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Author Topic: Best War Book/Novel  (Read 7159 times)

DavieTait

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Re: Best War Book/Novel
« Reply #25 on: April 25, 2014, 10:29:24 pm »

http://www.amazon.co.uk/U-333-Story-U-boat-Peter-Cremer/dp/0586062947

U-333: Story of a U-boat AcePeter Cremer

This was the true story that Das Boat was based on and essential reading if your interested in the EE2 Atlantic Campaign 10/10 from me
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dreadnought72

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Re: Best War Book/Novel
« Reply #26 on: April 26, 2014, 01:21:57 pm »

I must recommend all the Patrick O'Brien Aubrey/Maturin novels.

I don't know precisely how accurate his depiction of life in the Nelsonian Navy is, but it sure feels like it.  :-))

Andy
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sweeper

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Re: Best War Book/Novel
« Reply #27 on: April 26, 2014, 03:40:15 pm »

Twenty thousand thieves by Eric Lambert (Aussie army in WW2)
Gimme the boats by McDonald (Aussie navy in WW2), part of a series of stories following the life of one chracter through his time in the grey flue line from O.D. to Commander.


Could be out of print by now but both good fiction reads.


Factual book "Out Sweeps" - the story of minesweeping in the RN.

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Colin Bishop

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Re: Best War Book/Novel
« Reply #28 on: April 26, 2014, 06:47:04 pm »

Quote
I must recommend all the Patrick O'Brien Aubrey/Maturin novels.

I don't know precisely how accurate his depiction of life in the Nelsonian Navy is, but it sure feels like it.

Completely agree, but try to read them in chronological order to get the most enjoyment.

Colin
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Colin Bishop

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Re: Best War Book/Novel
« Reply #29 on: April 26, 2014, 06:53:15 pm »

If you are into factual stuff and interested in WW1 then there are couple of excellent books on Jutland:

Death in the Grey Wastes by Nigel Steel & Peter Hart: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jutland-1916-Death-Grey-Wastes/dp/030436648X

and

Jutland, an analysis of the fighting by Peter Campbell: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jutland-Analysis-Fighting-Maritime-Classics/dp/1558217592/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398534617&sr=1-1&keywords=jutland+campbell

Between them, these two books give a totally graphic description of what it was to serve in the RN at Jutland and the appalling damage caused by large calibre shells hitting the capital ships on both sides.

Both fascinating and sobering.

Colin
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Nordsee

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Re: Best War Book/Novel
« Reply #30 on: May 04, 2014, 04:59:27 pm »

To the Last Round - author Andrew Salmon. The British stand on the Imjin River, Korea in the 1950's (the forgotten war).

http://tothelastround.wordpress.com/
My elder brother served in that shindig, it was never a War, not officially, they named it "A Police Action" He doesn't have anything good to say about American Pilots or their sense of direction.
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tigertiger

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Re: Best War Book/Novel
« Reply #31 on: May 04, 2014, 06:38:18 pm »

My elder brother served in that shindig, it was never a War, not officially, they named it "A Police Action" ...
I think I was taught somewhere that, if we won it was named a war.
If we didn't it was named something else.


Falklands War, Suez Crisis, etc.
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CGAux26

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Re: Best War Book/Novel
« Reply #32 on: May 04, 2014, 11:46:12 pm »

Clancy's last book, "Command Authority" predicted the current upheaval in Ukraine months before the western governments got a sniff of the problem.  The man was prescient.
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Nordsee

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Re: Best War Book/Novel
« Reply #33 on: May 05, 2014, 08:34:46 am »

I think I was taught somewhere that, if we won it was named a war.
If we didn't it was named something else.


Falklands War, Suez Crisis, etc.
It was the United Nations who named it a Police Action, the Yankee Doodles called it a War, as did the normal People of the UK. I can assure you, as one who was there, the Suez was more than a Crisis, well it was for us!Changed my view of life I can say quite honestly!!
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tony23

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Re: Best War Book/Novel
« Reply #34 on: May 05, 2014, 02:29:56 pm »

well I have never read a book from cover to cover ever! I just cannot find the time to read, magazines yes but not a book!
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Colin Bishop

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Re: Best War Book/Novel
« Reply #35 on: May 05, 2014, 03:07:11 pm »

Quote
well I have never read a book from cover to cover ever! I just cannot find the time to read, magazines yes but not a book!

You are missing so much.  :((
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tony23

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Re: Best War Book/Novel
« Reply #36 on: May 05, 2014, 03:09:33 pm »

My wife says that she's constantly reading books I have bought books but put them down after a few pages odd that!
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dreadnought72

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Re: Best War Book/Novel
« Reply #37 on: May 05, 2014, 08:56:54 pm »

Between them, these two books give a totally graphic description of what it was to serve in the RN at Jutland and the appalling damage caused by large calibre shells hitting the capital ships on both sides.

