Best War Books?

[OctavianNT]

For all you avid readers out there what are the best war books?

[series]

Try Fallen Angels (Vietnam) or Soldier Boys (Battle of the Bulge). Both are some of the best war books i've read.

[Sinister]

Hannibal by Earnle Bradford got me started into history.

Brian Garfield's book on the Aluetians campaign is very cool.

Currently I'm reading Tom Cutler's book on Leyte Gulf

Anything by Keegan is good.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head.

[V-Disc]

I highly recommend "We Were Soldiers Once..And Young" by Jay Galloway and Col. Hal Moore {Ret.}.
While I thought the movie was just fine; the book is a very compelling read.

[Carlo]

All the Patrick O'Brian's books(XIX century). During their missions across the sea Aubrey&Maturin fight against the enemies of the royal Crown by using intelligence and gallantry.

[OctavianNT]

Series if Soldier Boys is one of the best books you have ever read then you obvioulsy do not read enough. I thought that book was dumb.

[series]

Series if Soldier Boys is one of the best books you have ever read then you obvioulsy do not read enough. I thought that book was dumb.
Fallen Angels is a better book (if your "mommy" let's you read it, with it's vulgar language and such). However, I still say Soldier Boys was a good WWII book, because it was pretty detailed, and it showed you both sides of the story.

And, of course I don't "read enough", I have a life.

[Lt M Cotten]

I recommend From China Burma India to the Kwai by Lt. Col. W. Henderson. It is a good look at his experience as a pilot flying supplies across "the hump" and on bombing runs in the CBI theatre.

(Plus he lives only a few miles from me!)

[series]

The books by Winston Churchill (he has a series of like 7) are pretty realistic, including actual documents in WWII. Also, some of the more secret battles are in these books, as well as the real ones. But it isn't a very exciting read IMO.

[sking500]

I've always been a HUGE fan of Tom Clancy, and particularly loved Red Storm Rising. Not going to comment on the movies since most did not do the books justice.

I've also enjoyed WEB Griffin's books as well.

[E-Tool]

I tend to gravitate towards biographical material since the best analysis of warfare comes from the participants. Here's a list of my favorites:
The Big E - as the name implies it's all about the Enterprise in WWII
Helmet For My Pillow - A Marine in WWII goes through boot camp, infantry school, Guadalcanal, etc.
A Rumor of War - A Marine in Vietnam explains some of the lesser known elements of grunt life
Battlecry - Leon Uris's semi-biographical account of life in the Marines in WWII including the battle of Betio (Tarawa)
Fire in the Streets - A look at the battle for Hue during Tet of 1968
Khe Sanh-Siege Above the Clouds - As the name implies it covers Khe Sanh during Tet of 1968, and consists primarily of interviews with the Marines who were there. It gives a different perspective to the siege
Wartime-Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War - An in-depth analysis of the phsycological effects and responses of the men who served in WWII
Utmost Savagery: The Three Days of Tarawa - Rather dry in terms of its descriptions of the events but hair-raising if you understand the actual meaning of a sentence like "third platoon managed to land 3 men"

There's more but I'm not where I can consult my library.

Tom Clancy was good until I actually served in the military, then he fell into the 'amusing' category. His stories tend to be chock full 'o intricate details, but formulaic writing.

His protagonists tend to be lucky beyond belief and everything just sort of falls on them. Take a soldier (we'll call him "A"), put him in a standard unit, have him get accosted in a pool hall off-base by a bunch of rowdy bikers, whereupon he manages to miraculously kill or incapacitate the lot of them using only a drink coaster and a bag of chipped ice, have some nameless colonel from a very black ops unit witness the whole thing (he just happened to be stopping in to use the phone), and grease a few skids to get "A" bumped to a SpecOps unit.
In reality, a soldier (we'll call him "B") signs up with the infantry (presumable to fight), have him assigned to a unit where the CO is a ticket puncher with no plans to train himself or his men, have "B" volunteer for every task, school, or training option he sees, have "B" receive numerous awards as an exemplary soldier, go before several meritorious promotion boards and the like, but leave "B" to languish in a unit wherein the command element has no aspirations. Disgusted, "B" gets out when his enlistment is up. "B" even attempts to hook up with other government agencies where he feels he can do some good, to no avail.
Years later "B" reads the latest Clancy novel and about falls out of his chair laughing.

[82ndAirborne]

"Citizen Soldiers" by Stephen Ambrose.

I just finished it. It is about the US army from normandy to victory. VERY good book.

[DocD]

Red Badge of Courage.

NAM.

Only ones I can remember reading....I prefer movies.

[Lt M Cotten]

Years later "B" reads the latest Clancy novel and about falls out of his chair laughing.

You sound like you know "B" really well, I hope you are not him....

[E-Tool]

You sound like you know "B" really well, I hope you are not him....

"B" is actually an amalgam of myself and a number of men I served with back in "the day."

[Lt M Cotten]

Sorry to hear that. Thank you for your service by the way!! :D

[sking500]

Years later "B" reads the latest Clancy novel and about falls out of his chair laughing.

That's why I categorized it as "War Fiction".

[E-Tool]

That's why I categorized it as "War Fiction".
I think of it more as Fantasy.

[sking500]

I think of it more as Fantasy.

You say "potato", I say "potato"...wait...you say "tomato"...dang!

[Kolorion]

"War Of the Rats" by David L. Robbins, about Zaitsev and the battle of Stalingrad
"Last Citadel" by Dacid L. Robbins, about battle of Kursk

[Beast1313131]

I love War of the Rats! The distinguished service cross(Vietnam) even though it was mostly fiction, but not the battle(Tong Le Chon) All of Ian Slaters military books, We Were soldiers once... and Young, Das Reich, Soldiers of Destruction, Rommel (even though it was written by a Brit) :D Hue, ( Vietnam) and SS War Stories

[Karel Doorman]

John Keegan - The First Woldwar

Barbara Tuchman - The guns of August

The Collins Encyclopedia of Military History

Richard Overy - Interrogations
The last book (based on the interrogation of nazi leaders between may 45 and the start of the Neurenberg trials) gives a very good - and sometimes very scary - insight in the minds of the leaders of the Third Reich.