What to read next???

Hey guys, as most of you probably know, I'm a little bit newer to studying WWII than most of you, so I'm trying to teach myself about it in pretty much chronological order of the US's involvment since I am generaly already more familer with that.

I started with Rick Atkinsons "An Army At Dawn" and it was a great book. Now, since the second volume of the liberation trilogy isn't out yet I'm trying to decide what to read next. What do you guys think?

A german point of view, like:

"The Rommel Papers"
"Attacks"

Others?
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Or should I, start earlier in "the blitz" to better understand the war as a whole? like, the invasion of poland, , the bombing of england, operation Barbarossa, or some other aspect?
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Also, Any book recommendations for sicily and italy would be helpfull.

Thanks a LOT!

 

Wow - a lot of ground to cover ( ) but here's one I'm just now reading ; -
'Hitler's Mediterranean Gamble' by Douglas Porch ( Farrar, Strauss, NY 2004 ).

This is a very well-reviewed overview of North Africa and the Med ( including the whole Italian campaign ) by an American Professor. Easy to follow with an excellent bibliography for further reading, it's available right now in hardback and as a paperback ( ISBN is 0-297-84632-9.

It should mesh nicely with the one you've just read.....

 

I think if you want to understand the war as a whole you´d need to read something about Hitler´s life. To understand why Hitler did what he did and why the war started because Hitler was the man to bring Europe on fire.

If you wish to read about the warfare I suppose it´d best to read about the war in the west 1940, or Dunkirk in itself, or Tobruk or Crete.

Rommel papers is an interesting book but if you are trying to make the big picture clear to yourself I´d suggest reading about these( above mentioned ) first and then connect them together in your mind. Barbarossa is a huge operation so I would not go into that yet.

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys!

Martin, yes that is a lot of ground to cover. But, I look forward to doing it.

"Hitler's Mediterranean Gamble" seems like a hard book to find. It seems like one I might want to read though. Any suggestions as to where to find it?

Kai, any specific book suggestions on those subjects?

How about:

"Rommel's Greatest Victory" : The Desert Fox and the Fall of Tobruk, Spring 1942- by: Samuel Mitcham

"Tobruk": The Birth of a Legend -- by Frank Harrison

"Tobruk 1941" by Jon Latimer

"Crete 1941" : Germany's lightning airborne assault
by Peter Antill

Thanks Again, both of you!

 

DB, the Jon Latimer book about El Alamein is very good. For Crete, the one best book is Antony ( 'Stalingrad' ) Beevor's 'Crete : The Battle and the Resistance' published in paperback by Penguin.

 

I mention this not knowing if you are interested in Luftwaffe actions at this time in the war.
Coming to me next week is Classic Publications Sea Eagles volume 1 by English author and expert Chris Goss, covering 1939-1942. The book centers itself on the Luftwaffe anti-shipping strikes agasint Allied convoys and their escorts.

this might be of interst as the Med was a hot bed of activity ( ? )

Erich

 

Erich,

Thanks! I am interested in the Luftwaffe, as a matter of fact I just requested a list of some Luftwaffe airfields in North Afrika in another thread, which Martin so kindly gave me. I was hoping to learn a little more by researching each airfield.

Rick Atkinson just barley touched on the Luftwaffe in "An Army At Dawn" mostly refering to the German troop and supply build-up. It sounded like the allies had the upper hand in the air over North Afrika, and gave the germans such a hard time in shipping in the med that they were forced to do almost everything in the air. Is this true in your opinion?

Thanks again!

 

I've solved the mystery of Douglas Porch's book : in the USA it was published under the title of 'The Path To Victory' and looks to be very easily and cheaply available....

 

Thanks Martin, I had seen that one during my search.

I'm ordering it now!

 

David

I really would not say that the Allies had the upper hand over Afrika unless we are speaking of superiority in numbers. JG's 27, 53 and 77 seemed to be pretty darn effective in the skies over the Desert and in fact JG 27 probably scored about half it's total number of kills in the war in the hot African skies. Several notables from this JG of course scored quite highly against US/RAF/Aussie prop-jobs. On the other hand the transport, twin engine bomber contingents were beaten to a pulp.

