OK, ive written down the suggestions for titles to get from the last two threads and some will be bought before more will. However, I just want to know if anyone here has read any of these yet and what your opinion of them are?

They are:

I haven't read any of those but if you have never read Mein Kampf or The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, do. Gets you into the mind games of Hitler.

I haven’t read any of those, but the last one, “The Last Stand Of The Tin Can Sailors” looks very intriguing (being a sailor), as do the rest.

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USS Brewton FF1086
SWCA#3597

The best and most interesting WWII books are the 6 volume series by Winston Churchill.

Churchill was the Prime Minister of Great Britain during the war.

He also won a Nobel Prize in Literature.

I think it’s out of print, but is readily available on the used book market. I paid $20 for my hardbound library deaccessioned set.

Sorry, I haven't read any of the books you listed but they look like good reads.

"Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" is a classic, one of the finest military history books I've ever read.

They were threatening to make a movie of it about ten years ago, but nothing's come of it so far. Maybe they couldn't figure out a way to make the Japanese the "victims"...

Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors is a very good read which has some rough spots from the author seeming not being well versed in naval technology and tactics. I would recommend Alamo in the Ardennes.

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Common sense isn't.

The Long Walk was a good read for me, have not read any of the rest.

Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors was an interesting read.
It gave me some insight as to what my dad went through during his time on a DE in WWII.

Mein Kamf was a GREAT book, right up until the time he started ranting about ethnicity, purity and all of that. It probably would have been Germany's 'Common Sense' had he stopped writing there.

PS: I just finished reading 'Crime and Punishment'. Great 'psychological' study. I thought the detective sounded and awful lot like Columbo and I just read that Columbo was based on his character. He knows 'who' early' on but spends time collecting evidence and badgering them into a confession. (Put hand on forehead) Oh, I've just got to ask you ONE more thing.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I loved the book too—too bad it was not sold as a work of fiction—a good story instead of a true story. Because the book is a fraud.

“Along comes BBC Radio 4 in the year 2006 and aired a documentary produced by Hugh Levinson, which destroyed Rawiczs credibility. The BBC uncovered two really damaging pieces of evidence, proving that several of Rawiczs claims were false.

First, it was revealed that Rawicz had signed a document proving that he had been (a) freed in Russia, (b) went to Persia, and (c) had never been in India. Secondly, it was proved that Rawicz had been freed from the Soviet gulag camp in 1942, when he supposedly was making the Long Walk. “

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Possum—The other white meat!

Hitler's Arctic War looks promising. Those campaignns o ften receive only passing coverage in a lot of WWII histories.

I have a high school classmate who has lived in Finland for many years and says the Finns Are still easily riled about the involvement of the Germans and Russians on their soil.

The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich is a mammoth masterpiece. About nine hundred pages, all fascinating.

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Oh well, what the hell.

I have both and have read--many years ago. May have to reread again sometime soon too. Hitler actually had a sort of sequel to My Struggle in the works--but never finished it.

Someone somewhere had told me about it before, but it was always unavailable, and then i'd forgotten about it. I noticed it was on the top shelf at Barnes and Nobles-which means they'll have it or can get it for awhile-as most of these books are.

They each had info I'm looking for-especially the first title--which gives great info on: "the Lappland War."

Id read a few pages in it-here and there and instantly liked it. That's one open vote for it. I'm at B and Ns again today and will be for about 4 hours after this post. If more votes cast for it? ill get it today. Ive not time yet to read below so?? you guys might have already decided for me.

Ill take this as a 2nd open vote for Tin Can, and haven't seen the other on the shelves. Who's the author?

I seem to recall that a movie was made about this? Ill call this as vote Nr. 1 for it.

3rd, and I'm sold on it. Ill be leaving the store with it in hand.

Sounds like Rawicz got his "inspiration" from two fictional sources. One shamefully touted as real for the longest of times:


They are:

That's what's interesting to me about Hitler's Arctic War--only passing info covered on it except the Norwegian campaign. After that when the Germans had the Finns as allies fighting the Russians-then after when the Finns made peace with the Russians. Tensions arose between former allies-and the Lappland War began. Not much info on the Lappland War. The German divisions had to coagulate in order to survive against their former allies-and had to move as a giant amoeba all the way out of hell's way. I THINK, General Lothar Rendulic--was the commanding General of those units at that time? and he distrusted the Finns for some time earlier.

Try this it is on the shelf here in Fairbanks. Alamo In The Ardennes: The Untold Story of the American Soldiers Who Made the Defense of Bastogne Possible by John C. McManus, Paperback | Barnes & Noble(R)

An Uncle of mine stepped on a mine during the Bulge the ground was frozen in such a way he only lost two toes.

