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Hello!

Looking for recommendations for books about WWII in the European and North African Theaters.

I have "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" by William Shirer, but I'm looking for more to read - preferably something with a slightly more modern perspective?

Unless the suggested books are the standard bearers in the field, of course!

Readily available at reasonable prices also appreciated - Thanks!

 Alpharius wrote:
Hello!

Looking for recommendations for books about WWII in the European and North African Theaters.

I have "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" by William Shirer, but I'm looking for more to read - preferably something with a slightly more modern perspective?

Unless the suggested books are the standard bearers in the field, of course!

Readily available at reasonable prices also appreciated - Thanks!

So, something like Anthony Beevor’s Stalingrad, then?

Normandy 44 by James Holland.

Ardennes 1944 by Anthony Beavor.

Kursk the greatest battle by Lloyd Clark.

Tank war by Mark Urban

Catch that tiger by Noel Botham.

Tank Action by David Render.

That’s just a handful from my shelf , all have been fantastic. Well worth a read.
Catch that tiger is the story of the secret mission by Churchill to capture a working tiger which is the one at Bovingon and nothing at all to do with that crazy ass joe exotic lol.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00C4GU6OS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00KYVDOPI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:


So, something like Anthony Beevor’s Stalingrad, then?

If this is the one I'm thinking of it is an impressive work. The numbers start off shocking. By the end the numbers are incredible - they're almost impossible to comprehend. You go from imagining the many people involved to seeing nothing but numbers on a page. It's horrifying.

Rick Atkinson's Liberation trilogy is a good read. It covers US forces, from Operation Torch through VE day.

Excellent suggestions - thank you all!

War Without Hate - Erwin Rommel - heavy focus on North Africa theatre of course-l

I'm big on the eastern front
Stalingrad from Anthony Beevor as mentioned above
Leningrad 1943: Inside a City Under Siege - Alexander Werth
Battle for Stalingrad - Vasili Ivanovich Chuikov (Russian perspective)
Satlingrad - marechal Paulus (German Perspective)

often forgotten theatre but 'epic' one
A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War - William Trotter

Would recommend Charles Messenger's "Commandos", whilst it is very limited in scope it is a subject that is pretty interesting and only tends to get touched on elsewhere.

Peter Caddick- Adams "Monte Cassino - Ten armies in hell" is also well worth the read, it gives a pretty good overview of the Italian front before delving heavily into the battles around Cassino.

Christopher Ryan's books are also well worth the effort (Longest Day, A Bridge Too Far, The last battle).

Not a fan of Beevor but "Crete" is very good.

"Right of the Line" is the official history of the RAF during the war and is superbly well written.

Churchill's Gathering Storm series are also worth the effort though they do tend to focus more on the political aspects of the war.

"Operation Mincemeat" is a good read and a really interesting story of espionage.

"Pursuit: The Chase and Sinking of the Battleship Bismarck" by Ludovic Kennedy is worth the effort.

"An Army at Dawn" by Rick Atkinson is a very good overview of the Desert War.

Would recommend "Lost Victories" by Erich von Manstein, fascinating look behind the curtain and very well written and accessible.

Also worth reading the WW2 chapters of Monty's "Concise History of Warfare" the book itself is largely a load of crap but its worth reading his perspective of the Desert war and the operations around Overlord.

The Rommel papers, edited by Liddell Hart.

Tigers in the mud, Otto Carius

I can recomend Antony Beevor's D-Day.

If you want a stronger focus on Italy and can speak german competently i can fully recomend Wolfgang Schieders "Der italienische Faschismus".
Small booklet but quite deep in the matter on ideology and actual history.

The Forgotten Soldier (German soldier who joined Gross Deutshland after the fall of Stalingrad all the way to his capture by British)

I remember fondly 2194 days of war, which is basically an encyclopedia level view of WW2 day by day, sort of neat and if you are reading along in some other book, a great way to flip to the date or time frame and see quickly what the world situation was when your hero and heroine were sneaking past the enemy into occupied wherever...
Also look for the Theory and Practice of Hell, which is a look into how the Buchenwald camp was run and the things that happened there. It has the potential to be a little disturbing, I guess.
Bpdygaurd of lies is good.
The Arms of Krupp is good but starts well before ww2.
"The Bitter Woods" is a book worth a look, too, its about the batle of the bulge.