Hi guys,
I have a ton of great books in my library...
Megargee's excellent Inside Hitler's High Command...
Decision over Schweinfurt by Coffey....
Zetterling's great Normandy, 1944....
D'Este's Decision in Normandy
Nipe's Last Victory in Russia
Margolian' s very good Conduct Unbecoming: The Story of the Murder of Canadian Prisoners of War in Normandy
Glantz and House The Battle of Kursk
Middlebrook's incredible Arnhem 1944: The Airborne Battle
Bando's fantastic Vanguard of the Crusade
(this will blow any Ambrose book out of the water by a long shot)
Bowden's gritty Black Hawk Down
there are many others...

How about David Fraser's "Knight's Cross: The Life of Field Marshal Rommel"? Really great book.

Actually now I'm reading Thunder Run the story of the US Third Inf's drive into Bagdad....
really great stuff in a sea of really not too impressive OIF titles (most post-OIF books kinda suck)

I had to read Panzerkreig for a school project (History of WW2 class). Two of my other favorites are Bravo Two Zero (story of an SAS SCUD busting mission gone horribly wrong) and War of the Rats (Book which the movie Enemy at the Gates was based on...the book, as is often the case, was much better than the movie (which I also liked))

Ya know, my favorite books are in a series. Before I tell ya'll the name, I'll say that the author went to VMI as a kid, then West Point and then did TWO tours in Vietnam.
The author's name is Robert Jordan and he wrote the series "Wheel of Time".
As you read the series, you see the influences that his military background has made with strategy and battle scenes that pull you into the blood and gore like no other books I have ever read.

And I read a lot!

Cuhail

Can you provide some details on the "War of the Rats" book? I have not come across it and would like to learn more about it.
thanks
DJ

I'd be happy to. Long and the short of it, Russia has an outstanding sniper/teacher named Zaitsev who is not only Russia's best sniper, but also an outstanding teacher. He is training other Russian snipers so they can effectively carry out missions in and around Stalingrad. Eventually, Zaitsev's reputation becomes legendary, and the Germans respond by sending their best sniper to neutralize Zaitsev. The book bounces back and forth between the two snipers, on what is essentially a game of cat and mouse in the rubble of Stalingrad.

The movie 'Enemy at the Gates' was based on this book, the main difference between the two is that the book tends to focus more on Zaitsev as a teacher who is a legendary sniper, whereas the movie focuses on him as a legendary sniper who happens to also teach others. I enjoyed 'Enemy at the Gates' and a coworker reccomended this book to me saying that it was much better than the movie. He was definitely right. It's well worth the read, and a great deal of it appears to be very well researched.

Here's a link to the book on B&N's site - http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=ygx1PVANrZ&isbn=055358135X&itm=1