I just finished reading "The Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer.

Damn, this book sure was a downer. I was reading "When Titans Clashed" by Glantz to get a more solid strategic look at the Eastern Front.

As far as historical fiction, Herman Wouk really covered all of WWII in his books The Winds of War and War and Remembrance.
These are entertaining and informative books, but not really focused on battle so much as living through the war.

If you want a lot of technical stuff, go to the library and check out the Time Life series on WWII, really good stuff.

Can anyone recomend any good books on German snipers during WWII (eastern or western front). Have not been able to find any.

Thanks

check this link...
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books

.... I merged a couple of similar threads to keep the information together!


Benedict
Moderator, Book Talk

that book is hogwash...well-written yes...but hogwash. the author makes so many historical inaccuracies it's crazy. wrong dates, wrong spellings, guns being used before they were ever invented.

read it for fun, but dont think you'll actually learn too many facts from it.

never read it ..was just trying to answer his question. I perosnally could care less about reading about the German soldiers point of view

Well, I could understand why you would think this, but there are some great books from German viewpoint. Must be because they were the losers.

In response to the sniper question, try War of the Rats.

it has nothing to do with them being losers...im just not intersted in thier viewpoint ..as far as War of The Rats..thats fiction based on fact..with a love story in the niddle of it to make it even more unbelievable ..anyway I just assumed the guy was looking for non-fiction thus my suggestion

Well, I'm not going to waste my time trying to convince you otherwise, but to those out there interested in WWII, it's always good to get a well-rounded view of the conflict rather than staying with a single skewed viewpoint.

as I said..I have no interest in reading about it..guess it bothers some people judging by some of the responses..not trying to cause a stink in any way..just my preference ..Personally I would rather read about the little know stuff that went on during the war..for instance the OSS OG's in Greece and Norway and other groups dont get get the recognition they deserve..

one thing I am curious about though is how the American viewpoint is skewed? If it was tsated a single viewpoint fine but single skewed viewpoint????

As for "skewed", I mean that there were different perspectives to what was going on by different people throughout the world during WWII. For example, the "Panzer Commander" book by Hans von Luck i mentioned earlier in this thread also mentioned the different social attitudes going on up to and during the war.

I was not talking about the modern day view of WWII by Americans, Germans, etc. I meant the views of the war by the people "back in the day".

Hence, it's my suggestion to people interested in WWII to get a perspective of what was going on in other countries by the people who were there.

Nothing wrong with just reading about the Americans (hey, I love the first hand accounts as well), but it fleshes out things more when you read about what "the other side" thought on certain topics (equipment, tactics, food, etc.), in their own words.

Like I said before, I won't argue about your preference. I was just offering others a suggestion contrary to such, but it's just a matter of my own preference in comparison.

(In addition, I would please ask that you don't start taking what I'm saying above out of context like you did with my "flag waving" in a prior Saving Private Ryan/Band of Brothers thread. Thank You )

none of this banter really has anything to do with the original posters question anyway..it probably belongs in another rforum

I don't post much, so I remember when I post and the responses I get

Just as an FYI, but the German side of the story was not necesarily the "nazi" side of the story. Many soldiers were in the Wehrmacht, and had no nazi affiliations. It kinda chaffs me (in general, not directed singlely at you) when people refer to all German soldiers as nazis, when that wasn't the case.

Sorry, a little off-tangent there

You're lucky to know people who have fought in WWII, hence able to get your stories from them. Others like me would have to get the same information from books.

As you mentioned: "The only viewpoint being skwed would be authors viewpoint" - well, that can be said of all books about WWII Hence, it becomes necessary to get information for various sources, and form your opinion from that. I don't think any of us who like reading about WWII has accepted any single source as being "the single source" esp. with the size scope of World War II.

Now, all I need to do now is to find a book (in english) from the Italian solider's perspective...

Actually, the stories from the Germans when they were losing the war are a lot more poignant to me, then the early war period when everything was going their way. Their country was crumbling and they were being led by madmen, but they still fought on.

I know the War of the Rats is ficitional, but it is still a great read. I don't think the romance was too unbelieable in the book (it was a little lame in Enemy at the Gates, though). Plenty of women served in the Red Army. It's not inconceivable that a little body fluid swapping went on.

I want to add that I read two books that were recommended on this thread: "Iron Coffins" and "The Dirty Little Secrets of World War II."

"Iron Coffins" was a great read, but

"Dirty Little Secrets" really didn't contain many insights that I hadn't read before. I guess it's a great introduction to a history newbie. There were a few facts that were great, but overall, it was lacking the little secrets.

If you like WWII fiction try The Master Sniper by Stephen Hunter. Good fictional account of a German sniper.

If you can find it read Yannis by John Giannaris. John was in the Greek Battalion (one of the OSS operational groups) . great story and little known as it was all top secret at the time . They basically were army soldiers on special assignment to the OSS to run undercover demolition missions against the Nazis in Greece and Yugslavia in order to hinder Hitler moving these troops into France to assist asfter Normandy. John was in the battlaion so its a personal memoir.

I was thinking of buying a World War II Atlas with maps of battles. There is quite a few listed on Amazon and B&N. Anyone have recommendations?