Good military reading anyone?

[Snakeye]

Well, forums seem almost dead (or perhaps lurking in silence waiting), but I'll still try to aks this here.

Could anyone recommend some good books on military? Basically I'm looking for something in the "Blackhawk Down" style, i.e. accounts of actual military operations, preferably modern warfare, but any good book covering WWI, WWII or later Era is also appreciated. I'm primarily looking for books covering Infantry operations, but aircraft or tank operations are fine too. As far as the nation covered I'm open for anything. Language must be English or German - though for some reason I actually prefer English.

Thanks in advance

 

[Vixen.cat]

Not strictly military, but I heard World War Z was a good read. It's kind of written like an after-the-fact documentary of the global zombie apocalypse, mostly consisting of interviews with "war survivors" and such.

 

[tomcat ha]

Most books ive seen lack stuff. Either they are biased(books which fellate about the american army) or they dont have enough details.

 

[theRoadStroker]

Tom Clancy books are pretty good, I have Rainbow six , The hunt for red October exclusive orders and a few more. All thou Rainbow six games suck ass now days ,the book is pretty good.

 

[Snakeye]

Well, thanks so far.

Not strictly military, but I heard World War Z was a good read. It's kind of written like an after-the-fact documentary of the global zombie apocalypse, mostly consisting of interviews with "war survivors" and such.

Well, not quite what I was looking for, but it got me interested; that and the Zombie Survival Guide sound good as alternate read.

Tom Clancy books are pretty good, I have Rainbow six , The hunt for red October exclusive orders and a few more. All thou Rainbow six games suck ass now days ,the book is pretty good.

Already read Rainbow Six and I found it one of the better Tom Clancy novels. Can't say I'm a big Clancy fan though; his non-fiction books are quite interesting (have Fighter Wing, Special Forces and Armored Cav(?)) - IF you read through the pro-US "fanatism", that is - but the book that actually lost me was Red Storm Rising, mainly because the events leading to the (obvious) Western Victory seemed rather unlikely to me (F-19 Stealth Fighters??? Uhm, right.. ).

Also, to be more precise, I prefer books by people who were actually "there"; some of the better books I've read so far were either written (or at least co-written) by ex-soldiers or war correspondends.

Well, thanks so far and I'm hoping for more suggestions

 

[Lethal Dosage]

I always like them Bravo Two Zero books, by whats-his-face(?).

 

[Burger]

Andy McNab.

You're really gonna hate this LD, but Michael Asher wrote a book about the real story behind Bravo Two Zero. Google it. If you can't find it, i've got a copy i can swing round your place sometime.

And here's a random Google pickup about McNab/Ryan vs Michael Asher.
http://www.strategypage.com/militaryforums/567-1581.aspx

 

[spm1138]

"The Things They Carried" is a novel (it's fiction) but I guess you'd call it semiautobiographical because it's supposed to be based on the author's experiences. It has the ring of truth to it and it's a powerful novel too. In one of the chapters he basically says that he feels that capturing what he went through is more important than writing down the exact technical truth. Really highly recommended.

"Jarhead" is good. I don't think the movie did it justice. There's precious little fighting in it though. Lots of waiting and military idiocy. He's a good writer.

"Generation Kill" was fascinating. That's about the invasion of Iraq. It was written by a journalist embedded with recon marines. Lots of bullets do fly in that. The unit he is with are being used for manouver warfare. They're in humvees being sent in first to confuse the enemy. The interesting part is they don't actually know that this is the plan. They're expecting to be on foot sneaking around but instead they're driving humvees without doors through veritable ****storms of bullets without particularly knowing what the plan was. The other interesting part is that officers who'd normally be behind a desk are leading them. A couple of them are depicted as pretty incompetent. It's candid and gritty.

They're making a HBO mini series with the writers from The Wire onboard which should be awesome.

Seem to recall "Crossfire" by by Peter Haran and Robert Kearney being a good read . It's about Australian Recce in Vietnam. It's fairly vivid in places.

I think those all work as books as well as history.

If you want something gulf war SAS-ey there's "Sabre Squadron" by Cameron Spence and "CQB" by someone else. Both are from the point of view of the squadrons that set out in Land Rovers to hunt scuds.

 

[Lidzsvars]

I am not sure is it what you are looking for, but at this moment my most favorite books are Erichs Pauls Remarks "All Quiet on the Western Front ", approx. 200 pages and "A Time to Live and a Time to Die" approx. 400 p., the first one is about WWI - frontline, second WWII - main charecters 2 weeks vacation at home. Both of them are classic, so it should be easy to get copy.

