war books?

Glaucus

Glaucus

Glaucus

Man of Honour
Joined
11 Mar 2004
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Dose anyone know any book or books about big or significant battles anywhere in our history. Either books focusing on one battle or books with several battles in. That are written in a way that is not going to bore me to death. But still pretty factual rather than plain story telling.
 
Chickenhawk - Robert Mason - Huey pilot's experiences of Vietnam
The Naked & Tee Dead - Norman Mailer - Mailer's semi-autobiographical WWII novel set in the South Pacific
D-Day - Stephen Ambrose
 
If you are after a slice of military history that doesn't involve WWII then I fully recommend '1812: Napoleon's final march on Moscow' by Adam Zamoyski, its an excellent landmark book which regales a true military epic and a human tragedy on a colossal scale and is historys first example of total war. Its is written with true accounts from French, Russian, German, Polish and Italians and shows Napoleons decisive invasion and then terrible retreat from Mosocow. It accounts his true mitilary might and strategic brilliance up unto the turning point of Europeon history which lead to the beginning of the end for Napoleon, who in my opinion, is Europe's greatest ever military mind.

This is a must read for anyone interested in Napoleonic times and is quite simply breath taking in its description of civilian and military life during these harrowing times.
 
All Quiet On The Western Front. Small, graphic and cuts to the chase
Stalingrad, and Berlin Downfall - Beevor. Everyone should read these, scale of cruelty and fanantisicm holds no bounds, shocking.
Band Of brothers, Pegasus Bridge, D-Day - Ambrose
Monte Cassino - Matthew Parker.

Life & Fate - Vassily Grossman. WWII version of war and peace. Its long but doesn't feel like it, written by a bloke who saw it all on the Eastern front all the way to Berlin. imo (and most historians think) the best fiction written on WWII. Some passages in there really get under the skin. More about people than actual battles as such.

Tbh there are lots but read some reviews on the book sellers sites we all know about, in sure there are plenty of other sites for references.
 
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cheers guys load to look at. Is there any of older battles.

Link when he incas surround one of there main citys held by the Spanish (forget it name). Some of the famous Chinese/Egyptian/mongol battles.

And I really want to read one on agincourt.

Oh and Sparta and Thermopylae
 
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As said by a few others, Stalingrad by Anthony Beever.

Although Stephen Ambrose's books are good, the pick of the best for me has got to be "Citizen Soldiers", the best by a mile.

My favourite one has got to be "A Bridge Too Far" by Cornelius Ryan. I can't recommmend this book highly enough. The film just does't do it justice. The Longest Day ain't bad either, but read A Bridge Too Far first.
 
Hell's Gate, The Battle Of The Cherkassy Pocket - Douglas Nash. 55,000 Germans trapped by 250,000 Russians and they still managed to escape while inflicting heavier losses on the Russians in doing so.

Scorched Earth: The Russian-German War 1943-1944 - Paul Carrell. Graphic account of the German retreat and littered with individual's stories such as a German Captain who's bunker was overrun and the frontline moved 300 miles but he still made it back to his unit.

Stalingrad and Berlin - Antony Beevor. A complete account of both battles and in Berlin, the truth about the Russian reprisal on the German population.

It Never Snows In September - Robert Kershaw. The German account of Operation Market Garden.
 
Just so you know Acid, most Waterstones tend to have a section dedicated especially to these types of books. Pop down your local one and have a sniff around. :)
 
AcidHell2 said:
And I really want to read one on agincourt.
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I have not read this one but it has been highly rated on Amazon, 'Agincourt: The King, the Campaign, the Battle', the summary reads like she has a well researched account of the middle ages and the Hundred years war, and im betting its a lot more factual than the Bernard Cornwell novel 'Agincourt' as like Sharpe at Waterloo he does like to re-write history a little :)

AcidHell2 said:
Link when he incas surround one of there main citys held by the Spanish (forget it name).
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With the Spanish-Inca conquest are you thinking of Quizo Yupanqui's failed siege on Lima where he was subsequently killed?

AcidHell2 said:
Some of the famous Chinese/Egyptian/mongol battles.
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I would highly recommend the books by John Man although not battle heavy they do give detailed and frank accounts of the lives and legacy's left by Genghis Kahn and Kublai Kahn across Asia. I have read most of Kublai Kahn and find it very detailed and a thoroughly interesting read on his part on the further growth of the Mongol Empire and how he shaped China to go on to be one of the leading superpowers today. My next read after Kublai would be Man's book on his grandfather Genghis. I would say that Reading about these two great Mongols would provide more rewarding that reading a book solely on Mongol battles, as im sure the book on Genghis would acquaint us with his military mind and his lethally effective use of bowman cavalry.
 
Personally, I've never read many books from the Allied perspective as I feel its always an angle covered so much. I always find the Axis side of the story fascinating. Fighting bitterly hard against an overwhelming number of Allied enemies - their stories are rarely heard which I feel is a shame.

The Forgotten Soldier - Guy Sajer

An absolutely mind blowing first hand account of Guy's experiences on the Eastern Front in the Grosse Deutchland division between 1942 and 1945 which includes four tours of duty iirc. Such a huge and bitterly horrible experience fighting the Soviets over several years until the end of the war. The sheer brutality, carnage and loss of reasonable hope on the Eastern Front is mind boggling.

Storm of Steel - Ernst Junger

Another first hand account, this time from the trenches of the First World War. This guy was in one of the first stormtrooper regiments and paints an alternative picture of what it was like on the other side of no mans land. Junger's descriptions are really vivid, particularity when he compares being shelled to being tied to a post and having a hammer aimed at your head, but just missing each time. For some reason, it's an image that stayed with me.

My advice: Leave the Pegasus Bridge's of the world on the shelf, pick up one of these and be amazed and horrified in equal measure.
 
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Agent0range said:
Personally, I've never read many books from the Allied perspective as I feel its always an angle covered so much. I always find the Axis side of the story fascinating. Fighting bitterly hard against an overwhelming number of Allied enemies - their stories are rarely heard which I feel is a shame.

The Forgotten Soldier - Guy Sajer


My advice: Leave the Pegasus Bridge's of the world on the shelf, pick up one of these and be amazed and horrified in equal measure.
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It a decent read but I didnt feel that it was good as it was made out to be and was more of an exercise in trying to feel sorry for a German. Its hard to be that sympathetic to the general german when they started the 'war of annihilation'. Yes there are some interesting stories on axis side, but imo the Beevor books and lots of factual books take the middle ground without taking sides.
 
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