THE WORLD WAR TWO GROUP discussion
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New Release Books on WW2
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Rona
(new)
Sep 23, 2024 06:12AM
I believe (sorry don't have the numbers at hand the highest percentage overall were the Merchant Marines -- though some do not count them in the major military branches. They delivered the supplies to Europe in the earlier and most deadly times on the high seas.
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Rona wrote: "I believe (sorry don't have the numbers at hand the highest percentage overall were the Merchant Marines -- though some do not count them in the major military branches. They delivered the supplies..."I know that those who served in the Merchant Marine (e.g. the actor Carroll O'Connor and the African American Spanish Civil War fighter pilot James Peck) were belatedly conferred with veteran status in the 1970s, along with the women who served with the WASPs during the War.
Yet, from checking the statistics, the USAAF (and U.S. Army) is listed as the branch of the U.S. military that sustained the highest losses - 318,274 killed - of any branch of the military in World War II. Translated into percentage terms, the USAAF (and U.S. Army) incurred 76.4% of all U.S. military deaths during the War.
In total, the U.S. military had 416,800 deaths (military only, excluding civilian deaths) in World War II.
A Wing and a Prayer: The "Bloody 100th" Bomb Group of the U.S. Eighth Air Force in Action over Europe in World War II
Now you are going to send me back to my numbers!
Yep, same statistics as you have, but the vast majority of the 318,000 were army and not Army Air Corps or Army Air Forces. Regardless, a very deadly war.
A May 2025 release:
by Martin DugardDescription:
1942. Everywhere around the world, the Allies are losing the war. Nowhere is this felt more completely than in the Pacific, where Japanese sea and ground forces claim victory after victory. Singapore falls. Then the Philippines. The vaunted American Navy fights to a draw with the Japanese at the Battle of Coral Sea. America's lone moral victory is Colonel Jimmy Doolittle's bombing raid on Tokyo—though even that is tinged with tragedy as two crew members are shot down and beheaded.
Meanwhile in Honolulu, a brilliant young naval officer is determined to break Japan's top secret codes. Lt. Commander Joseph Rochefort completes this task in April. He is then startled to learn that the Japanese are planning yet another major invasion somewhere in the Pacific. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is planning to send four aircraft carriers to complete this task, in a bold attack that will be even larger than the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
Rochefort's methods are unique and those in power in the US Navy find his data flawed. Simply, many don't believe him. The best mind in the US Navy believes the next big attack will come at New Guinea or Australia.
To prove himself, Rochefort must not only find the precise location but predict the date. What ensues is the cat-and-mouse adventure that will become the epic fight known as the Battle of Midway. Japan's Yamamoto will go toe-to-toe with American admirals Chester Nimitz, Jack Fletcher, and Raymond Spruance. The dramatic battle will involve strategy, luck, heartbreak—and will also change the course of World War II.
Rona wrote: "Yep, same statistics as you have, but the vast majority of the 318,000 were army and not Army Air Corps or Army Air Forces. Regardless, a very deadly war."For anyone to gain a keen appreciation of the hazards and perils faced by the Eighth Air Force bomber crews between August 1942 and May 1945, check out the 1949 movie "Twelve O'Clock High" which stars Gregory Peck and Gary Merrill. It took a certain amount of fortitude and guts to spend several hours deep in enemy territory, 4 to 5 miles up, in a non-pressurized aircraft, trying to keep warm while threatened by anti-aircraft fire and German fighters. In the beginning, the completion of 25 combat missions marked the completion of a tour. But the likelihood of completing a tour was slim, roughly 20%. Later in the war, the number of missions an airman in the Eighth Air Force had to complete before he could be rotated back to the U.S. was increased to 35 missions.
I take my hat off to all airmen in the USAAF - as well as the women pilots of the WASPs - for the invaluable service they rendered the country during World War II.
The Mighty Eighth: The Air War in Europe as Told by the Men Who Fought It
A June 2025 release:
by James DonovanDescription:
In June 1944, German and American forces converged on an insignificant bridge a few miles inland from the invasion beaches. If taken by the Nazis, the bridge might have gone down in history as the reason the Allies failed on D-Day.
The narrow road over it was each side's conduit to victory. Continued Nazi control over the bridge near an old manoir known as La Fière--one of only two bridges in the region capable of supporting tanks and other heavy armor--would allow the Germans to reinforce their defenses at Utah Beach, one of the five landing areas chosen for Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Nazi-held Europe. But because control of the bridge was also essential to moving U.S. troops inland and off the beach, it could not simply be destroyed: it had to be taken--and held--by the Allies.
This was part of the formidable mission of the 82nd Airborne, whose lightly armed but superbly trained troopers had dropped behind--and into--German lines five hours before the seaborne assault on Utah. While blocking enemy reinforcements, they had to seize and secure avenues of approach from the beaches to the interior of Normandy, including two bridges over the modest Merderet River and the key crossroads village of Sainte Mère Église. Failure would give Hitler enough time, and the opportunity, to build up the resources necessary to defeat the invasion and turn the tide for the Nazis. The village was taken early on D-Day, and the 82nd endured repeated attacks by much larger German forces. But the bridge at La Fière became a bloody three-day standoff against tanks and artillery that culminated in a near-suicidal charge across it and the narrow 500-yard causeway beyond--straight into the teeth of a fierce German defense ordered to hold it to the last man.
One to keep an eye out for. I have enjoyed all of James Donovan's books that I have read so far as well.
