[kura or whoever] Best WW2/runup to ww2 books?

M

mr_luc

Veteran X
Been reading a lot of world history recently. In the last month, I've read (or re-read):

Crucible of War (Seven Years' War in america, pre-civil war)
The Age of Napoleon (Durants -- a little drier than I remembered)
DREADNOUGHT -- Germany, England and the coming of the Great War
(HOLY SHIT. This ^^^ book was amazing, never read it before.)
Guns of August
Storm of Steel <-- awesome, re-read for umpteenth time

Now that HoI3 is out, I'm psyched to read history books about WW2 that might put it in the same kind of perspective that Dreadnought (and Castles At Sea -- I still have to buy that) put WW1 in.

What are *the* best history books you've read about ww2?

Prolly just a Kura question, but maybe some of you other retards have good suggestions.

sup tw
 
Clever said:
I am grabbing this book once it comes out later this month:
Storm of War: Amazon.ca: Andrew Roberts: Books
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that looks cool -- especially b/c he examines if the axis could have won. Hehehe.

I'd feel lame buying it knowing I wanted to try out whatever alternate decisions they could have made in HoI ...

that guy also wrote a book about Lord Salisbury! Awesome! hah, he was a bit player in Dreadnought ... got his own chapter, though. (Dreadnought reads almost like an epic movie, it's so damned awesome)
 
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There is no #1 book to give you the complete picture of WW2. (except the bible if you apply understanding)

I can't think of a more defining event in the history of our two countries. There is so much to know about it. Some of my most recent reading:

Patton: Genius for War (my favorite)

fun facts about WW2:

- without the oversized civilian train network in the U.S. prior to the war, we may very well have lost the war.

- There is almost no 'pure' original steel remaining from the period of casting and smelting before 1939, because even pots and pans were melted down in the war effort. So far did the civilian population go that useless metals were converted back into pots and pans for general use.

- U.S. shipyards were able to produce 1 liberty class transport ship every 3 days, so even if u boats used up all their torpedoes supplies would still get through. 2,751 ships were built during the war and I think only one remains running.

- by the end of the war, the civilian passenger train system was wrecked. Had the war lasted longer, a massive overhaul would have needed to be done to them. Even welding rods were scarce during war time so you had damn well be a good welder

and most of the welders were in europe fighting. I'm sure more will come to mind

Liberty ship - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

edit: the war transformed the national debt problem. UK wasn't hit hard economically during the depression, and since the U.S. was the only country capable of supplying it's military needs it basically went bankrupt ordering war materials from the USA.

That's why I say the military strength is the one thing that can keep the US dollar in strength. He who can win the war will win the world economy.
 
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actually if you are interested in understanding the execution of the European conflict, from the allied standpoint at least, you'll find the book Patton interesting. Let me go on about this for a moment.

Patton was in his mid 50s during the war. The rest of the generals were about half his age. There is no coincidence as to why he was still there. But throughout the campaign they knew he would be needed for Europe, no one else could do the job.

Ike (Eisenhower) was the only one capable of administering the affairs of a war this big on the allied side. The logistics were impossible and there were very incompetent people in charge of logistics which actually did a lot to extend the war. The man in charge of logistics actually stretched out the lines to France just so he could live in France for a while, while Patton ran out of gas chasing the Germans back.

In any case Ike didn't let Patton out his cage often, they were afraid of how far Patton would go ?! Hitler would have loved a General like this. He had Rommel but killed him too.

Patton said some interesting things not even in that book. i read recently some interviews taken from one of his aides. Among them, Patton said some pretty interesting things about the Russians.

Did you know that the Russians didn't even have logistics? Well they ran convoys of men and military equipment, but the system was very primitive. The soviets didn't care how many men were lost. According to Patton, the Russians had sustained themselves only on the land they conquered. They 'lived on it' in his words. Had he been given an opportunity to encircle them, he said he could push them all the way back to Moscow.

But it was not to be.
 
Well, that was crazy. o_O Thanks, Togo ...

Aaaaaaaaanyhoo, I've been doing my own research. It looks like:

Keegan's book for an overview.
World at War - book for details

Added to that, perhaps the world at war dvds for hot sexy historical video, and maybe a good book on the war in Russia.
 
None in the mainstream are good. They are lies, 'victor's history'. I can give you some solid facts if you want real knowledge.
 
