Book suggestions

[gordonmull]

This isn't really all that naval but I'm looking for suggestions for first-hand accounts of the WWII Eastern front, preferably from the German point of view but I'm open to Soviet. I've already read Blood Red Snow and The Forgotten Soldier, which are both excellent books.

[Red October1984]

I'm also interested if anybody has anything to recommend. I like this sort of thing.

[ikalugin]

Are you more interested in the human tragedy side of that war or the military science/history side?

[Red October1984]

Are you more interested in the human tragedy side of that war or the military science/history side?

As for me, I like both. :D

Open to suggestions.

[ikalugin]

I would look if I have any good books translated.

What I would suggest reading would be the -commission for studies of war experience- materials (or whatever it was called). That commission would collect and study the combat experience and then transmit it around the armed forces in form of special documents.

This was done quickly and hence (amongst other things) allowed the Soviet Armed Forces to grow from where they were in 1941 to where they were in 1945.

[Eichhörnchen]

Hi, gordonmull: I have the two books you've read. I also have "The Outermost Frontier: A German Soldier in the Russian Campaign" by Helmut Pabst (ISBN 0-7183-0600-7) which is a personal account type book;

also "War On The Eastern Front 1941-1945: The German Soldier in Russia" by James Lucas (no ISBN number in the book, but it was published by Cooper & Lucas Ltd) factual, with good long passages of personal account, which is the type of book I especially like.

[BossMark]

also "War On The Eastern Front 1941-1945: The German Soldier in Russia" by James Lucas (no ISBN number in the book, but it was published by Cooper & Lucas Ltd) factual, with good long passages of personal account, which is the type of book I especially like.
I would recommend this as well Barbarossa by Alan Clark (A very good read even though it is wrote by a Tory)

[ikalugin]

Those would be secondary sources, no?

Why not recommend any of the works by David Glantz then? Or Armstrong?

[Eichhörnchen]

http://i.imgur.com/ZrGtzXd.jpg?1

[Eichhörnchen]

http://i.imgur.com/DjLP0v6.jpg?1

[Catfish]

Valentin Mikula: "Stuka"

very good book, from training, to Poland, to Stalingrad .. and back, with a short intermezzo around Malta. You also learn a lot about flying and tactics, very tense and (unlike Hollywood and other western literature of the kind) not glorifying, while describing mentality and comradeship. You can compare this to "Das Boot", but with planes.
Don't know if ever translated into english though.

Greetings,
Catfish

[Eichhörnchen]

"Swastika In The Gunsight: Memoirs of a Russian Fighter Pilot 1941-43" by Igor Kaberov

Focused particularly on the siege of Leningrad.

ISBN 0 7509 2240 0

[Jimbuna]

This isn't really all that naval but I'm looking for suggestions for first-hand accounts of the WWII Eastern front, preferably from the German point of view but I'm open to Soviet. I've already read Blood Red Snow and The Forgotten Soldier, which are both excellent books.

Pretty good selection here:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1/176-7065336-2726746?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=eastern%20front&sprefix=eastern+f%2Caps

[kranz]

for a German perspective: Paul Carell - Operation Barbarossa and its continuation Scorched Earth.

[STEED]

I would recommend this as well Barbarossa by Alan Clark (A very good read even though it is wrote by a Tory)

I second this one.:up:

For the air war Christer Bergstrom series..
Barbarossa: The Air Battle July-December 1941
Stalingrad - The Air Battle: 1942 through January 1943
Kursk: The Air Battle July 1943
Bagration to Berlin: The Final Air Battles in the East 1944-1945

Osprey campaign series has a number of books, be careful they do cost money. Three of their titles have been grouped together in a book with a little bit more info. Operation Barbarossa by Robert Kirchubel.

Talking of Barbarossa here are some more..
Barbarossa by David Glantz (Well worth checking out his books)
Barbarossa by Bryan I. Fugate
War without Garlands by Robert Kershaw

David Stahel has written four books very detailed, I've read the first two just waiting for the next two to come out in paperback.
Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East
Kiev 1941
Operation Typhoon: Hitler's March on Moscow, October 1941
The Battle for Moscow

Death on the Don: The Destruction of Germany's Allies on the Eastern Front 1941-44 by Jonathan trigg (He also wrote four books on volunteers from other countries served in the Waffen SS)

Red Storm on the Reich by Christopher Duffy
Hitler's Final Fortress Breslau 1945 by Richard Hargreaves
Berlin Soldiger by Helmut Altner

Three more on the last days..
Until the final hour by Traudl Junge
In the Bunker with Hitler by Berd Freytag Von Loinghoven
Hitler's last days by Gerhardt Boldt