A May 2025 release:
by Rodrigo García-Muñoz VaqueroDescription:
On 28 October 1940, Italian armed forces invaded Greece from Albania as part of Mussolini's parallel war for control of the Mediterranean basin. What promised to be a military walkover turned into an unmitigated disaster as the Greeks, spurred on by Prime Minister Metaxas' call to resist the unjustified aggression, drive the invaders deep into mountainous Albania in the dead of winter. Hitler was forced to intervene the following spring to rescue his Axis partner, while Churchill seized the opportunity to threaten German hegemony on the European continent by aiding his loyal Greek allies. After easily conquering the whole of mainland Greece, German intervention culminated with the conquest of Crete on 1 June 1941 in a daring airborne operation.
Going beyond the mere recounting of events, The Axis Conquers Greece seeks to explain why they happened the way they did and to dispel some of the myths that still persist, using Italian, Greek, German, British, Australian and New Zealand sources. It makes a comparative study of the armed forces of the participants to understand their performance during the campaign and gives a voice to protagonists from all nations, from heads of state to simple soldiers, to give insight into how they thought and acted.
A May 2025 release:
by Sam WallaceDescription:
Fought between November 1942 and May 1943, the Second World War’s Tunisian Campaign has often been described as where the Allies ‘learned to fight’. The vital culmination of the conflict fought across the breadth of North Africa, as well as an important stepping-stone to the opening of a second front in Europe, Tunisia saw American, British, and French forces on air, land, and sea, combine to drive Axis forces from the African continent for good.
Yet despite Tunisia’s importance to the grand narrative of the Second World War, it has remained chronically neglected by scholars, particularly in regard to the lessons the Allies derived from their experiences during the campaign. This monograph examines the much-understudied Tunisian Campaign through the lens of military learning, shedding light on an oft-ignored aspect of the North African Campaign whilst providing a major contribution to our understanding of how Allied forces learned and evolved prior to their return to Europe in 1943/44.
Lighting the Torch demonstrates that it was in North Africa where the Allies were able to develop the organisations, doctrines, and processes necessary to prosecute an effective multinational campaign on air, sea, and land, as well as develop the command talent, combat experience, and technologies to fight and win battles successfully. These lessons would prove crucial when the Allies finally returned to the European continent, underpinning the successful invasions of Sicily, Italy, and Normandy and allowing the Allies to fight their way across the continent towards ultimate Axis surrender.
Another:
by Montel WilliamsDescription:
1944. The USS Intrepid set sail on its first combat voyage, only to be struck by a Japanese torpedo plane, jamming its rudder at a forty-five-degree angle. It could only sail in circles amid treacherous waters.
The task force abandoned ship as it tried to make the 3,300-mile voyage to Pearl Harbor. For a day, the captain was able to slalom, alternating use of the ship’s engines, but the seas became too perilous. Until one resilient crewman came up with the ingenious idea of rigging a twenty-eight-inch-high sail on the second deck to steer the ship home safe. Incredibly, the makeshift sail proved to be their ticket to the shorelines.
With grit and determination, this spellbinding story details a remarkable survival story against all odds, for readers of Tom Clavin and Bob Drury.
A June 2025 release:
by Richard HargreavesDescription:
Opening the Gates of Hell is based on over a decade's research in archives and sites across Europe. It is a ground-breaking examination of the start of the Nazi-Soviet conflict, a narrative history not just of the fighting, but also the impact on civilians, the atrocities committed by both sides and ethnic cleansing carried out by the inhabitants of the regions invaded.
This fascinating history tells the stories of bravery, cowardice, misery and horror through the eyes of those who were there including ordinary soldiers, generals, leaders, politicians and civilians on both sides. The book draws on published and unpublished sources from across Germany and Eastern Europe with the majority of the material never having appeared in English-language accounts of the conflict before.
The combination of combat accounts, analysis of high-level diplomacy and leadership and the visceral accounts of the atrocities committed by both sides gives this book a unique approach to the war on the Eastern Front and will ensure that it is regarded as the definitive work on the subject for many years to come.
An September 2025 release:
by Kevin PassmoreDescription:
The Maginot Line was a marvel of 1930s engineering. The huge forts, up to eighty meters underground, contained hospitals, modern kitchens, telephone exchanges, and even electric trains. Kilometres of underground galleries led to casements hidden in the terrain, and turrets that rose from the ground to fire upon the enemy. The fortifications were invulnerable to the heaviest artillery and to chemical warfare.
Despite this extensive preparation, France fell to Germany in a little under six weeks. Eight decades on, the Maginot Line is still remembered as an expensively misguided response to obvious danger.
In this groundbreaking account, Kevin Passmore reevaluates the Maginot Line. He traces the controversies surrounding construction, the lives of the men who manned the forts, the impact on German-speaking inhabitants of the frontier, and the fight against espionage from within. Far from a backward step, the Maginot Line was an ambitious project of modernisation--one that was let down by strategic error and growing dissatisfaction with fortification.
Jerome wrote: "A June 2025 release: by Richard HargreavesDescription:
Opening the Gates of Hell is..."
I'm a sucker for any book covering Operation Barbarossa so this new title will be going on my wish-list!
The fifth volume in the series Mussolini's War has just been published; "Apocalypse On The Steppe: The Struggle And The Bitter End Of The Italian Army In Russia, 1942-1943" by Marek Sobski.
Apocalypse On The Steppe: The Struggle And The Bitter End Of The Italian Army In Russia, 1942-1943 by Marek SobskiDescription:
In the previous study ‘Mussolini's Eastern Crusade: The Italian Expeditionary Corps In Operation Barbarossa’ we recounted the story of the Italian Corps (CSIR) on the Eastern Front until the end of winter 1942. This work continues the story of Mussolini's soldiers taking part in the campaign that fascist propaganda presented as an anti-Bolshevik crusade. Since the summer of 1942, an entire army sent from Italy (Armata Italiana in Russia, ARMIR), numbering well over two hundred thousand men, had been fighting in the USSR alongside the Wehrmacht.
