What is everyone reading on WW2?

[DarrenMarshall]

Vincent O'Hara
Struggle for the Middle Sea: The Great Navies At War in the Mediterranean

[JeroenPollentier]

I found this book on a flea market this morning:

Herbert P. Bix: Hirohito and the making of modern Japan


It's a hardcover edition in excellent condition and it only cost 1 Euro

I'll start reading it as soon as I have finished Christopher Clark's "Sleepwalkers"

I have finally decided to give up on this book at page 530 (of a total of 688), i.e. at the end of World War II.
Bix' Hirohito is not so much a biography of the emperor as a history of Japanese decision-making before and during the war.
It may be an interesting book for the scholar, for there is ample information and detail: which decision was made during which liason conference, Imperial Confererence, cabinet meeting, informal meeting; which Minister, Chief of the General Staff, advisor, aide-de-camp, member of the imperial family was present; how many drafts a new law went through; what different constitutional theories Hirohito was taught in his youth and by which teachers (all of them are described thoroughly)...

I have worked my way through many thick and tough books before, but I found this book simply too long and too tedious. It has its merits, but I wouldn't recommend it, especially not as a general introduction to Japan in WW2.

[Annelie]

BERLIN EMBASSY -- William Russell

It was recommended by one of the members but don't remember where.
HIGHLY recommend it. If you think you know just about everything there is to know
about what was happening in Berlin then its a must to read this book.

Its absolutely chocked full of really great info.
E.g. Page 80

Although Adolf Hitler and other Nazis are notoriously lacking in a sense of humor,
Field Marshal Hermann Goering pays five reichsmark to any one bringing him a new
joke about himself.

[Ken S.]

Die Geschichte der 215. Infanterie-Division

[Plain Old Dave]

Thunder Below, by Admiral Eugene Fluckey.

[JeroenPollentier]

I'm reading the first volume of William Manchester's Churchill Biography.
It's very long and detailed, but I just can't put it down. It's one of the best books I've ever read, though I found his "Goodbye, Darkness" rather disappointing.

[Polynike]

First Day on the Eastern Front, Craig Luther
Their Finest Hour, The Second World War Vol 2, Winston Churchill
Air War for Yugoslavia, Greece and Crete, Stones&Niles

[Annelie]

On John Moore's recommendation of the book I bought and am presently reading

Fighting the British at Arnhem

The SS-Unterführerschule Arnheim

Bob Gerritsen.

So far an interesting excellent read.

(the book is published with high quality paper, great binding,
has bookmark, a great size and with lots of photos which always helps me to get the feel
of the time).

[OpanaPointer]

The Fall of Japan: The Final Weeks of WW2 in the Pacific, by William Craig. I bought this and Pearl Harbor, also by Craig, because these are my two favorite areas. I've done a half century on these topics. Craig disappointed me. If an author is going to completely rewrite events robust support would seem to be very important. But I guess not.

[Jan-Hendrik]

This one written by a survivor of the battle of Klessin 1945, Hugo Reinhart!

Jan-Hendrik

[Randy W.]

Hitler book 1889-1936 Hubris by Ian Kershaw.

[stg 44]

"The Third Reich is Listening" by Christian Jennings. It's about the German codebreakers of WW2, who had quite a lot of success throughout the war. The author is also interviewed about the book on History Hit podcast if anyone is interested.

[Attrition]

In Passage Perilous: Malta and the Convoy Battles of June 1942 (2012) by Vincent P. O'Hara

Just a cursory look so far, plenty of useful detail of Axis operation but too much "Aha! Told you that the British were gilding the lily!".

[francoazzurro]

SALERNO.HIGH POND.operation avalanche .the longest day in salernoand italy.avalanche of errors and losses.the first large-scale landing operation carried out by the allies in europe called avalanche.because the troops thrown into the area of salerno suffered serious losses from the division commanded by the feldemarshall kesserling.

[Attrition]

Baughen, G. The RAF in the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain: A Reappraisal of Army and Air Policy 1938–1940 (2016) Fonthill Media 978-1-78155-525-5

Iconoclastic, entertaining and partly convincing analysis of RAF policy, with a little too much hindsight for its own good. Worth a read for the examples RAF management preferring to risk losing the war rather than divert effort from its strategy of industrial attrition through bombing. I thought that Portal was a villain and a bit of a shite; the book adds to the impression.