Both fascinating and sobering.

Yup.

Dreadnought (Robert K. Massie) is a great read as to why this country got into the (really rather insane) battleship arms' race. The follow up, Castles of Steel takes you through the "what happened next" when the fleets were in being, and is a highly readable account of the RN's actions in the Great War.

The Rules of the Game
(Andrew Gordon) is, for me, the best book on Jutland. (Campbell is extremely dry for many). For those who've read/have some knowledge of Jutland, we've all wondered about the innumerable "what if's?" that prevented the action from being a war-shortening annihilation of the German High Seas Fleet. This book investigates the systemic failures of the RN (signals, initiative, technology) which led to all those "what if" moments. A brilliant read.

Andy
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Colin Bishop

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Re: Best War Book/Novel
« Reply #38 on: May 05, 2014, 08:58:40 pm »

Yes Andy, those three books are excellent too.

Colin
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Bowwave

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Re: Best War Book/Novel
« Reply #39 on: May 06, 2014, 11:10:20 am »

Jutland  the German Perspective  by V  E Tarrant is well worth the read .
Bowwave
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Colin Bishop

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Re: Best War Book/Novel
« Reply #40 on: May 06, 2014, 12:11:01 pm »

Quote
Jutland  the German Perspective  by V  E Tarrant is well worth the read .

And includes some interesting self justifications from the German Admirals after the event!

Colin
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Neil

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Re: Best War Book/Novel
« Reply #41 on: May 06, 2014, 12:52:41 pm »

apart from the usual.  "Reach for the Sky" , "Enemy coast Ahead" and Black Saturday, I think my favourite read for some years has been...... Gentlemen of War: The Amazing Story of Commander Karl Von Muller and the S M S Emden.........a fascinating read

neil.
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Bowwave

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Re: Best War Book/Novel
« Reply #42 on: May 06, 2014, 01:03:37 pm »

I would say Jutland is one naval encounter  that has been  clinically dissected   in book form  like no other.  . Perhaps    there remains  a deep  desire to justify  the out come , but  strangely   more on  the British side than the Germans . Ever since Admiral Scheer  published his English language version of Germany's High Sea Fleet In the World War  in 1920  or   even  to counter  the press  reports that  where issued immediately following the battle, all of which where heavily laden with statistics .   
Bowwave
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fpravenscroft

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Re: Best War Book/Novel
« Reply #43 on: May 06, 2014, 03:01:59 pm »

has nobody read any of the Douglas reeman books
go in and sink
the destroyers
rendezvous south Atlantic
and many moor
also writes as alexader kent
peter
[size=78%] [/size]
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Colin Bishop

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Re: Best War Book/Novel
« Reply #44 on: May 06, 2014, 03:30:45 pm »

Yes, read all Reeman's books many years ago. Most of them are good but sometimes a bit far fetched such as HMS Saracen. Difficult to beat 'The Ship' by C S Forrester though which really goes into what it was like to serve on a WW2 light cruiser.

Colin
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Bowwave

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Re: Best War Book/Novel
« Reply #45 on: May 06, 2014, 05:36:15 pm »

To add to the Emden saga  Emden  the Last cruise of a Chivalrous Raider -1914 by   Von Hohenzollern -Emden   is a   good factual read .
Bowwave
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Sandy

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Re: Best War Book/Novel
« Reply #46 on: May 06, 2014, 06:32:41 pm »

Novel:- '13th Valley' by John M Del Vecchio or 'Bomber' by Len Deighton

Non-fiction:- I have to agree with Colin, 'We were soldiers once and young' is the finest book about soldiers and a single battle ever written. The movie is a travesty.

Honourable mentions to :- 'Wings of the Eagle' by W.T. Grant. The best book about helicopter pilots in Vietnam.
                                       'The Last Valley' by Martin Windrow, about the battle at Dien Bien Phu.
                                       'Our Friends beneath the Sands' by Martin Windrow, a history of the French Foreign Legion.
                                       'Clashes' by Marshall Michel, how the US Air Force and Navy fought the Migs over NVN.
                                       '11 days of Christmas' by Marshall Michel, the B52's and Linebacker II.

Best authors:- Keith Nolan for any of his books about Vietnam battles; Geirr Haarr for his two books about the naval battles for Norway (brilliant books); both Clay Blair's books about the U-boat war are very good once you get past the continuous Limey bashing.
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Nordsee

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Re: Best War Book/Novel
« Reply #47 on: May 07, 2014, 01:56:13 pm »

To add to the Emden saga  Emden  the Last cruise of a Chivalrous Raider -1914 by   Von Hohenzollern -Emden   is a   good factual read .
Bowwave
IThis war Episode has been made into a film, here in Germany, naturally everyone(German) is shown as sympathetic Heroes, but there is some truth in it.
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