Best Books on Eastern Front (that put you right there in the action)?!
Moderators: Joel Billings, elmo3, Sabre21
RE: Best Books on Eastern Front (that put you right there in the action)?!
I liked this book:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Retreat-Hitlers-First-Defeat/dp/0312628196
It's an easy read. Full of first hand accounts and won't bog you down in scholarly dribble.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Retreat-Hitlers-First-Defeat/dp/0312628196
It's an easy read. Full of first hand accounts and won't bog you down in scholarly dribble.
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Do not accept or follow any medical advice*
Do not accept or follow any medical advice*
- kfmiller41
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RE: Best Books on Eastern Front (that put you right there in the action)?!
Here is one I heartily recommend "An infantryman in Stalingrad" and also any of the other books by Leaping Horseman Publishers, they are all very in your face books about the fighting by individual units and are all well done with maps and pictures.
http://www.amazon.com/Infantryman-Stali ... stalingrad
http://www.amazon.com/Infantryman-Stali ... stalingrad
You have the ability to arouse various emotions in me: please select carefully.
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RE: Best Books on Eastern Front (that put you right there in the action)?!
I'm reading Manstein's Lost Victories now. Very good read. Just got to the part about German attempts to relieve Stalingrad.
RE: Best Books on Eastern Front (that put you right there in the action)?!
Just be very careful reading "old german generals" - they try to present a clean wehrmacht - they not only want to avoid facts about the war crimes, they also want to blame Hitler for all unsuccessful operations. It was said already but can't be said enough. I'm interested in reading them to, but always try to consider the above said.
(7th Jan 2020)
Jan 42 GC as Allies (PBEM)
Dec 41 of first GC as Japan (PBEM)
Jan 42 GC as Allies (PBEM)
Dec 41 of first GC as Japan (PBEM)
RE: Best Books on Eastern Front (that put you right there in the action)?!
For people understanding German the 13 volume series "Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg" by the history research office of the German armed forces is very good. Two volumes are (almost) solely dedicated to the Eastern Front, with the fourth volume about Barbarossa (1172 pages) and the eight volume about the Eastern Front in 1943/44 (1320 pages). The Eastern Front in 1942 is covered in volume six. There is an English translation of volumes four and six, although the availability is pretty limited.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany_an ... _World_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany_an ... _World_War
RE: Best Books on Eastern Front (that put you right there in the action)?!
Thanks, SigUp! Seems an immense undertaking by qualified people. Will pursue this one.
Now, how about a three paragraph summary? (Joke, joke.)
Now, how about a three paragraph summary? (Joke, joke.)
RE: Best Books on Eastern Front (that put you right there in the action)?!
A Stranger to Myself. By Willy Peter Reese.
RE: Best Books on Eastern Front (that put you right there in the action)?!
The Black March. By Peter Neumann.
RE: Best Books on Eastern Front (that put you right there in the action)?!
Through Hell for Hitler. by Henry Metelmann.
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RE: Best Books on Eastern Front (that put you right there in the action)?!
Lots of very interesting books!
Randy
Randy
RE: Best Books on Eastern Front (that put you right there in the action)?!
Another one, Randy is In Deadly Combat by Gottlob Bidermann.
RE: Best Books on Eastern Front (that put you right there in the action)?!
And one more, Hell's Gate by Douglas E. Nash.
RE: Best Books on Eastern Front (that put you right there in the action)?!
You really need to read several books to get a good picture of the Eastern Front. Most of the others I have seen above are deeply sourced on several of these.
"Moscow to Stalingrad: Decision in the East" and "Stalingrad to Berlin: The German Defeat in the East" by Earl F. Ziemke and published by the U.S. Army Center of Military History. These are the definitive operational level histories based on captured German documents and interviews. Written prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall, they lack depth from the Soviet perspective, but are so well researched the deficiency is irrelevant when combined with some other sources.
http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/ ... 0-12-1.pdf
http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/ ... 30-5-1.pdf
Operation Barbarossa by Bryan I. Fugate - outstanding look at Barbarossa from the Soviet view. Based on Soviet sources, it turns the conventional view of Barbarossa on its head. No other book takes the plunge into Soviet intentions like this one. Outstanding.
Standing Fast: German Defensive Doctrine on the Russian Front During World War II – by Major Timothy A. Wray. This is book from the Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth. From the introduction:
“In this Research Survey, Major Timothy A. Wray provides an excellent survey of the intricacies of employing defensive tactics against a powerful opponent. Using after-action reports, unit war diaries, and other primary materials, Major Wray analyzes the doctrine and tactics that the Germans used on the Eastern Front during World War II. At the end of World War I, the Germans adopted the elastic defense in depth and continued to use it as their basic doctrine through the end of World War II. However, because of limitations caused by difficult terrain, severe weather, manpower and supply shortages, Soviet tactics, and Hitler’s order to stand fast. German commanders were unable to implement the Elastic Defense in its true form. Even so, innovative and resourceful unit commanders were able to adapt to the harsh realities of combat and improvise defensive methods that saved the German armies from complete annihilation.