You should grab Panzer Leader by Gen Heinz Guderian

its an interesting look from the "other" side, and he flatly contradicts some of the things that churchill claimed are common knowledge (such as austrians "unwillingness" to join greater germany - they were so unwilling guderians troops were cheered to vienna!)

its an excellent book I just can't tell if he's an egomaniac who butted heads with everyone or if he just wasnt a party guy, but for someone reason he seems to clash with everyone. It also reads pretty well, unlike most other books translated from german. Might be handy to keep an atlas nearby if you do read it though.

Also, steer clear from HoI3 for a few weeks, maybe longer. Its fairly frustrating in its current state. That doesn't keep me away but its still an annoying mess.
 
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MeSlayer said:
You should grab Panzer Leader by Gen Heinz Guderian

its an interesting look from the "other" side, and he flatly contradicts some of the things that churchill claimed are common knowledge (such as austrians "unwillingness" to join greater germany - they were so unwilling guderians troops were cheered to vienna!)

its an excellent book I just can't tell if he's an egomaniac who butted heads with everyone or if he just wasnt a party guy, but for someone reason he seems to clash with everyone. It also reads pretty well, unlike most other books translated from german. Might be handy to keep an atlas nearby if you do read it though.

Also, steer clear from HoI3 for a few weeks, maybe longer. Its fairly frustrating in its current state. That doesn't keep me away but its still an annoying mess.
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I just installed it ... yeah.

I have an ATIx1200 in this POS, so I'm pretty sure that won't be happening.

HOWEVER: I only played through HoI2 **one** time, as the Nationalist Chinese! Obviously, if you've only played as nationalist china, there's a lot of awesome waiting to be harvested.

So, I'm installing that on this laptop and will doubtless enjoy it ... I can't even zoom in/out in HoI3, you need a scrollwheel apparently. I bought HoI2 immediately after 'buying' it, and I'll do the same w/3 once it's patched.

Oh, and Churchill -- hey, he's a great guy, amazing guy, BUT -- there's, like, an entire book dedicated to correcting the history of the war that HE wrote.

Is the "official" story that Austria was unwilling? Meh. I mean, what political leaders want to turn over control of their country to a third party? What citizenry wants to see soldiers from another country in theirs? But from what I've read, Austria was fully as accommodating as they could be; I thought I remembered reading that the churches in austria were preaching it as a fait accompli before the event ...
 
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mr_luc said:
I just installed it ... yeah.

I have an ATIx1200 in this POS, so I'm pretty sure that won't be happening.

HOWEVER: I only played through HoI2 **one** time, as the Nationalist Chinese! Obviously, if you've only played as nationalist china, there's a lot of awesome waiting to be harvested.

So, I'm installing that on this laptop and will doubtless enjoy it ... I can't even zoom in/out in HoI3, you need a scrollwheel apparently. I bought HoI2 immediately after 'buying' it, and I'll do the same w/3 once it's patched.

Oh, and Churchill -- hey, he's a great guy, amazing guy, BUT -- there's, like, an entire book dedicated to correcting the history of the war that HE wrote.

Is the "official" story that Austria was unwilling? Meh. I mean, what political leaders want to turn over control of their country to a third party? What citizenry wants to see soldiers from another country in theirs? But from what I've read, Austria was fully as accommodating as they could be; I thought I remembered reading that the churches in austria were preaching it as a fait accompli before the event ...
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1 game as nat chi? weird choice

a lot of people have been begging for a kb shortcut for +/- zoom it should get patched

the hq automation is a fucking awesome feature, it would be worth the upgrade to 3 alone if only the hq ai worked properly.

its very difficult to get the hq ai to fill up a border as opposed to stacking 5+ divs in a province here and there, which leaves gaping holes for some odd reason. Its an odd sight to see your Fall Weiss ready to kick off but there is a clear path from danzig to berlin for no reason you can see. I don't quite understand it as it doesn't seem like the other countries ai's have that problem. I suppose the solution is to automate at the corps level but thats just micro than im willing to deal with.
 
Its fiction but for me at least gave me good insight into France between ww1 and ww2.

Sebastien Faulks French trilogy, Birdsong, Charlotte Gray and The girl at Lion dor
 
We Die Alone is a great book about a guy running/hiding from the Nazis in the Scandinavian peninsula. Its remarkable how much the human body can endure.

Sergeant in the Snow is a book about an Italian officer and the difficulties fighting in the Eastern front.

War Without Mercy is a good book about racism during WWII, especially regarding the Japanese.

Those are the only ones that came to mind immediately, but if I think of any more I will post again.
 
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