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]

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]

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=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]

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]

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]

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.

[BigOlChiefsfan]

It's a novel, but based on the authors own experiences as a soldier and POW. It's an unusual book, hard to read in places but extremely well written. Here's an Amazon review that doesn't give away too much plot.

Both a soldier and professor of literature in his lifetime, Shohei Ooka weaves in his own experiences as a POW during WWII to present the story of Private Tamura in the unforgettable war story Fires on the Plain. Abandoned by his company on Leyte Island, in the Philippines, as it is losing in a slow, agonizing battle with American forces, Tamura has nowhere to go, nothing to do. As he becomes further and further removed from the "society" of his regiment, his peers, Tamura begins to fall apart. He has come down with consumption and as such is no longer of any use to his platoon, which is facing annihilation. Food is the primary obsession of Japanese commanders - there simply isn't enough. The dying and wounded are therefore sent to the field hospital to be kept until they expire - or are kicked out when their food supply runs out. When Tamura, however, returns from a brief visit to the hospital, his commander slaps him brutally. "You damned fool! D'you mean to say you let them send you back here?" He is thus sent back again; the hospital, however, will not let in patients who don't have their own food. Without food, patients are pronounced "cured" and sent on their way. And thus begins an existential and brutal journey into a heart of darkness.
The story focuses on the gradual and permanent removal from society of Private Tamura. Slowly but surely, his ties to society are severed. Tamura, an intelligent and decent man, is thus completely alone in a war zone. He doesn't have a reason to die, so he stumbles about the Philippine countryside in search of food. While searching for sustenance, he must avoid both the local people and American soldiers. During his trials, Tamura carries on an internal dialog on his situation, which reads like a treatise on the existence of God. The imagery is poetic and horrifying, a portrait of a man's descent into hell. Haunting and powerful.

[Rain Man]

Hmm. Sounds quite interesting. I might have to check it out.

I read a book a while back about American psychological warfare against the Japanese during WWII, and it had some interesting observations. As part of the book, the authors discussed how the Japanese officers treated their own soldiers, and it was appalling. I don't know how you could run a strong military when the officers abuse the enlisted men as a general course of action.

[BigOlChiefsfan]

I saw the movie before I read the book and was 'grossed out' but still impressed. Cannibalism is considered in the most matter-of-fact way I've ever seen. It's pretty weird what a group of well armed omnivores will do in a pinch...and how soon they'll become accustomed to said weirdness, take it for granted.

[crispystl]

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.

Thanks sounds like a good read.

[crispystl]

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.

Not to mention the axis lack of weapons, food, gas, and overall morale towards the end of the war. As well as the propoganda being force fed throughout their military. It all adds a whole different dimension. In "Forgotten Soldier" I found it amazing when he returned from the Eastern front and people spoke of the American and Britsh lines he had no clue. Could you imagine being that cut off from the world?????

[Amnorix]

Iron Coffins. Autobiography of a U-Boat captain. Absolutely incredible reading.

[Amnorix]

Hmm. Sounds quite interesting. I might have to check it out.

I read a book a while back about American psychological warfare against the Japanese during WWII, and it had some interesting observations. As part of the book, the authors discussed how the Japanese officers treated their own soldiers, and it was appalling. I don't know how you could run a strong military when the officers abuse the enlisted men as a general course of action.

Samurai code, Bushido mentality. Thousands of years of culture behind that...

[crispystl]

Iron Coffins. Autobiography of a U-Boat captain. Absolutely incredible reading.

You could have never got me in a u-boat yuo'd haveto shoot me first. Fug that! Iron Coffin is right.

[BigOlChiefsfan]

Hitler: Hey, is that a U-Boat?
Mussolini: Is not-a my boat, I'm-a thought it belong-a to U.
(ba da boom. Psssssh)

Thought of another couple I like. Autobio's & an quasi-autobiographical novel:

To Hell and Back - Audie Murphy
King Rat - James Clavell
Quartered Safe Out Here - George MacDonald Fraser