknown—humanitarian operation. In concert with Jewish activists, they masterminded a systematic program of forging passports and identity documents for Latin American countries, which were then smuggled into German-occupied Europe to save the lives of thousands of Jews facing extermination in the Holocaust.
With the international community failing to act, the operation was one of the largest actions to aid Jews of the entire war. The Forgers tells this extraordinary story for the first time. We follow the desperate bids of Jews to obtain these lifesaving documents as the Nazi death machine draws ever closer. And we witness the quiet heroism of a group of ordinary men who decided to do something rather than nothing and saved thousands of lives.
Darya Silman wrote: "[book:The Forgers: The Forgotten Story of the Holocaust's Most Audacious Rescue Operation|..."
That looks like a great story, added TBR
A February 2024 release:
by Douglas PorchDescription:
In Resistance and Liberation, Douglas Porch continues his epic history of France at war. Emerging from the debâcle of 1940, France faced the quandary of how to rebuild military power, protect the empire, and resuscitate its global influence. While Charles de Gaulle rejected the armistice and launched his offshore crusade to reclaim French honor within the Allied camp, defeatists at Vichy embraced cooperation with the victorious Axis. The book charts the emerging dynamics of la France libre and the Alliance, Vichy collaboration, and the swelling resistance to the Axis occupation. From the campaigns in Tunisia and Italy to Liberation, Douglas Porch traces how de Gaulle sought to forge a French army and prevent civil war. He captures the experiences of ordinary French men and women caught up in war and defeat, the choices they made, the trials they endured, and how this has shaped France's memory of those traumatic years.
Jerome wrote: "A February 2024 release: by Douglas PorchDescription:
In Resistance and Liberation, Douglas Porch continue..."
I have a copy of the first volume so I will have to order a copy of this one as well :)
An April 2024 release:
by Joseph T. Molyson Jr. Description:
The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest campaign of World War II, lasting the entirety of the war in Europe from September 1939 to May 1945. It was also one of the war’s most complex campaigns, involving strategy, operations, tactics, logistics, politics, diplomacy, and alliances. During the war’s first two years, the United States was drawn deeper into partnership with Great Britain, and closer toward conflict with Germany, in the waters of the North Atlantic. Franklin Roosevelt realized this theater’s importance: “I believe the outcome of this struggle is going to be decided in the Atlantic.” And so American, British, and Canadian forces battled Germans at sea and in the air to protect the flow of first materiel and then men from the United States to the United Kingdom. The sea part has been well covered: how German U-boats and other warships hunted Allied convoys and how the Allies ultimately turned the tide. Not so much the air war.
In Six Air Forces over the Atlantic, Joseph Molyson tells the story of the Battle of the Atlantic from the perspective of the air forces—and airmen—who waged it from the skies above the icy waters of the North Atlantic. He blends big-picture attention to strategy and tactics with dramatic episodes of air-to-air and air-to-sea combat, including the engagement in which a British light bomber captured a German U-boat near Iceland. He details the close eye Franklin Roosevelt kept on the campaign, the effect B-24 Liberator bombers had, and the rise of the Royal Air Force Coastal Command as a true U-boat-busting force. The result was victory in the Atlantic, as well as a significant contribution to victory in World War II.
Angus Konstam has a new title coming out in a few months that may be of interest to some group members. The book is; "The Convoy: HG-76: Taking the Fight to Hitler's U-Boats".
The Convoy: HG-76: Taking the Fight to Hitler's U-Boats by Angus Konstam
Another new book that I am sure will interest a few group members; "Delivering Destruction: American Firepower and Amphibious Assault from Tarawa to Iwo Jima" by Christopher Kyle Hemler.
Delivering Destruction: American Firepower and Amphibious Assault from Tarawa to Iwo Jima by Christopher Kyle HemlerDescription:
Existing literature maintains that the U.S. Marine Corps’ operational success in the Pacific War rested upon two dominant committed theoretical preparation and courageous battlefield action. Put simply, the Marines wrestled with the conceptual challenges of the amphibious assault in the 1920s and 1930s and developed the tools and methods necessary to seize a hostile beach. When Japanese forces attacked at Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Corps sent its brave and spirited infantrymen to advance across the enemy-held islands of the South and Central Pacific. But the full story runs much deeper. Though this conventional narrative captures essential elements of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps' triumph, it fails to account for substantial interwar deficiencies in fire control and coordination, as well as the critical wartime development of those capabilities between 1942 and 1945.
Delivering Destruction is the first detailed study of American triphibious (land, sea, and air) firepower coordination in the Pacific War. In describing the Amphibious Corps' development of fire coordination teams and tactics in the Central Pacific, Hemler underlines the importance of wartime adaptation, battlefield coordination, and the primacy of the human element in naval combat. He reveals the untold story of American fire control and coordination teams in the Central Pacific. Through “bottom-up” adaptation and innovation, American troops and officers worked out practical solutions in the field, learning to effectively apply and integrate air and naval support during a contested amphibious assault. The Americans' ability to mount tremendous, synchronized firepower at the beachhead–a capability established through three years of grueling wartime adaptation–allowed the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps to seize any fortified Japanese island of its choice by 1945. ·Despite advancing technology and expanding “domains” of warfare, combat remains a deeply interactive, human endeavor.