The next summer offensive of the Wehrmacht in the USSR targeted the oil-rich areas of the Caucasus and, with its success, the industrial city on the Volga River - Stalingrad. The role of the Third Reich's allies on the Eastern Front was to secure the flanks of this manoeuvre. The ARMIR took part in the initial phases of Operation Blau, and then, acting as a buffer between the incompatible Hungarians and Romanians, took up positions on the River Don. Already by the summer of 1942, the Italians became the target of a Soviet operation aimed at cutting German supply lines and drawing reserves away from the Stalingrad area. The ARMIR passed this first test successfully, taking control of the situation without the help of other Axis forces.
In the winter of 1942/1943, the Red Army carried out a powerful counter-offensive, which in the first stage trapped Paulus's 6th Army in the Stalingrad cauldron. However, the Soviet reserves seemed inexhaustible, while the German-Romanian attempt to unblock the cauldron was still ongoing the Soviets were already undertaking further operations. Operation ‘Little Saturn’ was to break through the positions of the Italian 8th Army (ARMIR) and threaten the airfields from which Stalingrad was supplied. After its end, the elite Italian Alpine Corps found itself in the middle of another Soviet offensive – the Ostrogozhsk-Rossoshan Operation.
This study presents the story of the desperate battles of the Italian troops during the aforementioned events, including the operations of the air contingent. A detailed description of the battles and many accounts on the heroism of ordinary troops will allow the reader to properly assess the exploits of the Italian soldier on the Eastern Front, which has often been presented in an extremely unfair way. It also touches on such topics as the political and economic goals of the Italian presence in the East and the problem of securing the frontline zone, and the relations of the Italians with the local population.
The work is illustrated with 110 photos and 8 maps.
Table of contents:
Maps
Introduction
I. Italian 8th Army During Operation Blau
II. First Blow: ARMIR and Operation ‘Little Saturn’
III. The Tragic Retreat of the Alpine Corps
IV. In the Rear Area of the ARMIR
V. Regia Aeronautica on the Eastern Front
Conclusion
Appendix 1
Italian Ranks and Appointments Used Throughout The Book And Their British Equivalents
Appendix 2
Biographies Of The High-Ranking Italian Commanders of Armata Italiana in Russia
Appendix 3
Armata Italiana in Russia Order of Battle
Bibliography
A March 2025 release:
by Richard OveryDescription:
In 1945, US air attacks in Japan killed 300,000 civilians in three hours of night bombing and two nuclear strikes. The firebombing of Tokyo in March burned almost the entire city, killed some 85,000 residents, and left more than 1 million homeless. The atomic blast in Hiroshima in August killed some 119,000 civilians and 20,000 soldiers. After a second nuclear attack days later in Nagasaki and a declaration of war by the Soviet Union, Japan accepted defeat.
Drawing on his expertise in the war and its bombing campaigns, Richard Overy delivers a precise recounting of these aerial attacks, especially their impact on civilians, and a balanced assessment of how and why they occurred. Astute on Allied decision-making, Overy notably explores the factional infighting within the Japanese leadership and the decisive role played by the emperor, Hirohito. The war’s endgame required both sides to bridge a cultural divide on surrender.
Added 2 books to my TBR pile! Thanks, Jerome
Here is a recent release that may be of interest to some group members; "Arms for Russia and the Naval War in the Arctic, 1941-1945" by Andrew Boyd.
Arms for Russia and the Naval War in the Arctic, 1941-1945 by Andrew BoydDescription:
This major new work fundamentally reassesses the operations by the Western allies to deliver war supplies to Russia via the Arctic sea route between 1941 and 1945. It explores the motives underpinning Western aid, its real impact on the Soviet war effort, and its influence on wider Allied and German strategy as the war developed. It brings to life key participants, political and military, describes the interaction of intelligence with high policy and tactics, and brings a fresh perspective to key events, including the notorious convoy PQ 17.
The book disputes the long-standing view that aid to Russia was essentially discretionary, lacking military rationale and undertaken primarily to meet political objectives, with only a minor impact on Soviet war potential. It shows that aid was always grounded in strategic necessity, with the Arctic supply route a constant preoccupation of British and American leaders, absorbing perhaps twenty per cent of Royal Navy resources after 1941 and a significant share of Allied merchant shipping badly needed in other theaters. The Soviet claim, determinedly promoted through the Cold War, that aid was marginal, still influences attitudes in Vladimir Putin’s Russia and contemporary Western opinion. It even resonates through the present war in Ukraine. Andrew Boyd demonstrates that in reality, Western aid through the Arctic was a critical multiplier of Soviet military power throughout the war and perhaps even enabled Russia’s very survival in 1942; and he makes plain that the British contribution to the aid effort was greater than generally acknowledged.
The book also emphasises that the Arctic conflict was not framed solely by the supply convoys, important though they were. British, German and Russian operations in a theater – defined by Adolph Hitler in early 1942 as the ‘zone of destiny’ – were shaped by other perceived opportunities and threats. For instance, Germany concentrated its fleet in Norway to forestall a potential British attack while attempting land offensives to cut Russia’s links with its northern ports. It also had vital raw materials to protect. Britain explored potential operations with Russia to dislodge Germany from the Arctic coast and sever her access to important resources.
Elegantly written and incorporating many new perspectives on the Arctic theater, this new work should find a place on the shelves of every historian, scholar and enthusiast whose interests extend to the Russian dimension of the Second World War.
'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Here is a recent release that may be of interest to some group members; "Arms for Russia and the Naval War in the Arctic, 1941-1945" by Andrew Boyd.[bookcover:Arms for Russia and the Naval War in..."
