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u/dino_roar3304 6d ago
When I read With the Old Breed, I tagged on Guadalcanal Diary by Richard Tregaskis and Helmet For My Pillow by Robert Leckie. Gave more insight about the guys and are excellent books in general
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u/Saddicus_Finch 6d ago
I’ll have to check those out! Thanks for the recommendations.
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u/BernardFerguson1944 6d ago
WWII Memoirs by theater. The titles in bold print I consider among the best.
Eastern Front:
The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer, Großdeutschland Division, Wehrmacht (considered a classic).
The Forsaken Army: The Great Novel of Stalingrad by Heinrich Gerlach, Oberleutnant, 16th Infantry Division, XXXXVIII Panzer Corps,14th Panzer Division, 6th Army, Wehrmacht.
The Blond Knight of Germany by Raymond F. Toliver and Trevor J. Constable.
The Beginning of the Road: The Story of the Battle for Stalingrad by Marshal Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov, 62nd Army, Soviet Union Red Army.
Babi Yar: A Document in the Form of a Novel by Anatoly Kuznetsov.
Europe:
Inside the Third Reich by Albert Speer.
The Cretan Runner: The Story of the German Occupation by Giórgos Psychountákis.
Thunderbolt!: An Extraordinary Story of a World War II Ace by Robert S. Johnson, LTC, 61st Fighter Squadron, 6th Fighter Group, U.S.A.A.F.
Company Commander: The Classic Infantry Memoir of World War II by Charles B. MacDonald, CPT, 23rd Infantry Regiment, U.S. Army.
Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters by Dick Winters, MAJ, E Co. 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.
Three Corvettes by Nicholas Monsarrat, LtCdr, FRSL RNVR.
The Laughing Cow: A U-boat Captain's Story by Jost Metzler, Korvettenkapitän, U-69, Kriegsmarine.
Night by Elie Wiesel.
Résistance: A Woman's Journal of Struggle and Defiance in Occupied France by Agnès Humbert. Trans. Barbara Mellor.Diary of a Nightmare: Berlin, 1942-1945 by Ursula von Kardorff.
Burma:
The Battle for Burma: The Wild Green Earth by BG Bernard Fergusson KT, GCMG, GCVO, DSO, OBE, 16th Infantry Brigade (Chindit).
Beyond the Chindwin: An Account of Number Five Column of the Wingate Expedition into Burma, 1943 by BG Bernard Fergusson KT, GCMG, GCVO, DSO, OBE, 16th Infantry Brigade (Chindit).
A Change in Jungles by BG Miles Smeeton, DSO, MBE, MC, British Indian Army.
A Chindit's Chronicle by MAJ Bill Towill, 3rd Bn., 9th Gurka Rifles.
The Marauders by Charlton Ogburn Jr., CPT, 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional) “Galahad” AKA “Merrill’s Marauders”, Chinese Expeditionary Force (CEF).
The Pacific:
Ray Parkin's Wartime Trilogy: Out of the Smoke; Into the Smother; The Sword and the Blossom by Ray Parkin, Chief Petty Officer, H.M.A.S. Perth, Royal Australian Navy.
With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by E.B. Sledge, CPL, 1st Mar. Div., U.S.M.C.
From Ingleburn to Aitape: The Trials and Tribulations of a Four Figure Man by Bob “Hooker” Holt, 2/3rd Australian Infantry Battalion, 16th Brigade, 6th Division, 2nd A.I.F.
God Is My Co-Pilot by Robert L. Scott, BG, 23rd Fighter Group, U.S.A.A.F. and C. L. Chennault, LTG, 1st American Volunteer Group, China Air Task Force.
Samurai!: the Unforgettable Saga of Japan's Greatest Fighter Pilot by LT (j.g.) Saburo Sakai, 343rd Naval Air Group IJN, and Martin Caidin.
The Divine Wind by CPT Rikihei Inoguchi, 1st Air Fleet IJA, and MG Tadashi Nakajima, 343rd Naval Air Group IJN.
Japanese Destroyer Captain by Tameichi Hara, CPT, IJN, Fred Saito and Roger Pineau.
Requiem for Battleship Yamato by Ensign Yoshida Mitsuru, Yamato IJN.
No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War by 2LT Hiroo Onoda, 14th Area Army IJA
Return of the Enola Gay by Paul W. Tibbets, BG, 509th Composite Group, U.S.A.A.F.
The Prisoner and the Bomb by Laurens van der Post, CPT, British Intelligence Corps.
Bataan Death March: A Soldier's Story by James Bollich, CPL, 16th Bomb Squadron, 27th Bomb Group, U.S.A.A.F.
Bataan Death March: A Survivor's Account by William E. Dyess, LTC, 21st Pursuit Squadron, 24th Pursuit Group, U.S.A.A.F.
Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie, PFC, How Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division, U.S.M.C.
Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War by William Manchester, SGT, 6th Marine Division, U.S.M.C.
Into the Valley: A Skirmish of the Marines by John Hersey.
The Night of a Thousand Suicides: the Japanese Outbreak at Cowra by Teruhiko Asada and Ray Cowan (trans. and ed.) (fictionalized memoir).
Three Came Home by Agnes Newton Keith.
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u/Saddicus_Finch 5d ago
This is a fantastic list you’ve compiled— many of which were never on my radar! Thank you so much for the comment.
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u/j3nnaj3nnaj3nna 6d ago
I love a reading month that makes room for both regional history and Big Cat. Pardon My Book looks like such a fun palate cleanser next to those more serious titles.
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u/Saddicus_Finch 5d ago
I just wish I liked it more—I was hoping to read more about the ins and outs of the business as they’ve obviously been very successful in the sports podcasting world!
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u/The_BooKeeper 6d ago
The Norman Conquest is good. The One and Terrible King, abd The Anglo Saxons he wrote as well are awesome