And from the Russian point.
Ivan's War The Red Army 1939-45 by Catherine Merridale

Antony Beevor two on Stalingrad/Berlin

[Dan D]

Brilliant book this, it is a novel though:

"The Stalin Organ" by Gert Ledig, more here: http://dannyreviews.com/h/Stalin_Organ.html , "1942, at the Eastern Front. Soldiers crouch in horrible holes in the ground, mingling with corpses. Tunneled beneath a radio mast, German soldiers await the order to blow themselves up. Russian tanks, struggling to break through enemy lines, bog down in a swamp, while a German runner, bearing messages from headquarters to the front, scrambles desperately from shelter to shelter as he tries to avoid getting caught in the action. Through it all, Russian artillery—the crude but devastatingly effective multiple rocket launcher known to the Germans as the Stalin Organ and to the Russians as Katyusha—rains death upon the struggling troops.

Comparable to such masterpieces of war literature as Ernst Jünger's Storm of Steel and Erich Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, The Stalin Front is a harrowing, almost photographic, description of violence and devastation, one that brings home the unforgiving reality of total war."
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/690576.The_Stalin_Front#other_reviews

Sample excerpt, the book starts with this:

"The Lance-Corporal couldn't turn in his grave, because he didn't have one. Some three versts from Podrova, forty versts south of Leningrad, he had been caught in a salvo of rockets, been thrown up in the air, and with severed hands and head dangling, been impaled on the skeletal branches of what once had been a tree.

The NCO, who was writhing on the ground with a piece of shrapnel in his belly, had no idea what was keeping his machine-gunner. It didn't occur to him to look up. He had his hands full with himself."

****
I agree that it is comparable to e.g. "All Quiet on the Western Front" as IMO it leaves a similar strong Impression on the Reader. Story is told from the perspective of both Germans and "Russians" (Soviet) alike. The author served in the Battle of Leningrad in 1942. This novel essentially reflects his experiences during that battle.

[gordonmull]

Fair amount of suggestions there, I'm more into land forces' (infantry, tanker's) experiences. Jim, I had thought of a search on Amazon but I figured I'd ask here first, given the ever so slight bastion of knowledge on WWII :03:. Settled on either Black EdelWeiss by Johann Voss or Red Army Tank Commander: At War in a T-34 on the Eastern Front by Vasiley Bryukhov.

It's not a book, but just to share for anyone who's not come across it, Pte Tom Barker's memoirs are a good read. He served with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in North Africa, then Crete. http://www.warlinks.com/memories/barker/index.php

[kranz]

don't read soviet commanders' memoirs. Most of them are like:
Day 1: we killed 100 fascists.
Day 2: we killed 1000 fascists.
Day 3: we killed 100 000 fascists.
Day 4: Retreat.

[ikalugin]

don't read soviet commanders' memoirs. Most of them are like:
Day 1: we killed 100 fascists.
Day 2: we killed 1000 fascists.
Day 3: we killed 100 000 fascists.
Day 4: Retreat.
I guess retreating got us to Berlin, huh?

[ikalugin]

However, if you insist I would sum up German memoirs the same way Koshkin did:
(can be found here in Russian, original is not mine: http://armor.kiev.ua/humor/txt/ger.php)
- We lost because of Hitler. Hitler was a fool. German soldier - best Soldier. German commander - like Friedrich the Great but without the vices.
- Russians buried us under their corpses. Russians were too numerous. Russian soldier - is a beast, he eats that could not run from it, sleeps while standing like a horse, and sneaks around. Author numerous times witnessed how whole armies sneaked through the front line, nothing was giving away their presence - normal artillery preparation, aerial bombardment and then suddenly there is an entire Russian Tank Army in your rear.
- SS was sometimes taking it too far. I mean, they should have been content with the regular marauding, mass executions by firing squads and occasional rape, without which the German Soldier would suffer from over abundance of energy and jolly spirit. Most of population on the new territories would have accepted us then.
- Russians had T34. It is unfair. We didn't have such tank.
- Russians had too many anti tank guns. Every soldier had an anti tank gun, they would hide with those in small crevices, in the tall grass, in the tree roots.
- Russians had way too many Mongolians. Mongolians backed up by commissars are a scary thing.
- Russians had commissars. Commissars are scary. Most commissars were Jews. We killed our Jews, Himler was a fool, we would have won with Jewish commissars (comment from Ika - this should not be viewed offensive for the Jewish).
- Russians were using an unfair move - they would pretend that they were surrendering and then would shoot us in the back. Once a whole Russian Tank Corps would kill in this way a German Heavy Tank Battalion.
- Russians were killing German Troops. This was unfair, as everyone knows that it is only allowed for Germans to kill Russians, not the other way round.
- Allies betrayed us. British and Americans that is.