Added to the mountain, AR.
'Aussie Rick' wrote: "Here is a recent release that may be of interest to some group members; "Arms for Russia and the Naval War in the Arctic, 1941-1945" by Andrew Boyd.[bookcover:Arms for Russia and the Naval War in..."
and here we go again, waterstones. pick up order, place order :-D
The HB edition was over $70 in Australia, the Kindle version under $20 so I figured why not :)
A June 2025 release:
by Brian D. LaslieDescription:
Like other Carrier Air Groups, CVG-11 comprised three aircraft squadrons: fighter (VF-11), bomber (VB-11), and torpedo (VT-11). The fighter squadron's "Sundowners" nickname references both the "downing" of Japan's Rising Sun and a hard-working sailor. The bomber group's "Pegasus" nickname is believed to be related to Pegasus, the winged horse of the Muses in Greek mythology. The "Little Butch" nickname was bestowed on the torpedo group after the war when Walt Disney designed their insignia, which consisted of a black torpedo with a skull and crossbones on it and a winged cherub wearing a green helmet nicknamed "Little Butch."
CVG-11 saw its first action on Guadalcanal in 1943. It was then deployed on the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV 12) and fought throughout the Central and Southwest Pacific areas, including Luzon, Mindanao, Mindoro, French Indochina, and Okinawa from 1944 to 1945. The air group's achievements during World War II were laudable, amassing 103 air-to-air victories, destroying 272 grounded planes, and sinking more than 100,000 tons of Japanese shipping. During its time on the Hornet, CVG-11 also produced four aces, with top ace Charlie Stimpson shooting down an impressive sixteen enemy planes. VF-11 took great pride in protecting their shipmates and other squadron members in VB-11 and VT-11 and logged a perfect escort record, losing no bombers or torpedo planes to Japanese aircraft during the entire conflict.
Laslie weaves together diaries, interviews, archival research, and official battle reports to present CVG-11's compelling story. The book offers fascinating insight on how most units contended with the daily challenges of war in the Pacific--both ordinary and extraordinary, from rough weather to kamikaze attacks. The Sundowners, Pegasus, and Little Butch tells an exhilarating tale of men and machines at war that adds to the collective memory of World War II.
An April 2025 release:
by Jonathan HornDescription:
For the doomed stand American forces made in the Philippines at the start of World War II, two generals received their country’s highest military award, the Medal of Honor. One was the charismatic and controversial Douglas MacArthur, whose orders forced him to leave his soldiers on the islands to starvation and surrender but whose vow to return echoed around the globe. The other was the gritty Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright, who became a hero to the troops whose fate he insisted on sharing even when it meant becoming the highest-ranking American prisoner of the Japanese.
In The Fate of the Generals, bestselling author Jonathan Horn brings together the story of two men who won the same medal but found honor on very different paths. MacArthur’s journey would require a daring escape with his wife and young child to Australia and then years of fighting over the thousands of miles needed to make it back to the Philippines, where he would fulfill his famous vow only to see the city he called home burn. Wainwright’s journey would take him from the Philippines to Taiwan and Manchuria as his captors tortured him in prisons and left him to wonder whether his countrymen would ever understand the choice he had made to surrender for the sake of his men.
A story of war made personal based on meticulous research into letters and diaries including boxes of previously unexplored papers, The Fate of the Generals is a vivid account that raises timely questions about how we define honor and how we choose our heroes, and is destined to become a classic of World War II history.
Another:
by John M. CuratolaDescription:
American forces storming the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, is one of the most famous moments in US military history. But behind this iconic assault is the long-overlooked history of learning and innovation. Significantly, the amphibious forces taken ashore that day were overwhelmingly army soldiers, with sailors and airmen in support. Before the army could launch such an endeavor, however, it had to learn how to conduct amphibious operations against a contested shore.
Creating this capability required a concerted, deliberate effort. Involving an extensive joint endeavor of air, naval, and ground forces, amphibious assault strategy developed over the course of four years. In Armies Afloat, John Curatola leads readers through US Army's amphibious development and capabilities by examining six components: command relationships, ship-to-shore movement, naval surface fire support, air support, beachhead establishment, and logistics and communication. The men, material, processes, and coordination involved in developing such a large-scale amphibious capability was something truly new in warfare. Through a constant process of assessment and review, US forces adjusted methodologies at all levels of war and successfully outpaced--and ultimately defeated--the European Axis powers.
A June 2025 release:
by Craig L. SymondsDescription:
They arrived in Annapolis as teenagers the year Hitler re-occupied the Rhineland and graduated as young men the week the British Army evacuated Dunkirk. Annapolis Goes to War tells the story of their four transformative years at the Naval Academy, and then four more annealing years in the cauldron of war. More than a hundred of them were on duty in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Ten of them died that day-seven remain entombed in the USS Arizona still. Over the next four years, these former Midshipmen participated in virtually every significant engagement in both the Atlantic and the Pacific, from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay, from North Africa to Normandy. They were at the front edge of the war in battleships, carriers, destroyers, submarines, and airplanes, and led Marine Corps units ashore. Some experienced the war as prisoners of the Japanese. Fifty-six of them died in the Second World War, the greatest wartime loss any service academy ever experienced.
Taking readers into and through the lives of these young men in wartime, Craig Symonds offers a poignant and powerful story of adjustment, growth, pain, loss, and eventually triumph. Using their diaries, memoirs, and letters, he evokes unforgettably their trials and bonds, their loss of innocence and their discovery of the meaning of sacrifice. Annapolis Goes to War is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the experience of fighting the bloodiest war in human history.