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Common sense isn't.

I recall now that The History Channel had a documentary of the same name. I wonder if its tied into the book?? or??

Those look like fine choices. The only one read here is the Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors and is a great history of the Battle of Samar.

Here is another good choice.

a book review by Thomas McClung: The Castaway's War: One Man's Battle against Imperial Japan

It tells the story of Hugh Barr Miller whose destroyer was sunk in the South Pacific with him ending up marooned on Arundel Island. He was seriously wounded when the destroyer sank because the depth charges had been armed and blew him up. Before rescue from Arundel Island he had ended up killing 12 - 15 Japanese. He attacked a patrol and then destroyed 2 or 3 Japanese machine gun emplacements.

That sounds familiar... This wouldn't happen to be the chap who wrote or had a book written about him called: No Man Is An Island, is he?

I think it is a different person. The only No Man Is An Island I have heard about was the movie about an American on Guam after it was captured early in the war.

Just for the heck of it, I checked the local library and they have a copy of it. I’m going to run by there on my way home and grab it. I’ll post a review after I read it.

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USS Brewton FF1086
SWCA#3597

Buy Used books off of Amazon. Like I mentioned I'm a voracious reader on a lot of subjects and I've found stuff that was out of print for $5-10 in very good shape. I've got a lot of old 'must have' chess books that haven't seen a printer in forty years. Hardbacks are a little more. But you can pay fifty bucks for a new hardback book these days.


Until you look for an Elmer Keith book. Then the prices go up drastically.

Being poor on disability I've pretty much been able to keep in books that I WANT to read constantly. I never thought I'd get rid of a book. But a lifetime of accumulation forced me to start thinning out, but there's an awful lot I want to keep.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

....what are a few that I should start with?

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Of the titles listed I have read The Tigers Of Bastogne and Last Stand Of The Tin Can Sailors. I can recommend both. What era are you interested in? I have between 550-600 books from the Seven Years War up to Global War on Terror. I enjoy reading from 1st person or small units.

My most enjoyable book on the war in the Pacific was "The Rising Sun" , The decline and fall of the Japanese Empire by John Toland, he won a The Pulitzer on the book. The book was highly recommended by a member of this forum and I found it to be a real page turner, did not want the book to end, it is a 1,000 page book and held my interest all the way.

It's my favorite book on the Pacific War. I read it many years ago when I was in the Army. It, "War Without Mercy", and Ienaga's "The Pacific War" are my three favorites on the subject.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

My prob is, is there are about 400 titles about the war on the Eastern Front alone-that I want, let alone on other areas and subjects in WWII-and other wars of coarse. These past couple months ive bought 5 expensive (for me) titles-and a few not as expensive (though I thought they were) titles.

Mostly I'm interested in all things Eastern Front in WWII, the Western Front (1944 onward) in WWII, some other areas in WWII--some Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWI, Korean and Vietnam War stuff too. I'm not into more modern though I stray on occasion. I too-enjoy 1st person and small unit-or single unit stuff. Currently, I'm reading (again) Island of Fire-which is about the Pioneer units fighting in the Battle of Stalingrad-as well as Death of the Leaping Horsemen-which is about the 24th Panzer Division-to their death at Stalingrad. Stalingrad-then Kursk, the Battle of the Bulge--are my favorite battles to read about in Europe in WWII.

Not to hijack the thread but one of the best books I've read on the Bulge is: The Damned Engineers, by Janice Holt Giles. At one time it was available free through the Army Corps of Engineers.

I do think I have that book, but have never read it. I inherited a few titles from my mother, but may still be packed away somewhere? It is a more than familiar title. I HAD, an excellent book by Toland-about the Battle of the Bulge-but it disappeared many years ago. That was the book that started my interest in that battle. I still remember the cover photo of a G.I. crouching in the snow.

What was that Colonels name? associated with that phrase?? I know his name but cant think of it. Is he Col. Dave Pergrin perhaps????

Col Pergrin did write a book called Engineering The Victory

Here are a few more that you might enjoy

Blood Dimmed Tide by Gerald Astor
Bloody Clash at Sadzot by William Breur
Company Commander and A Time for Trumpets by Charles MacDonald
Engineering The Victory by David Pergrin
Five Years Four Fronts by Georg Grossjohann
At Leningrads Gates by William Lubbeck
Goodbye Transylvania by Sigmund Landon
Your Loyal and loving Son by Karl Fuchs
The Black March by Peter Neumann

This should keep you busy for a while. I have more 1st person and small unit titles if you like.

