Best War Novels

Discussions on WW2 and pre-WW2 related movies, games, military art and other fiction.
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Pips
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Best War Novels

#1

Post by Pips » 06 Jun 2022, 02:20

Have always enjoyed reading a good war novel. Not over the top action authors like Hassel, Kessler, Robinson, Townsend, MacDonnell et al, but rather low key depicting a more nuanced conflict. If the writer does it well novels, I find, act as a nice enhancement to historical books. Sort of adds the human touch.

Some of my favourites are:
The Sudden Sky, by B. Michelaard
The Fighters, by Colin Willock
Run Silent, Run Deep, by Edward L. Beach
Thunder At Dawn, by Alan Evans
The Freebooters, by Elleston Trevor
Tramp In Armour, by Colin Forbes
Winged Victory, by V.M Yeates
HMS Ulysses, by Alistair MacLean
Sharks And Little Fish, by Wolfgang Ott
In The Company Of Eagles, by Ernest k. Gann
The Blue Max, by Jack D. Hunter
The Hunters, by James Salter
Return To The Ardennes, by Harold Calin

Sadly have never found a good novel on the British Army in WWII. Especially one covering the Italian campaign.

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Re: Best War Novels

#2

Post by VanillaNuns » 06 Jun 2022, 19:06

"The Leader and the Damned" by Colin Forbes

"The Eagle Has Landed" by Jack Higgins

"The Berkut" by Joseph Heywood

"Where Eagles Dare" by Alastair McLean

"The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance" by Herman Wouk


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Re: Best War Novels

#3

Post by Sheldrake » 07 Jun 2022, 00:59

"The Cruel Sea", "Three Corvettes", "HMS Marlborough Will Enter Harbour" Nicholas Monserrat
"Bomber" Len Deighton
"The Unknown Soldier" Väinö Linna
"From the city from the plough" Alexander Baron
"Gunner Asch" Novels Helmut Kirst

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Re: Best War Novels

#4

Post by jbroshot » 07 Jun 2022, 06:37

Used to own all of the Gunner Asch novels, but, alas, they've disappeared over the years; Hans Helmut Kirst's The Night of the Generals is pretty good, too.

My list

Commander Prince, USN, by James Bassett

H.M.S. Trigger, by Antony Melville-Ross

The Soldier, by Richard Powell

Sweeney Squadron, by Donald J. Plantz

12 O'Clock High!, by Bernie Lay, Jr. and Sy Bartlett

The Rage of Angels, by Alan Fisher

and

The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara

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Pips
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Re: Best War Novels

#5

Post by Pips » 07 Jun 2022, 08:55

A few good novels mentioned above. :)

Can anyone recommend good novels on that deal with the British Army in WWII?

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Re: Best War Novels

#6

Post by Hans1906 » 07 Jun 2022, 12:43

"Gunner Asch" Novels Helmut Kirst
Here in Germany, the works of Hans Hellmut Kirst are classified as "trivial literature", and I definitely sign that.
Kirst wrote about 60 novels and became a bestselling German author. He wrote crime novels and at the same time dealt with the coming to terms with National Socialism, but his critics assigned him to trivial literature. In the 1950s he vigorously opposed German rearmament, which led to violent attacks from the new Federal Defense Minister Franz Josef Strauss.[1] In 1960 and 1962 he had two more world successes with the novels Factory of Officers and The Night of the Generals, which were also filmed.
Source and link: Hans Hellmut Kirst https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Hellmut_Kirst

You can certainly argue about it today, but it wasn't anti-war literature, it was more of a tightrope walk in the search for literary success.
And successful were his works and the many film adaptations, undisputedly, very successful, and still today...

No offense meant, just a personal opinion, as is almost always the case... :wink:


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The paradise of the successful lends itself perfectly to a hell for the unsuccessful. (Bertold Brecht on Hollywood)

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Re: Best War Novels

#7

Post by Hans1906 » 07 Jun 2022, 12:54

Paul Coelestin Ettighoffer https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Coel ... ttighoffer

Edlef Köppen https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edlef_Köppen

Erich Maria Remarque https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Maria_Remarque

Ernst Jünger https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Jünger

These are just four of the authors that are really worth mentioning, that I would spontaneously name in this topic, the complete list would be very long...


Hans
The paradise of the successful lends itself perfectly to a hell for the unsuccessful. (Bertold Brecht on Hollywood)

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Re: Best War Novels

#8

Post by LineDoggie » 08 Jun 2022, 18:11

The Cruel Sea Nicholas Monserrat

The 13th Valley John M. Dellvecchio

The Ten Thousand Harold Coyle

Fox on the Rhine Douglas Niles and Michael Dobson

The Bridges at Toko-Ri James Michener
"There are two kinds of people who are staying on this beach: those who are dead and those who are going to die. Now let’s get the hell out of here".
Col. George Taylor, 16th Infantry Regiment, Omaha Beach

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Re: Best War Novels

#9

Post by AnchorSteam » 11 Jun 2022, 01:10

I agree with a lot of the above and only have one to add to the list (I guess I read too much non-fiction) off the top of my head;

The Cross of Iron, by Willi Heinrich

Probably forgotten by many because of the mess Sam Peckinpah made of the film despite a near-perfect cast.

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Re: Best War Novels

#10

Post by von thoma » 12 Jun 2022, 00:24

' Kaputt ' by Curcio Malaparte.
( When the author was asked the reason for his pseudonym, he said I chose Malaparte because Bonaparte was already taken )
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Re: Best War Novels

#11

Post by cstunts » 12 Jun 2022, 04:22

1) Stalingrad by T. Plievier
2) The Caine Mutiny by H. Wouk
3) Paths of Glory by H. Cobb
4) Shiloh by Shelby Foote
5) Delilah by M. Goodrich
6) Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

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Re: Best War Novels

#12

Post by Felix C » 12 Jun 2022, 19:24

Pips wrote:
07 Jun 2022, 08:55
A few good novels mentioned above. :)

Can anyone recommend good novels on that deal with the British Army in WWII?
The Human Kind
From the City, from the Plough
There's No Home
all by Alexander Baron.

Warriors for the Working Day by Peter Elstob.

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Re: Best War Novels

#13

Post by Pips » 13 Jun 2022, 02:39

Thanks for the recommendations Felix.

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Re: Best War Novels

#14

Post by Hans1906 » 13 Jun 2022, 19:26

Wolfgang Borchert is to be mentinoned:
Wolfgang Borchert (May 20, 1921 in Hamburg – November 20, 1947 in Basel) was a German writer. His small oeuvre of short stories, poems and a play made Borchert one of the best-known authors of rubble literature after the Second World War. In the post-war period, large sections of the German audience could identify with his homecoming drama Outside in front of the door. Short stories such as The Bread, This Tuesday or Nights the rats sleep, as exemplary examples of their genre, became frequent school reading. The presentation of the pacifist admonition Then there is only one! accompanied many peace rallies.
Wolfgang Borchert: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Borchert

It is unfortunate that he died much too soon, but the gods call some to come early...

Wolfgang Borchert: "Das Brot" und andere Erzählungen | Hörbuch Compilation zum Einschlafen



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Re: Best War Novels

#15

Post by Felix C » 29 Oct 2022, 00:10

I very much liked James Webb's Fields of Fire. USMC Vietnam.
Jean Noli's Admiral's Wolfpack. WW2 uboats I thought it was nonfiction
Wolfgang Ott, Sharks and Little Fish. as above.

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