A May 2026 release:
by Brian WalterDescription:
The British army emerged from World War I as the world's premier fighting force. This same army, following two decades of government neglect, entered World War II pitifully small compared to its main rivals and wholly unprepared for the tasks at hand. Despite its sorry state of readiness, the army dutifully went forward to confront enemies of the British realm as it had done so many times before. Soon, it would be fully engaged in a global conflict against three powerful adversaries--the armed forces of Germany, Italy and Japan.
During the war, the British army, along with its Imperial and Commonwealth counterparts, expanded from a force of only a few hundred thousand men to a cumulative strength of over eight million men and 110 field divisions, of which 70 saw combat during the conflict. Suffering a number of early defeats--including in France, Greece, Malaya and at Tobruk--this collective force slowly turned the tide against its Axis assailants. Fighting over an immense area that included Europe, Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Southwest Pacific, the British and Commonwealth armies eventually scored a string of stirring victories that avenged their earlier defeats and helped facilitate the demise of the Axis powers. The sheer scope of this accomplishment is reflected in the fact that, during the duration of the war, the British and Commonwealth armies inflicted a staggering four million casualties upon their Axis opponents for a cost to themselves of less than a quarter of this number.
In this groundbreaking new book, Brian E. Walter provides a complete, balanced and detailed account of the contributions made by the British and Commonwealth armies during World War II. The product of over 30 years of meticulous research and analysis, the book is the quintessential, single-volume source on this topic. It provides a comprehensive history of all the major actions in all theatres carried out by the British and Commonwealth armies, both well-known and obscure, and provides unique analysis regarding the effectiveness and relevance of the army's performance.
A February 2025 release:
by Jon DiamondDescription:
The campaign for Iwo Jima (Operation Detachment) from 19 February–26 March 1945 pitted the USMC Fifth Amphibious Corps (VAC) and the USN’s Fifth Fleet against the IJA 109th Division and assorted IJN ground troops under the command of Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi. After neutralizing Japanese air assets on Iwo Jima, the objective was to seize Iwo Jima’s two completed airfields in the southern and central sectors and make them operational after the heavy pre- and post-invasion aerial, naval and Marine artillery bombardment. USAAF 7th Fighter Command would then have this Volcano Island as a base from which to escort the four-engine B-29 heavy bombers on their Japanese Home Islands’ raids from their Mariana Islands bases and to provide emergency airfields for battle-damaged or low-on-fuel Superfortresses on their return flight that otherwise would have crashed in the sea.
The combined American force numbered over 100,000 troops against 20,933 Japanese soldiers and sailors. Kuribayashi’s defences were so well fortified with caves, tunnels and daunting terrain that the VAC lost 6,821 KIA and 19,217 wounded compared to approximately 18,000 Japanese troops KIA or MIA with only 216 prisoners taken. In a ‘mopping up’ phase to clear the remaining Japanese hidden in the island’s caves, the Army’s 147th IR, 37th Division captured an additional 867 prisoners. This epic USMC campaign resulted in an unprecedented ratio of three American casualties for every two Japanese soldiers. In all, 2,251 emergency B-29 landings were made saving the lives of almost 25,000 aircrew members. The flagraisings atop Mount Suribachi on 23 February 1945 galvanized American morale at home.
Some very interesting titles there Jerome. I always find it hard to pass up any book by Craig L. Symonds!
A March 2025 release:
by Robert FergusonDescription:
In the early morning of 9 April 1940 a fleet of German ships entered the Oslofjord. The Norwegian artillery delayed the German advance long enough for King Haakon VII and his cabinet to escape to England, but there was no stopping the Nazi blitzkrieg. Norway stood on the cusp of a traumatic five-year occupation whose aftershocks would continue to trouble its national consciousness long after the defeated Germans departed in May 1945.
In a magnificent feat of storytelling, Robert Ferguson tells the extraordinary - and relatively little-known - story of the occupation and its judicial aftermath. He focuses in particular on the Germans' attempt to use a Norwegian Nazi administration under Vidkun Quisling to impose a National Socialist revolution on Norwegians, and on the many brave and ingenious ways in which the Norwegians resisted the attempt.
Ferguson describes the occupation in all its aspects - from Nazi terror to non-violent resistance, from censorship to sabotage - ending with a riveting and heart-rending account of the trial and ensuing execution of a member of the Norwegian resistance. Norway's War presents a series of heterogeneous but interlinked narratives which are richly involving in themselves but which always allow the wider politico-military story to keep moving forward. The key players in the occupation, whether occupiers, collaborators or resisters, both non-violent and otherwise, are memorably characterised. One of them, the remarkable double agent Gunnar Waaler, occupies an especially prominent place in the narrative.
Above all, Norway's War evokes the bravery of ordinary Norwegians in a manner that is deeply engaging, moving and fascinating.
A May 2025 release:
by Martin MaceDescription:
Hitler’s Ardennes Offensive, his last great throw of the dice, was stagnating. After the initial German successes, the Allies had rallied. In a desperate bid to recover the momentum, the Luftwaffe aimed to gain control of the air by launching a major attack upon Allied airfields in the Low Countries – Operation Bodenplatte.
On 1 January 1945, more than 800 fighters and fighter-bombers, predominantly Focke-Wulf Fw 190s and Messerschmitt Bf 109s, were despatched in this low-level, dawn raid on Allied airfields in Belgium and the Netherlands. The object was to destroy or cripple as many Allied aircraft, hangars and airstrips as possible. Generalleutnant Adolf Galland, the man in charge of Germany’s fighter force and responsible for the original plans for Operation Bodenplatte, saw that the Allies had accumulated such a strong force of aircraft that there must be heavy congestion on the airfields used by the Allies. As the Luftwaffe rarely risked daylight raids, he hoped to take the Allies by surprise and catch their aircraft on the ground in a single massive strike. Galland’s plan worked. Surprise was complete, and many Allied aircraft were destroyed before they could be scrambled. Allied pilots and aircrew ran or dived for cover as the German fighters swept over the airfields of Duerne at Antwerp, Evere in Brussels, Eindhoven, Ghent and another twelve bases of the RAF’s 2nd Tactical Air Force, and the American Eighth and Ninth Air Forces.
