DJ and I have decided that the Pacific Theater reading list is doing good and that we need to start a European Theater of Operations reading list. The list will include any books covering ground, air and naval operations in the Atlantic, North Sea, Baltic Sea, and Med; North Africa, Italy, NW Europe, Scandanvia, eastern Europe and of course the USSR.

I start things off with whats in my office:

Hitler's Panzers East, World War II Reinterpreted, H.S. Stolfi
Band of Brothers, Stephen Ambrose
Overlord, D-Day & the Battle for Normandy, Max Hastings
Six Armies in Normandy, John Keegan
The 4th Armored Division in the Encirclement of Nancy, Dr. Christopher Gabel
Small Unit Actions, Historical Division, US War Department
Citizen Soldiers, The US Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany, Stephen Ambrose
Death of a Nazi Army, The Falaise Pocket, William Bruer
A Dark and Bloody Ground, The Huertgen Forest and the Roer River Dams, 1944-45, Edward Miller
Follow Me and Die, The Destruction of an American Division in World War II, Cecil Currey
A Time for Trumpets, The Untold Story of the Battle of the Bulge, Charkes MacDonald
Bastogne, The First Eight Days, S.L.A. Marshall
Hitlers Last Gamble, The Battle of teh Bulge, DEC 44-JAN 45, Trevor Dupuy
Hitler's Ardennes Offensive, The German View of teh Battle of the Bulge, Danny Parker
Battle, The Story of the Bulge, John Toland
Panzer Division, The Mailed Fist, K.J. Macksey, MC
Battle for Berlin, End of the Third Reich, Earl Ziemke
Gotterdammerung, 1945, Germany's Last Stand in teh East, Russ Schneider
Osprey Campiagn Series - Ardenness 1944, Hitler's Last Gamble in the West, James Arnold
Osprey Campiagn Series - Arhem, 1944, Operation "Market Garden", Stephen Badsey
The Battle is the Payoff, Ralph Ingersoll (Ingersoll was an Engineer officer that accompanied the 1st Ranger Battalion on their raid at El Guettar, 1943
The Armored Forces of teh United States Army, 1943, Compiled by the Staff of the Infantry Journal as "propaganda" for the American Public.

This my start. I have more at home. I also have the official Army library here at work, but it is almost time to go home, so that will have to wait till next week.

Read History.

Jeff Leiby

Jeff-- beautiful start! I would add Ed Ruggerio's "Combat Jump" as a book to read. Marvelous review of the 505th jump into Sicily in 1943. More to follow.
DJ

Here are a couple I thought were worthwhile:

An Army at Dawn: The War in Africa, 1942-1943, Volume One of the Liberation Trilogy by Rick Atkinson

A Blood-Dimmed Tide : The Battle of the Bulge by the Men Who Fought It
by Gerald Astor

Shaun

Here are a couple of good one for normandy:

John Keegen - Six Armies in Normandy

Terry Copp - Field of Fire: The Canadian Army in Normandy

John French - Raising Churchill's Army

Got lots more but will have to look at my library list

How about some citations for the invasion of Normandy? The Atkinson book is dsuperb and I trust the follow-on will be just as well done.
DJ

Here are a few of my personal favorites from my private library in no particular order:

Len Deighton - Blood, Tears, and Folly
Len Deighton - Fighter
William Breuer - Drop Zone Sicily
George Cholewczynski - Poles Apart
Martin Middlebrook - Arnhem 1944
Martin Middlebrook - The Schweinfurt-Regensburg Mission
Robert Rush - Hell In Hurtgen Forest
Flint Whitlock - The Rock of Anzio
Geoffrey Powell - The Devil's Birthday
Franz Steidl - Lost Battalions
Harry Yeide - Harry Yeide
Keith Bonn - When The Odds Were Even
Michael Hill - Black Sunday: Ploesti
Robert Ross - The Supercommandos
Mark Reardon - Victory At Mortain
Kirk Ross - The Sky Men
Robert Kershaw - It Never Snows in September
Michael Reynolds - Steel Inferno
Michael Reynolds - Men Of Steel
Antony Beevor - Stalingrad
Antony Beevor - Berlin
S.L.A. Marshall - Night Drop
Alwyn Featherston - Battle For Mortain
William Folkestad - The View From The Turret
Belton Cooper - Death Traps
Joseph Balkoski - Beyond The Beachhead
Richard Baron, Maj. Abe Baum, Richard Goldhurst - Raid!
Omar Bradley - A Soldier's Story
Donald Houston - Hell On Wheels
James Lucas - Kommando
Joseph Springer - The Black Devil Brigade

There are more, but most of them have been mentioned already, and I didn't want to make a giant duplicate list. If I dig up some more, to quote Douglas MacArthur, I shall return!

Ed-- I have several books on the Huertgen Forest battles, but never heard of Robert Rush - Hell In Hurtgen Forest. Can you provide details---where did you get it?
thanks
DJ

What about Battle of the Hurtgen Forest by Charles MacDonald? I have that one, and its pretty informative.

