Good military reading anyone?

[OICW]

^^^ 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.

We had to study it in Year 11 (11th grade for the Yanks), so I don't think you'd have any problems finding a copy.

 

[Lethal Dosage]

Thanks, i suppose i'll have to dig around the larger books stores. Unfortuantly i didn't have the opportunity to read it when i was in school, but then my schools didn't teach any modern military history at all. As far as Australias histsory goes, they glazed over everything up to Federation during Primary school, then left it at that.

Pipe, bugger off... this is still a viable thread.

 

[U/D/T/SNAKE]

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

Nope I did not, you are very correct. The book is "The Killer Angels". Sorry for the long reply. Also, "Flags of our Fathers" is an awsome book, nothing like the movie. It goes into detail about the battle of Iwo Jima as well as the backround of all of the flag raisers. Its an awsome book as well.

Edit: Forgot! The book "Chesty" a Biography of Chesty Puller. In short the book makes no apologies for using his words in some of the early "Banana War Campaigns and mostly the 2nd world war" where he is very clear about the war in the pacific (pelalue, etc.) where he basically ordered the "pig sticking" of wounded Japanese soldiers (bayoneting them) when wounded. It shows a side of the Pacific that no "Band of Brothers" episode can simply because of the nature of the fight in the pacific against the japanese who simply did not surrender.

 

[Lethal Dosage]

Well i read "All Quite on the Western Front", and quite liked it, better than the movie too in my opinion.

I also like the books by Peter Fitzsimons like Kokoda or Tobruk, his style of writing is very captivating and it's almost a completely historical writing, but from the point-of-views of some of the many soldiers caught up in it all.

 

[Snakeye]

Hmm, still life on the old forums - nice to see suggestions are still coming in .

Did a bit of reading since I started this thread, both books mentioned here and others and wanted to add "We were soldiers once.. and young" to the list for others interested. It basically covers the Battles for LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany in the Ia Drang valley, the former being the base of the movie "We were soldiers" with Mel Gibson. Needless to say the book surpasses the movie by far (although I thought it was a pretty good movie).

 

[Dr. Mojo PhD]

Ah hell, I'll throw my weight into this one.

If anybody still reads these book lists, try Generation Kill. It's a warts-and-all account by a Rolling Stone reporter embedded with the Recon Marines in Iraq. It neither fellates nor vilifies the marines involved, and has instead been roundly praised for its honest and even-handed reporting (despite the political fallout honesty tends to cause).

It was made required reading by ground commanders for officers in Iraq or some such to give them a perspective of the boots on the ground.

 

[OICW]

There was also a superb miniseries based on the book Generation Kill, which was made by the creators of The Wire.

 

[zeep]

The Art of War

 

[Mad_Dog]

Ah hell, I'll throw my weight into this one.

If anybody still reads these book lists, try Generation Kill. It's a warts-and-all account by a Rolling Stone reporter embedded with the Recon Marines in Iraq. It neither fellates nor vilifies the marines involved, and has instead been roundly praised for its honest and even-handed reporting (despite the political fallout honesty tends to cause).

It was made required reading by ground commanders for officers in Iraq or some such to give them a perspective of the boots on the ground.

Haven't read the book, but the miniseries is contender for best TV ever, IMO. More good books...

WWII

Wing Leader: British Spitfire pilot takes you through the war.
http://www.amazon.com/Wing-Leader-F...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235351963&sr=8-1

Brazen Chariots: A tank commanders story of Operation Crusader in North Africa, 1941.
http://www.amazon.com/Brazen-Chario...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235352043&sr=1-1

Iron Coffins: U boat captain takes you through the war.
http://www.amazon.com/Iron-Coffins-...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235352085&sr=1-1

U Boat Killer: A British destroyer captain in the Battle of the Atlantic.
http://www.amazon.com/U-boat-Killer...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235352149&sr=1-1

Panzer Commander: A German officer takes you through the pre war years, through every front the Germans fought on, and then through his years as a Russian POW. Fantastic book.
http://www.amazon.com/Panzer-Comman...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235352290&sr=1-1

Anything by Mark Zeulkhe, he writes about Canada in WW2, really brings it to life. Both my grandfathers fought in the battles he writes about.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/s...type=ss&index=books&field-author=Mark Zuehlke

Night Fighter: A British night fighter pilot takes you through the early dark days to the end when he ruled the skies. This one looks out of print, my dads copy is from the 80s.
http://www.amazon.com/Night-Fighter/dp/B000KD7BCC/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235352442&sr=1-12

That's all the books I can remember for now. Those are ones I've loved for years, and read multiple times.

Modern warfare, I haven't read too much, but I'm rereading Thunder Run, about the armoured strike into Bahgdad in 2004.
http://www.amazon.com/Thunder-Run-A...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235352690&sr=1-1


I hope this supplies some content you wanted from the old pricks Snakeye! Everyone, read all these books, they're the best around.