But not all the attacks were as successful as Galland had hoped. At some airfields the Allied squadrons were absent, already engaged in operations and at others powerful anti-aircraft batteries took a heavy toll of the attackers. As Galland, explained: ‘In Unfamiliar conditions and with insufficient training and combat experience, our numerical strength had no effect. It was decimated while in transfer, on the ground, in large air battles ... and was finally destroyed.’ Figures vary enormously, though it has been recorded that 224 Allied aircraft were destroyed (of which 144 were RAF) with a further eighty-four damaged beyond unit repair. For its part, the Luftwaffe lost sixty-two aircraft to Allied fighters and 172 to anti-aircraft guns – losses that it never really replaced, particularly in terms of aircrew. In Galland’s words, the Luftwaffe ‘received its death blow at the Ardennes offensive’.
Told through a detailed narrative and a unique collection of dramatic photographs, the story of the last major air battle of the Second World War, is portrayed in vivid detail allowing the reader to see the destruction and devastation of the German attacks – and the crippling losses the Luftwaffe sustained.
An April 2025 release:
by Jonathan GlanceyDescription:
As bombs rained down upon Europe, flattening city after city, Venice – La Serenissima; home of Titian and Veronese; immortalised in the serene landscapes of Canaletto – remained sacrosanct. Its artistic and architectural treasure too considerable, too precious to risk destruction.
But, as the push up through Italy reached its final, gruelling months, the Allies were confronted with a terrible dilemma. The ancient city of Venice was now closer and closer to the line of fire. As casualties mounted, the value of art, of history seemed diminished – just a month earlier Allied bombers had reduced the ancient hilltop abbey of Monte Cassino to a stony husk.
In a gripping tale, bestselling author Jonathan Glancey reveals the thrilling history of ‘Operation Bowler’. Joining audacious Wing Commander George Westlake DFC and his elite team, Operation Bowler explores how a ragtag squad of pilots executed one of the most meticulous and complex air raids of the Second World War, sparing not only Venice, but its people.
Some interesting books there Jerome! Thanks for posting the details.
A September 2025 release:
by Saul DavidDescription:
In early 1943, three Axis defeats changed the course of World War at Guadalcanal in the Pacific, Stalingrad in Russia and Tunisia in North Africa. Historians have recognized the significance of the first two campaigns, but not Tunisia which they have either ignored or characterized (as the Americans did at the time) as a sideshow. Yet it ended Axis seapower in the Mediterranean, destroyed more than 2,400 Axis aircraft (40 per cent of the Luftwaffe’s strength), and resulted in the surrender of over 250,000 German and Italian troops, as many as were captured at Stalingrad. After Josef Goebbel’s compared the scale of the defeat to the destruction of General Paulus’s Sixth Army in Russia, it was known to the German public as ‘Tunisgrad’.
It was the first campaign fought by the Anglo-American alliance, and would determine how and where the Allies would fight for the rest of the war. It was where America first brought to bear the full weight of its industrial strength, and where the Allies learned, after early setbacks, how to defeat the Germans with a combination of air, land and sea power. But its chief significance is that it was the campaign that extinguished any lingering hopes that Italy could win the war and led, inexorably, to the dissolution of the Axis in Europe when Italy surrendered in September 1943. By destroying the Axis it marked, for Hitler, the beginning of the end.
Tunisgrad will be the first comprehensive 360-degrees history, told from the perspective of all the combatants, and ranging in focus from politicians and senior commanders to ordinary servicemen fighting in and over the mountains of Tunisia, and across the Mediterranean. It will use sources – many archival and never published before – from all the main nationalities British, Indian, New Zealand, Australian, South African, Greek, French and Americans on one side; and Germans and Italians on the other.
Saul David's book should be a good one!
A July 2025 release:
by James HollandDescription:
In May 1944 and then again in August and early September, the seemingly endless World War II finally came to a close in six dramatic surrender ceremonies, four in Europe and the last two in Japan. On the 80th anniversary of those historic moments, celebrated historians James Holland and Al Murray chronicle these momentous events in turn, focusing especially on the human dramas behind each surrender and relating stories and perspectives on the end of the war that have not previously been told.
Germany's armies submitted to the Allies in four ceremonies between May 2 and June 7, the latter after considerable delays by the Germans and threats from General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander. Japan then finally conceded only after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, initially on August 15th and then in a formal ceremony aboard the USS Missouri on September 2. Holland and Murray focus on specific characters participating in each of these world-changing events--from ordinary servicemen and women and civilians to generals and political leaders. The saga of the first German surrender, in Italy, revolves around senior SS general Karl Wolff's personal battle to save his own neck and involves VIP prisoners locked up in a resort in South Tyrol, art theft, money laundering, and the resistance of other German commanders to give up. The German surrender to the Americans on May 5 follows the fortunes of private Alan Moskin from New Jersey, whose 6th Infantry Regiment found themselves liberating Gunskirchen, one of Mauthausen's sub-concentration camps, the terrible reality of which affected the rest of his life.
The stories surrounding the war's end are in their own way as dramatic as the strategy and battles themselves. As Holland and Murray make clear, they add greatly to our understanding and appreciation of World War II and its legacy.