~chip

Stephen Ambrose- The Victors

The full title of Rush's book is "Hell in Hurtgen Forest: The Ordeal & Triumph of an American Infantry Regiment." It is a pretty in-depth examination of the combat experiences of the 22nd Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division in the Hurtgen forest in November and December 1944. It looks at the battle from both strategic and tactical levels and also examines how the regiment was able to carry on in the battle despite its crippling losses. It does well in covering both big picture issues and showing what the individual rifleman had to endure.
The book was published in 2001 and the author's full name is Rober Sterling Rush. I think that I got my copy either from the History Book Club or at a Barnes & Noble. I was first turned on to the book by an ad in a magazine and I remember being fortunate enough to see it in one of the two places I mentioned while it was still fresh in my mind. If you can find it, I highly recommend you check it out.
Hope this helps!

Ed-- many thanks
DJ

How about for normandy:

Carlo D'Este - Decision in Normandy

Great book! Good call......let's hear some more.
DJ

Already a bunch of my favorites listed in this thread. Here a few more:

The Bridge at Remagen by Ken Hechler

Pegasus Bridge by Stephen Ambrose

Silent Wings by Gerald M. Devlin

Geronimo! by William B. Breuer

Bob-- well done. I want to propse that we list our favorites by either campaigns/battles or systems (armor, paratroopers, etc). The ETO is so big that we need to get our arms around it in segments. Bob has provided an opening by listing several Airborne related books....Gavin's On To Berlin, Ridgway's Soldier (my all time favorite), Devlin has Paratrooper and of course you have Ryan's The Longest Day and a Bridge Too Far. Other Airborne books? I say again Combat Jump by Ed Ruggerio is fantastic.
DJ

Here are some:

Stephen Badsey - Normandy 1944

LF Ellis - Victory in the West - volume I

John Ellis - Brute Force: Allied Strategy and Tactics in World War Two

Russell Hart - Clash of Arms: How the Allies Won in Normandy

Robin Neillands - The Battle for Normandy

Chester Wilmot - The Struggle for Europe

JJ How - Normandy: The British Breakout
Hill 112: Cornerstone of the Normandy Campaign

Ken Tout - A Fine Night for Tanks: The Road to Falaise
The Bloody Battle for Tilly

Tim Harrison Place - Military Training in the British Army 1940-1944: From Dunkirk to D-Day

Stephen Hart - Montgomery and Colossal Cracks: 21st Army Group in Northwest Europe 1944-5

David Irving - The War Between the Generals: Allied High Command in World War Two

Terry Copp (ed) - Montgomery's Scientists: Operational Research in Northwest Europe

Denis Edwards - The Devil's Own Luck

Roman J Jarymowycz - Tank Tactics: From Normandy to Lorraine

David C Isby (ed) - Fighting the Invasion: The German Army at D-Day
Fighting in Normandy: The German Army from D-Day to Villers Bocage

Patrick Delaforce - Churchill’s Desert Rats: From Normandy to Berlin with the 7th
Armoured Division
The Black Bull: From Normandy to the Baltic with the 11th Armoured
Division
Marching to the Sound of Gunfire
Monty's Iron Sides: From Normandy Beaches to Bremen with the 3rd
Division
The Polar Bears: From Normandy to the Relief of Holland with the 49th
Division

This is just a short list relating to normandy.

Mahross--- I think that John Ellis - Brute Force: Allied Strategy and Tactics in World War Two is one of those gold mine works that is too often overlooked. Marvelous work. I'd add Matthe Cooper's The Germen Army to our ever growing list.
There are plenty more to come.
thanks
DJ

some fine titles above,

one i would add, you may be surprised its about germans!

SS steel rain. great little book, covering SS activities in western europe from d-day onwards.

its from a german perspective, but extensively covers the battles
against british forces around caen, operation goodwood etc,
operation cobra and the encirclement of the falaise region.
market garden, battle of arnhem, hells highway etc
battle of the bulge, (one of the most extensive parts)
final defeat of germany

it has some superb photos of both allied and german vehicles and troops, and great text

buy it

cheers

joe

I just read one by Patrick Delaforce on the Canadian campaign against the Channel ports. For the life of me I can not recall the title. Does anyone know it?
thanks
DJ

I have a couple more books that are in my office but were buried on the shelves:

"Spearheading D-Day, American Special Units in Normandy", Jonathan Gawne, Histoire & Collections Press. (This is a must for any student of the Normandy Landings. It has photos, drawings, charts, etc. Covers the Army & Navy engineer units, beach masters, Army assualt battalions, every type of landing craft and other specialized equipment is covered in great detail.

"Atlas of World War II", Richard Natkiel - like many similiar atlases.

"The 101st Airborne at Normandy", Mark Bando. This is a photo collection and has a partner publication that covers the division thru the Market Garden, Bastogne, and end of war. A great book for ideas for dioramas, vignettes and as a reference for accuracy of figures. Also just a lot of great photos.

"Rangers in World War II", Robert Black. This covers the exploits of all six WWII Army Ranger Battalions, plus several other units. All are in the ETO, except for the 6th Ranger Battalion and the Alamo Scouts. Roger Black commanded a Ranger company in Korea and also served, I believe in Vietnam. He has also published a companion piece covering the Ranger companies in Korea.

Jeff

DJ - Was it this: Smashing the Atlantic War: The Destruction of Hitler's Coastal Fortresses

Ross

Ross---- yest, that's it! Interesting book. After reading it, one can see how the failure to capture Antwerp caused long range supply problems for the Allies. I think it is also interesting for the in-depth appreciation it provides on task organizing a tactical force. The Canadians use a marvelous combination of Shermans and Churchills to systematically destroy a series of coastal fortifications enroute to Antwerp. Highly recommended book. Thanks Ross for allowing me to recollect.
DJ