U.S. Army unit commanders on the future battlefield, while battling a motivated and aggressive force, will also face hard battlefield conditions. Therefore, these commanders, in applying the AirLand Battle tenets of initiative, depth, agility, and synchronization, will have to demonstrate the same type of innovativeness and resourcefulness as the Germans did in Russia. To operate in the AirLand Battlefield, U.S. soldiers must depend on sound doctrine and the ability to execute it intelligently. All Army officers will benefit from Major Wray’s new and vital assessment of how German doctrine was modified by the test of war.
September 1986
I
~~~~~
FREDERICK M. FRANKS, JR.
Major General, USA
Deputy Commandant”
http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/cgsc/carl/d ... s/wray.pdf
"Moscow to Stalingrad: Decision in the East" and "Stalingrad to Berlin: The German Defeat in the East" by Earl F. Ziemke and published by the U.S. Army Center of Military History. These are the definitive operational level histories based on captured German documents and interviews. Written prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall, they lack depth from the Soviet perspective, but are so well researched the deficiency is irrelevant when combined with some other sources.
http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/ ... 0-12-1.pdf
http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/ ... 30-5-1.pdf
Operation Barbarossa by Bryan I. Fugate - outstanding look at Barbarossa from the Soviet view. Based on Soviet sources, it turns the conventional view of Barbarossa on its head. No other book takes the plunge into Soviet intentions like this one. Outstanding.
Standing Fast: German Defensive Doctrine on the Russian Front During World War II – by Major Timothy A. Wray. This is book from the Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth. From the introduction:
“In this Research Survey, Major Timothy A. Wray provides an excellent survey of the intricacies of employing defensive tactics against a powerful opponent. Using after-action reports, unit war diaries, and other primary materials, Major Wray analyzes the doctrine and tactics that the Germans used on the Eastern Front during World War II. At the end of World War I, the Germans adopted the elastic defense in depth and continued to use it as their basic doctrine through the end of World War II. However, because of limitations caused by difficult terrain, severe weather, manpower and supply shortages, Soviet tactics, and Hitler’s order to stand fast. German commanders were unable to implement the Elastic Defense in its true form. Even so, innovative and resourceful unit commanders were able to adapt to the harsh realities of combat and improvise defensive methods that saved the German armies from complete annihilation.
U.S. Army unit commanders on the future battlefield, while battling a motivated and aggressive force, will also face hard battlefield conditions. Therefore, these commanders, in applying the AirLand Battle tenets of initiative, depth, agility, and synchronization, will have to demonstrate the same type of innovativeness and resourcefulness as the Germans did in Russia. To operate in the AirLand Battlefield, U.S. soldiers must depend on sound doctrine and the ability to execute it intelligently. All Army officers will benefit from Major Wray’s new and vital assessment of how German doctrine was modified by the test of war.
September 1986
I
~~~~~
FREDERICK M. FRANKS, JR.
Major General, USA
Deputy Commandant”
http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/cgsc/carl/d ... s/wray.pdf
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.-Edmund Burke
Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; if it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it.-Judge Learned Hand
Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; if it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it.-Judge Learned Hand
RE: Best Books on Eastern Front (that put you right there in the action)?!
If you want individual soldier stuff, read anything by Sven Hassel. He was there. Fought as a PFC on all fronts except Africa in a penal battalion, mostly on the eastern front, from what I can see. He writes from a bottom-of-the-trench view.
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.-Edmund Burke
Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; if it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it.-Judge Learned Hand
Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; if it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it.-Judge Learned Hand
RE: Best Books on Eastern Front (that put you right there in the action)?!
Not really a book, more like a 1979 interview with General Hermann Balck who was decorated among other things with a Knight's Cross with oak leaves, swords and diamonds.
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a160703.pdf
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a160703.pdf
RE: Best Books on Eastern Front (that put you right there in the action)?!
Anything written by David Stahel. I have read all his books and you can find them on Amazon. He also quotes David Glantz as well. Stahel writes in a method that is easy to understand and doesn't bore you with to many numbers.
RE: Best Books on Eastern Front (that put you right there in the action)?!
Man, Thanks for those links on Ziemke's books !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RE: Best Books on Eastern Front (that put you right there in the action)?!
Where the Iron Crosses Grow: The Crimea 1941-1944 by Robert Forczyk
very nice detail about the tactical situation on the ground and good overall strategic issues of the theater
very nice detail about the tactical situation on the ground and good overall strategic issues of the theater
- Mark
RE: Best Books on Eastern Front (that put you right there in the action)?!
I just read this book, easy read[img]ORIGINAL: uw06670
Where the Iron Crosses Grow: The Crimea 1941-1944 by Robert Forczyk
very nice detail about the tactical situation on the ground and good overall strategic issues of the theater
this is only one bookcase of ww2 books all on germany, ussr
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RE: Best Books on Eastern Front (that put you right there in the action)?!
ORIGINAL: uw06670
Where the Iron Crosses Grow: The Crimea 1941-1944 by Robert Forczyk
very nice detail about the tactical situation on the ground and good overall strategic issues of the theater
I've been seeing this one come up on my Amazon recommendations, seems like it might be worth picking up.
Cheers,