A May 2024 release:
by Martin DugardDescription:
Great Britain, summer 1940. The Battle of France is over. The Battle of Britain is about to begin. Adolf Hitler’s powerful armies control Europe. England stands alone against this juggernaut, the whole world knowing it is only a matter of time before Nazi Germany unleashes its military might on the island nation. In London, a new prime minister named Winston Churchill is determined to defeat the Nazi menace, no matter the costs.
Luckily for Churchill, one quirky Englishman has seen the future. Air Vice-Marshall Hugh Dowding is head of the Royal Air Force Fighter Command. He has spent years preparing his nation's aerial defenses, utilizing the new technology of radar, training hundreds of hand-picked young pilots, and overseeing the design and purchase of the world's most up-to-date fighter aircraft. In time, the names "Spitfire" and "Hurricane" will become iconic, these airplanes synonymous with a David versus Goliath struggle between the RAF and German Luftwaffe. For the first time in history, the battlefield will not be land or water but entirely contested in the blue skies above. Nazi victory depends upon their overwhelming air power. The fate of not just the British people, but all of Western Civilization, hinges on a small group of elite pilots stopping this onslaught—a band of brothers who will go down in history as the Few.
Taking London puts the reader inside the action, telling the complex personal sagas of Churchill, Dowding, and legendary fighter pilots like Peter Townsend, Geoffrey Wellum, Richard Hillary, and American Billy Fiske, all set against the defiant backdrop of wartime London. Told in fast-paced, you-are-there fashion, this third book in the epic Taking series will have readers turning the pages late into the night.
An April 2024 release:
by Martin KingDescription:
There are few names in the annals of military history that evoke such emotion, and in some cases controversy, as the small Belgian town of Bastogne. The 101st Airborne are the best known defenders of Bastogne, but they only constituted one third of the eventual force that saved the city from total annihilation.
This book digs deeper into the defense of Bastogne, revealing more details about those indomitable "Screaming Eagles" and the other units that stood with them during that punishingly bitter cold winter of 1944/45. It also presents the perspective of the German soldiers trying desperately to re-take Bastogne that desperate winter. It is a story of sacrifice, dedication to duty, and honor in the face of terrible adversity, but more importantly it's a human story, one that encapsulates the finest attributes of humankind in the absolute direst of circumstances.
Some more good books to watch out for! Thanks Jerome.
An October release:
by Massimiliano Afiero Description:
Italy’s colonial adventure in East Africa, which had begun in the previous century and which ended abruptly with the defeat at Adua in 1896, regained impetus with the advent of Fascism which quickly began a campaign to expand Italian holdings in the so-called “Horn of Africa”. With the Itali-Ethiopian War, fought between 1935 and 1936, Italy invaded the Empire of Ethiopia and its territory, and along with Eritrea and Italian Somaliland, formed the new empire, Italian East Africa. Between 1936 and 1940, many operations were conducted against Ethiopian resistance which broke out throughout the country.
With the beginning of the Second World War, Italian East Africa was cut off and had to act independently without being able to receive aid and supplies from the mother country. Nevertheless, during the early phases of the war, a series of offensive operations were carried out which led to the conquest of Kassala and of British Somaliland. The inevitable and massive British counteroffensive followed, which in the space of a few months completely upset the Italian forces in East Africa, who nonetheless fought valiantly, especially at Keren. Following the fall of Addis Ababa, Italian resistance continued first at Amba Alagi and then in the Gimma region and finally at Gondar, where Italian soldiers wrote pages of military glory. This book analyses the principal Italian military operations in Italian East Africa, with particular focus on the period between 1940 and 1941, with a description of the various battles.
Should be an interesting book as long as Helion doesn't price it out of the market.
'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Should be an interesting book as long as Helion doesn't price it out of the market."Fingers crossed, eh? That's the first thing that springs to my mind whenever they release something interesting, haha
'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Should be an interesting book as long as Helion doesn't price it out of the market."The prices on new hardcovers can be shocking.
Looks, interesting ! I always like the somewhat forgotten niches of the war. Jerome wrote: "'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Should be an interesting book as long as Helion doesn't price it out of the market."
Fingers crossed, eh? That's the first thing that springs to my mind whenever they release..."
THE WORLD WAR TWO GROUP
Books mentioned in this topic
Empire of Ashes: Truman, Hirohito, and the Descent into Total War (other topics)Empire of Ashes: Truman, Hirohito, and the Descent into Total War (other topics)
1942: Hitler's Gamble for Victory (other topics)
1942: Hitler's Gamble for Victory (other topics)
Greyhounds of the Pacific: U.S. Destroyers in the War Against Japan (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
James M. Scott (other topics)James M. Scott (other topics)
Richard Hargreaves (other topics)
Richard Hargreaves (other topics)
Andrew Faltum (other topics)
More...