~ the Med campaing over the sea for the Luftwaffe was a very hard one, the most effective were the Hs 293 carrying a/c flying high with anti-ship torpedo Ju 88's running low on the deck hopeful to be unseen by Allied ship observers.

~ a side note however was the S-booten Schnellbotte Flottilla 3 which did admiral service for the KM in Afrika/Med

 

additonal info :

S-Boot Flottilla sunk over 60 Allied ships with several MTB's in that claims list plus several areas mined which seemed to be always included in an evenings sea-mission

 

And don't forget the Battle of Crete in which - I think - Fliegerkorps X ( ? if my memory serves me correct ) inflicted heavy losses on the Royal Navy......

 

Martin,
Thanks for all your help on this! I found the hardcover version of "The Path To Victory" on sale at Powell's for $12.98 hopfully it is on it's way now. and regarding the crete book (which I will probably order soon) Antony Beevor has a very good website. Have you read many of his books?

Erich, I knew it was a lot more in depth than what I had read and mentioned. So, there was a good bit of action in the sky's over North Afrika? I had figured there was and wondered why there wasn't much mention in Atkinsons book.

Would you recommend the same book by Goss, to learn about the Luftwaffe in North Afrika in general or a different one?

 

Goss is a good in-depth researcher and have heard no word as to negative about his volumes.

personally what I own is all in German covering the Afrika campaign both on the ground and in the air.

Ring/Girbig JG 27 book
Dr. Jochen Prien/Gerhard Stemmer 3 volumes on JG 27 - the best !
Osprey's Bf 109 aces North Africa and Med # 2 .......sub-standard work, the profiles are terrible

 

Thanks Erich, I am definitly going to look at the air war in North Afrika more closely.

 

DB - Antony Beevor of course acheived great fame with his book 'Stalingrad', his follow-up 'Berlin '45' was felt to be not quite as good ( both books discussed previously on the Forum ).

'Crete' was written before he bacame 'famous' and many regard it as one of his best - it's a gripping book to read.

 

One could only hope that the Fallshirm assoc. puts a book together from their viewpoint. there has only been bits and pieces shared in their quarterly journals over the many years. Surprisinly the old After the BAttle # 47 is still held in high regard for it's simplicity and stating the facts and the great after the battle and present photos which stand from 1985

E

 

ok typed too fast. Bender publications also has the great two volumes on Fallschirm rgt. 3 with some great, although small photos of the unit on the terrible air drop and their plight on the isalnd.

Crete May 1941 by Druffel Verlag/,1981 by Pantelis Kaloudis ISBN # 0-86255-005-X from Brentford, Middlesex, 51 York Road - Albion Scott LTD.
not sure if this is OOP but to me still a classic. Author has done a chapter by chapter caption of the battle with numerous photos and maps, dual English/German language. Newver can do without too many titles or so everyone says . . .

 

Wow, almost 4,000 dead in Crete, just on the German side! That must have been a hell of a battle. I'll be getting that book by Beevor soon!

I'll look into those other thinks you mentioned too Erich.

Thanks again for all the help both of you!

 

DB

My suggestion try reading a book that covers world war two in general. Develop a working knowledge. This will provide you with a overall general foundation of World War Two. After this you can make your study more specific, ie: Hitler's early invasion of Eastern Europe, Invasion of France, Battle of Britain, Barbarosa, Russia(alot of info alone, key points Stalingrad, Kursk, Berlin, Mediteranean, Sicily and Italy as well as Normandy, D-Day, Market Garden, Ardennes. Regarding the Pacific, Pearl Harbour, Guadalcanal, Bouganville, Papau New Guinea, Phillipines, Tarawa, Saipan, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Atomic Bombing of Japan. Sorry if I mispelled any of these titles. Wow lots of info. My challenge finding time to read all the books I have, my liabrary keeps growing, lol. If you want specific books I can recommend same in another post

Regards

Blacksheep