'The Can Sailors' looks promising because I don't know anything about it. It sounds like destroyers and I've read the book on the 'Laffey'. WWII is probably my favorite subject and I've read lots of books, but I try to concentrate on what I haven't payed attention to. A while back I realized that I was really weak on the Eastern front and I've just barely come up to par on that. WWII is a bottomless pit of interesting stories and I like finding an action/location that I know nothing about.

Another favorite subject is the development of the A-Bomb and I've read tons of books on that, but I found one written by a woman who was in on building up Oak Ridge from less than scratch. It was even somewhat funny where she kept talking about how they never knew what they were doing until after the bomb dropped.

I've also just lately ventured into the early wars of the 20th century Russo-Japanese type stuff.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors looks to be a good one to me too, Carl. Reading the synopsis, it is about Taffy 3 in the Battle off Samar, which was one of the most lopsided matchups in the Pacific in WWII. You have the Japanese coming in with a fleet of battleships and cruisers to attack the invasion fleet and Bull Halsey was away chasing carriers that were essentially devoid of aircraft and all that stood between the Japanese and the invasion ships were some Jeep carriers and their escorts. And they raised so much hell with the Japanese that they actually turned them around. I'm thinking of buying the Kindle edition right now.

A couple of other books that are good WWII naval books are "Clear the Bridge!: The War Patrols of the USS Tang" by Richard H O'Kane, who was the commanding officer of the Tang. Another good read is "Twenty Million Tons Under the Sea" by Admiral Daniel V. Gallery. The Tang was the highest scoring US submarine of WWII and the only reason it got sunk was because of the last torpedo they fired on their 5th war patrol made a circular run and sunk themselves. Daniel Gallery covers the other side of war in the U-boat war in the Atlantic Ocean. He was intimately involved in the U-Boat war and was the commander of the task force that captured U-505, which is on display in Chicago.

Toland was a very interesting gentleman:

John Toland, 91, Author Of Best-Selling History Books - The New York Times.

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Possum—The other white meat!

I fully agree. One advantage of the English "Public" school system (not rich parents, I attended on a scholarship), is that you were exposed to all sorts of books and ideas. At 16 we had to read and then compare/contrast Mein Kampf and Das Kapital, plus a few others in a similar vein. Mind you this was in the early 1950s so WWII was still well remembered, even by a 16 year old. Unfortunately, that was the time of McCarthyism in the US so could not have read them here, especially at 16 in US Public School, and to suggest such a thing today would have you run out of town on a rail, plus tar and feathering!! Dave_n

"...Tin Can.." is a good read of a magnificent U.S. Navy action. "Neptune's Inferno" is even better, IMHO, one that I've re-read. I've not read "Ship Of Ghosts," however, his latest "The Fleet At Flood Tide" is a disappointment, again IMHO. I've read about a third of it and am having trouble picking it up again. But then, almost anything would be a disappointment after "Neptune's Inferno."

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

I just read an online "book" that was popping up in my FB feed, that was written by a Peter Strauss who claims the book was closely based on his experiences as a company commander in Vietnam. "30 Days Has September". Personally, I think he may be a faker.

Also read: "Spitfires, Thunderbolts and Warm Beer" about an American fighter pilot who served in England's "Eagle Squadrons" and various British squadrons during WWII. Was a bit surprised about how many casualties they took in the fighter squadrons. Also surprised about how much action he got in England! All in all, a good read. One interesting part:

He and his buddies took a lot of photos and had them developed at a camera shop in London. Owner gifted him with a nice photo album to store his photos and encouraged him in his photography pursuits because his pics were pretty well composed.

After one of his squadron mates was shot down over Germany, the guy was interrogated and his interrogators showed the guy a bunch of pictures that he and his buddies had taken. Apparently the camera shop guy in London was working for the other side......

That is an engrossing read. Get one!

...then you absolutely have to read "Neptune's Inferno."

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

WWII is a bottomless well of interesting stories.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I do have Company Commander and love McDonalds work. Ive heard of the Five Years title-and a couple others. Ill be looking at getting them in 2018 after a few others suggested in other threads. I'm walking out the door of B&N today with another Anthony Beever title. I was thinking of getting his Crete title-but that can wait.

Anytime you want to add to the Eastern Front list-please do so. I used to have a long list-but don't know where it wound up at?

Tin Can keeps staring at me every time I go down that aisle. I'm going to see how Dec is money wise-and get it along with a few others-now that my big expenses are over (thank God) for awhile.

I am interested in the Tang--and also in the Bowfin. As far as the war in the Pacific goes-the interest is long as well-mainly Guadalcanal-and the time frame shortly before and after. I had seen a title about Bloody Ridge (Guadalcanal)-just yesterday-but it was gone when I looked for it.