A May 2025 release:
by Max HastingsDescription:
On 6 June 1944 when the allied armies landed on D-Day, the Second World War had already lasted almost five years.
Yet many of the British and American troops who invaded Normandy were virgin soldiers, never before committed to battle. They quit summer England to face within hours a storm of machine-gun and mortar fire. They witnessed scenes, above all of sudden death, such as no exercise had prepared them for.
In Sword, veteran chronicler of war Max Hastings explores with extraordinary vividness the actions of the Commando brigade, Montgomery’s 3rd Infantry and 6th Airborne divisions on and around a single British beach. He describes their frustrations, hopes, loves and fears through the apparently interminable years training and preparing in England, then their triumphs and tragedies on the beach and beyond. Here are the airborne assaults on the Caen Canal bridge and Merville Battery, the battles on the shoreline and against the German strongpoints inland, narrated and explained with all the insights that Hastings’ decades of study, veterans’ interviews and new archive research enable him to deploy.
The book offers a searching analysis of why British troops did not reach Caen on 6 June, as Montgomery had promised Churchill that they would – and the story of the brigadier who was sacked for that failure. There is also a host of personal portraits of key figures from commando leader Lord Lovat, famously brave but supremely arrogant, to tank colonel Jim Eadie, whose tanks of the Staffordshire Yeomanry repulsed a panzer division in the last hours of 6 June, and some of the humbler participants to whom extraordinary things happened.
This is D-Day as you have never read the story told before, with the blend of narrative, analysis and human insight that made Max Hastings’ last book Operation Biting, like many of his earlier works, a Sunday Times No.1 bestseller.
Hastings & Holland, it's going to be a sweet D-Day season...
Just wondering has anyone heard anything about volume 2, to follow up this release? Tower of Skulls: A History of the Asia-Pacific War, Volume I: July 1937-May 1942
Unleashed wrote: "Just wondering has anyone heard anything about volume 2, to follow up this release? Tower of Skulls: A History of the Asia-Pacific War, Volume I: July 1937-May 1942"I read that it was supposed to come out this year, but apparently there were delays around research becuase of Covid. So I have no idea. Haven't read anything about a release date.
A March 2025 release:
by James Slaughter (no photo)Synopsis:
Airpower over the Rhine is a critical new perspective on the air battle between the French Air Force (FAF) and the Luftwaffe in the skies over France during May and June 1940. Why were the French overpowered in the air? What factors led to their defeat? Author James F. Slaughter III examines how each country’s leadership created the circumstances that enabled the Luftwaffe’s victory over the FAF and Germany’s ultimate defeat of France.
Conventional wisdom―especially in the English-speaking world―purports that the FAF was a nonentity whose loss was all but guaranteed. But the FAF did, in fact, show up to fight. With virtually every disadvantage and under impossible conditions, FAF pilots nevertheless managed to land significant blows against the Luftwaffe―far more than they are given credit for today. Slaughter traces this misconception to a largely collaborationist cover-up beginning with the Rion Trials in Vichy France that was then perpetuated by Cold War politics and popular mythology.
Rather than absence or incompetence, the FAF lost due to a series of complex internal conflicts within French leadership, both political and military, that set them up to fail. This work compares and examines six fundamental areas that affected the development of the FAF and the Luftwaffe: aircraft and equipment, the aircraft industries, intelligence, the experiences of the Spanish Civil War, doctrine and training, and politics and air power. It also offers new details about and insights into Pierre Cot, a controversial French politician largely unknown outside France. Airpower over the Rhine explains Cot’s internal and external impact on the development of the French Air Force and details what is known about his apparent efforts to spy for the Soviet Union. Thoroughly researched and compellingly written, this book will appeal to anyone with an interest in World War II.
Bagration 1944: The Great Soviet Offensive
A May 2025 release (I'm currently reading an advance review copy; got it through Netgalley)
Synopsis
A fascinating history of the great summer offensive launched by the Red Army in 1944 which turned the tide of the war.
Throughout the war on the Eastern Front, there were two consistent trends. The Red Army battled to learn how to fight and win, while involved in a struggle for its very survival. But by 1944 it had a leadership that was able to wield it with lethal effect and with far more effective equipment than before. By contrast, the Wehrmacht had commenced a slow process of decline after the invasion of the Soviet Union. Hitler became increasingly unwilling to delegate decision-making to commanders in the field, which had been crucial to earlier success. The long years of fighting had also taken a heavy toll. Thousands of irreplaceable junior officers and NCOs were dead, wounded or prisoners.
Renowned Eastern Front expert Prit Buttar expertly brings these contrasting fortunes to life, trends which culminated in the huge battles of Bagration. As this masterful study conclusively shows, in 1944 the Red Army finally put together a campaign that utterly destroyed the German Army Group Centre. The Wehrmacht suffered the loss of over 300,000 men killed, wounded or taken prisoner and the Red Army rolled forward across Belarus to the outskirts of Warsaw. The end of the war was still many months away, and the Germans managed to reconstruct their line on the Eastern Front, but final victory for the Soviet Union was now only a matter of time as a direct consequence of Bagration.
A March 2025 release
Guam: The Battle for an American Island in World War II by James H. Hallas
Synopsis
In this sequel to his epic Saipan, James Hallas tells the dramatic story of the battle for Guam in World War II, the next stage of the United States’ pivotal campaign for the Mariana Islands—and the beginning of the end for the Japanese Empire.
In December 1941, Japan captured Guam, the largest island of the Marianas archipelago and an American territory since 1898, and turned it into a naval and air base, a supply dump, and a massive prison for the native Chamorros. After a long, bloody drive back across the Pacific, the United States was ready to retake Guam in the summer of 1944, not only to liberate the island, but to secure its harbor and airstrip, both vitally important for mounting an aggressive attack against the Japanese home islands.
