Thanks Rainman

[crispystl]

a few months I aked for a good ww2 book. Rainman told me to read Forgotten Soldier I took his advice and it was one of the best books I have ever read. Does anyone else have a good ww2 book to recommend?????

[JimNasium]

Are you looking for fiction or non?

[crispystl]

non fiction is all I read now that i think about. Not just ww2 books any book I read has to have some real elemnt to it wierd huh?? I think thats why I like sports.

[JimNasium]

Originally Posted by crispystl420

non fiction is all I read now that i think about. Not just ww2 books any book I read has to have some real elemnt to it wierd huh?? I think thats why I like sports.

The book I was going to recommend is fiction but I'll throw it out there just for the hell of it. Battle Cry by Leon Uris comes highly recommended.

[crispystl]

Whats the scenario?? and thanks for the reccomendation.

[JimNasium]

Originally Posted by crispystl420

Whats the scenario?? and thanks for the reccomendation.

It's a fictional account of Marines during WWII written by a former Marine. He does a lot of character development and focuses on the human side of being a soldier. Stays with the characters from boot camp all the way through Tarawa and Guadalcanal.

[Rain Man]

Cool. Was that an incredible story or what?

It still creeps me out that, at the end of the war, he said they were putting cotton in their mouths where their teeth were rotting. It's amazing that any of those Eastern Front soldiers survived.

[crispystl]

[QUOTE=Rain Man]Cool. Was that an incredible story or what?

It still creeps me out that, at the end of the war, he said they were putting cotton in their mouths where their teeth were rotting. It's amazing that any of those Eastern Front soldiers survived.[/QUOT
Yes truly amazing. The some of the atrocities described in this book literally gave me the chills. You don't happen to have any other suggestions do you. This was a great read.

[Rain Man]

[QUOTE=crispystl420]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Yes truly amazing. The some of the atrocities described in this book literally gave me the chills. You don't happen to have any other suggestions do you. This was a great read.

Have you read "Enemy at the Gates" about the battle of Stalingrad? It's been many years since I've read it, but I enjoyed it immensely. It's a big-picture look at the battle, but it had a little of the same feel as "The Forgotten Soldier" in that it had lots of anecdotes about individual soldiers. I like the books that concentrate more on individuals than on units or grand strategies.

I also tend to have an interest in the Eastern Front, if you haven't noticed.

I'm reading a book now about some cargo pilots on the CBI front who got lost and crashed their plane in Tibet. At the time, only five Americans had ever been to Tibet. It's kind of interesting, but I'm only partway through it. It splits time between the soldiers' experiences and the geopolitical issues that arose as a result. It's a little light on the soldiers' experiences, though, and you can tell that the author couldn't really pull a compelling story from them.

[rad]

I liked "Ghost Soldiers" about the Bataan Death March and "Flags of our Fathers" about the Marines
that raised the flag on Iwo Jima. Both good books IMO.

[crispystl]

Originally Posted by rad

I liked "Ghost Soldiers" about the Bataan Death March and "Flags of our Fathers" about the Marines
that raised the flag on Iwo Jima. Both good books IMO.

Thanks have you guys read citizen soldiers by Ambrose.

[crispystl]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Have you read "Enemy at the Gates" about the battle of Stalingrad? It's been many years since I've read it, but I enjoyed it immensely. It's a big-picture look at the battle, but it had a little of the same feel as "The Forgotten Soldier" in that it had lots of anecdotes about individual soldiers. I like the books that concentrate more on individuals than on units or grand strategies.

I also tend to have an interest in the Eastern Front, if you haven't noticed.

I'm reading a book now about some cargo pilots on the CBI front who got lost and crashed their plane in Tibet. At the time, only five Americans had ever been to Tibet. It's kind of interesting, but I'm only partway through it. It splits time between the soldiers' experiences and the geopolitical issues that arose as a result. It's a little light on the soldiers' experiences, though, and you can tell that the author couldn't really pull a compelling story from them.

I agree about I enjoy the personal accounts. I used to be very interes in the Europian theatre espiciall the western front and d-day however I have read so many books about it the Eastern front is a nice breath of fresh air. Plus I love the extra twist the Russian winter adds.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by crispystl420

Thanks have you guys read citizen soldiers by Ambrose.

I did read that, but I must say that it didn't leave a strong impression on me. I remember that I read it, but I don't remember any details.

[BigOlChiefsfan]

I recommend 'Fires on the Plain' by Shohei Ooka. The starving Japanese army on the run in the Phillipines as the American's advance. Very well written by a Japanese POW/literature professor. One of the most famous postwar novels in Japan.

[Rain Man]

Is that a novel or is it a biography, bigolchiefsfan? I tend to prefer nonfiction, but I guess I could keep an open mind.

We read a lot of WWII books from the Allied perspective, and I have no doubt that Allied soldiers faced a lot of trials and challenges. However, I find the perspective of the Axis soldiers to be more interesting, because I think it would be unimaginably more difficult to be a soldier fighting in a war where you're getting inexorably pushed backwards.