[Dmitry Markov]

I don't know if these books are translated - but those are masterpieces:

series of Artem Drabkin books with interviews of veterans ("T-34 in action" is translated and is present on amazon as kindle edition)

All these books names are beginning with " Ya dralsya na ..." (I fought in a ...) and then a name of combat arm : artillery, fighter planes, bombers, Il-2's, tanks and so on...

The other great source for first-hand memories is Drabkin's project iremember.ru - maybe it might be even more useful for those who don't speak russian. There are hundreds of recollections all sorted by combat arms. You can use google translate (with care of course ;-)

PS. iremember.ru HAS English version! Didn't notice a small icon in the corner :-) So please don't use google translate on that ;-)
This site is absolutely "must read" for anyone interested in first-hand memories from Soviet side WWII Eastern Front. Those grannies aren't bound these days with secrets or ideology they just tell their stories and you can see everybody had different experience - that makes it very valuable.

Best Regards!

[kranz]

I guess retreating got us to Berlin, huh?
American supplies and sacrificing a tremendous amount of people got you to Berlin.
Nothing else.

[ikalugin]

American supplies and sacrificing a tremendous amount of people got you to Berlin.
Nothing else.
So overstating the importance of Lend Lease and the Soviet irrecoverable losses? I see. I guess Soviet army fighting better on the operational level by the 3rd period of the war has nothing to do with it. I suggest reading this though:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Vgin0I1mErEJ:fmso.leavenworth.army. mil/documents/e-front.htm+&cd=2&hl=ru&ct=clnk&gl=ru&client=opera
(not even Russian)

That article should be interesting to the OP (and contributors to this thread), as it provides the overview for the development of the Eastern Front histories and criticism of a number of historical works.

[gordonmull]

The other great source for first-hand memories is Drabkin's project iremember.ru - maybe it might be even more useful for those who don't speak russian. There are hundreds of recollections all sorted by combat arms. You can use google translate (with care of course ;-)


What a goldmine of information! Thanks.

That article should be interesting to the OP (and contributors to this thread), as it provides the overview for the development of the Eastern Front histories and criticism of a number of historical works.
I'll have a read of that soon, I'm a bit brain dead tonight :doh:

[scorpiondown]

My favorite is "The Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer.
Read it numerous times


http://www.amazon.com/The-Forgotten-Soldier-Guy-Sajer/dp/1574882864

Excellent First person account

[Eichhörnchen]

I read a book years ago about a desperate escape from a post-war soviet prison camp and the subsequent journey (during which, in this true story, the escapees even believe they encountered a Yeti.) I was sure the book was called The Journey, and that a film of it had recently been made. Clearly I was mistaken, for when I search for this title, all I get is the rather cheesy-looking film below.

http://i.imgur.com/P4bTMCu.png?1


Does anyone know what the book/film title is? It's a great PoW yarn, if nothing else...

[Dread Knot]

I read a book years ago about a desperate escape from a post-war soviet prison camp and the subsequent journey (during which, in this true story, the escapees even believe they encountered a Yeti.) I was sure the book was called The Journey, and that a film of it had recently been made. Clearly I was mistaken, for when I search for this title, all I get is the rather cheesy-looking film below.

http://i.imgur.com/P4bTMCu.png?1
Does anyone know what the book/film title is? It's a great PoW yarn, if nothing else...


The book you are thinking of was likely The Long Walk (1956), the memoir by former Polish POW Sławomir Rawicz, who escaped from a Soviet Gulag and walked 4,000 miles to freedom in World War II.

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTYwMFgxMTI3/z/afoAAOxyNo9Sy3Qi/$_35.JPG

A movie based on it starring Ed Harris and directed by Peter Weir called The Way Back was made in 2010.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_Back

[Eichhörnchen]

That's the one! That's it! Thanks everso, pal: I'd like to see that...

[Eichhörnchen]

That's the one! That's it! Thanks everso, pal: I'd like to see that...

I found the dvd last week and we watched it on Saturday. Great film (Colin Farrell is in it, too) but there was no encounter with the Yeti.

[jayni]

I would recommend Willi Heinrich's trilogy: Cross of Iron, Crack of Doom and Mark of Shame. Although these are fiction works they give an insight into the life of a German soldier.
You might also want to look at David Robbins War Of the Rats (Stalingrad) and his novel on the Kursk battle.