Saipan came first in Operation Forager, the campaign to take the Marianas, and as that battle bogged down in vicious combat, the invasion of Guam was delayed—until July 21, 1944, when, after one of the Pacific War’s longest and most devastating bombardments, U.S. Marines and Army soldiers trudged ashore, spearheaded by frogmen who pierced Japanese defenses. Guam was a hellish place for a war, and for two and a half weeks, American fighting men battled a tenacious enemy on sandy beaches, in jungles, mountains, ravines, caves, and swamps, in sweltering humidity and frequent downpours. The Japanese fought to the last man, at first mounting well-organized attacks and in the end relying on suicidal charges—in places inflicting up to 50 percent casualties on American units. Major operations ended on August 10, but mopping up continued until the end of the war, and the last Japanese holdout did not surrender until 1972.
James Hallas reconstructs the full panorama of the Battle of Guam. In its comprehensiveness, attention to detail, scope of research, and intimate focus on the men who fought and won the battle, this will stand as the definitive history of the battle for years to come.
Two very interesting books to keep an eye out for. Thaks for posting those details Darya!
An October release:
by Anthony Tucker-Jones Description:
The Rhineland was where Adolf Hitler sowed the seeds for the Second World War when he remilitarized it in breach of the Treaty of Versailles in 1936, and by late 1944 the Rhine provided the last major obstacle to the advancing Allied armies that were threatening the Fatherland itself.
In this new history of this vital campaign, respected military historian Anthony Tucker-Jones describes the race against time as the Germans fought to stave off the inevitable. It was essential that the Germans held the west bank in order to protect the Rhine crossings at Cologne, Bonn, Koblenz and Remagen, but Hitler was intent on counter-attacking in the Ardennes in the winter of 1944 and this meant there was little left to bolster the defences of the Rhine.
Rhineland relates the course of this desperate defence, describing the build-up of forces and operational plans before going on to tell the story of the campaign from the point of view of the forces involved, from the ordinary German soldier through to the high command.
Jerome wrote: "An October release: by Anthony Tucker-Jones Description:
The Rhineland was where Adolf Hitler sowed the seeds for t..."
Another good book to keep an eye out for later!
An August release:
by Karel MargryDescription:
Kharkov, Ukraine’s second-largest city, was a major industrial hub and a key centre for Soviet tank development during the Second World War. Its strategic importance made it a focal point of intense conflict during Operation Barbarossa, changing hands four times between October 1941 and August 1943.
The Germans first captured Kharkov in October 1941, but its factories and machinery had been evacuated. The Red Army liberated the city in May 1942 after heavy losses, with over 170,000 soldiers killed and 106,000 wounded. In February 1943, Field Marshal Erich von Manstein led a counter-offensive during the Third Battle of Kharkov, retaking the city through brutal urban combat, marking one of Germany’s last significant victories on the Eastern Front. However, in August 1943, the Red Army’s Belgorod–Kharkov offensive forced the Germans to surrender the city. This Fourth Battle of Kharkov, described by Winston Churchill as one of the war's decisive battles alongside Kursk and Orel, marked the turning point of Germany’s defeat in the East.
Karel Margry’s analysis delves into these pivotal battles, highlighting their significance in shaping the outcome of Hitler’s invasion and underscoring the immense human cost of the Soviet-German conflict.
An April release:
by Antonio J MunozDescription:
On 6 April 1941, Nazi Germany, along with Italy and Hungary, invaded Yugoslavia after the overthrow of the Yugoslav regent, Prince Paul. Hitler sought to secure the right flank for his upcoming invasion of the USSR and assist Mussolini, who had failed to conquer Greece. The German attack was swift, and by 17 April, Yugoslavia capitulated, leading to the creation of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH).
Ante Pavelić, leader of the fascist Ustaše organization, was installed as the head of Croatia. His government immediately began a brutal campaign of repression against non-Croatians, especially Serbs. This sparked rebellions, with Serbian Chetnik bands and Croatian communists forming separate guerrilla movements. The Croatian state was soon overwhelmed by these insurgencies. Italy further complicated matters by creating occupation zones within Croatia, supporting Chetnik bands, and hampering Croatian military efforts.
The Croatian Army, unable to fortify its territory due to Italian restrictions, was often attacked by Chetniks and forced to fight on two fronts. Despite these challenges, including inadequate armament and the constant interference of its allies, Croatia maintained a military force that continued to fight until the war’s bitter end.
Two interesting books, thanks for the 'heads-up' Jerome!
A September release:
by Peter FritzscheDescription:
By the end of the Second World War, more than seventy million people across the globe had been killed, most of them civilians. Cities from Warsaw to Tokyo lay in ruins, and fully half of the world’s two billion people had been mobilized, enslaved, or displaced.
In 1942, historian Peter Fritzsche offers a gripping, ground-level portrait of the decisive year when World War II escalated to global catastrophe. With the United States joining the fight following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, all the world’s great powers were at war. The debris of ships sunk by Nazi submarines littered US beaches, Germans marauded in North Africa, and the Japanese swept through the Pacific. Military battles from Singapore to Stalingrad riveted the world. But so, too, did dramas on the war’s home battles against colonial overlords, assaults on internal “enemies,” massive labor migrations, endless columns of refugees.
With an eye for detail and an eye on the big story, Fritzsche takes us from shipyards on San Francisco Bay to townships in Johannesburg to street corners in Calcutta to reveal the moral and existential drama of a people’s war filled with promise and terror.
looks like an ambitious undertaking!
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)
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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)
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