 

[neilthecellist]

Tom Clancy books are pretty good, I have Rainbow six , The hunt for red October exclusive orders and a few more. All thou Rainbow six games suck ass now days ,the book is pretty good.

You mean... Executive Orders?

I also recommend Clear and Present Danger. In fact, I recommend reading that book first before going straight to Rainbow Six.

 

[(SDS)benmcl]

Into the Storm A study in Command - Tom Clancy with General Fred Franks

Another book but not what you are looking for but I thought I would put out there for those interested in the intelligence side of war. "And I was There - Pearl Harbor and Midway Breaking the Secrets" by Admiral Layton

 

[Lethal Dosage]

You're really gonna hate this LD, but Michael Asher wrote a book about the real story behind Bravo Two Zero. Google it. If you can't find it, i've got a copy i can swing round your place sometime.

Yeah i know about that, i remember hearing something about that years ago, i always knew that the Andy McNab book wasn't an autobiography and was more fictional, but i liked it none the less and his sequel to Bravo Two Zero is really good too.

You know one TV series i always liked was a brit one called Ultimate Force, which is about a team of British SAS, quite good but they nearly completely killed the series a couple of times only to revive it with an almost completely new team.

 

[U/D/T/SNAKE]

Must Read! about the civil war but briliant. it encapsulates the infantry at its best as well as the heirarchy at its worst. Take my word for it...this book ( a pulitzer prize winner) is one for all time.

 

[Snakeye]

Must Read! about the civil war but briliant. it encapsulates the infantry at its best as well as the heirarchy at its worst. Take my word for it...this book ( a pulitzer prize winner) is one for all time.

I may be a tad blind, but did you mention the title and/or author somewhere?

 

[chuckus]

And no Birds Sang By Farley Mowat.

Great WW2 novel from the Canadian Perspective. Gives FANTASTIC description of infatrylife from the marching to the mayhem and the depression in between. Non Fiction.

 

[«]BALLISTIC[»]

*note to self: must start reading books again*

The only ones that feature infantry warfare in my collection are Eric L Harry's 'Protect and Defend'
"A series of military and political disasters has swept the globe. The Russian government has fallen to anarchists. The Chinese have marched into Siberia and are poised to take the continent. And, in one final master stroke, the newly elected president of the U.S. is assassinated. Someones plan has unfolded perfectly, and now it's up to an untested leader, Vice President Gordon Davis, to step forward and stop it. But with his nation divided, his allies paralyzed, and a small U.S.-U.N force the only thing standing between the Chinese and the rest of Asia, the battle and the war may already be lost."

A little bit of flag waving **** and patriotism aside, this is a fine read if you like modern style conflict between China and the US. Well, the US fights mostly modern style while the Chinese simply overrun bases with AK's spraying on full auto and a few million men to spare.. Just like '300', only with Apaches and machineguns. (how cliche..)

Next I have one of the best WW2 military books I ever read, not sure if you like it but it's a detailed log of the massive naval battle between the Bismarck and the Home Fleet lopping shells at each other the size of cars. A thrilling read by Fritz Otto Busch

Also, not truly infantry, but vicious man to man combat in the ruins of WW2 Stalingrad with sniper rifles and handgrenades. David L. Robbins - War of the Rats Nasty and messy, just like it was. A very good read.

Vixen.cat mentioned World War Z, and I recommend that one as well. If you are a sucker for the destruction of mankind like me, and like zombies, this is a book you simply must read. Nasty, graphic and sometimes shocking tales of the infected undead who overrun all resistance by numbers and with absolutely no Merci. Nasty battles in the dark flooded underground structures of Paris, Humans killing humans to get on escape boats, who have infectee on board as well, major cities burn and are nuked in desperation while survivors are under attack by there former neighbors and highwaymen. Awesome. Picture the entire population of New York zombifyed and Bush style bravoure in an all out battle 'to finish it once and for all'. I won't spoil the exact outcome, but let's say they'd wished they had packed more ammunion.
While your at it, read the Zombie survival guide beforehand, very funny and semi-realistic.

 

[Kuroshio Apocal]

House to House: A Soldier's Memoir by SSgt David Bellavia.

It's nonfiction, about infantry retaking Fallujah, Nov2004. Unlike a lot of "santized" accounts, this one is full of absolute ****ing savagery. If you like reading stuff like, "I regret killing/war/violence" don't read this book. This dude is a flat out killer and makes very few apologies for it.

 

[«]BALLISTIC[»]

^^ Adds book to list.

 

[Lethal Dosage]

^^^ Goes to a book shop looking for it...

BTW, Does anyone know if you can still get the english translation of All Quiet on the Western Front? I been hearing a fair bit about it lately, and i hear it's still as good as when it was first published.

 

[Pipe_Dream]