# Best World War II Novels?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 7, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075 "2011-05-07T16:44:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/1 "2011-05-07T16:44:19Z")
In particular are there any prominent ones by German or Russian authors?
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### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/2 "2011-05-07T17:04:28Z")
> **[Novels About World War II](https://www.flashlightworthybooks.com/Novels-World-War-II-2-Books/88)**
>
> American authors wrote a surprising number of excellent books about World War II, more so than any war before or after. There was something about the war that attracted writers: maybe because World War II was the largest conflict the world had seen,...
[http://www.amazon.com/Best-World-War-Two-novels/lm/R9QJOMMIJWYB8](http://www.amazon.com/Best-World-War-Two-novels/lm/R9QJOMMIJWYB8)
[http://www.amazon.com/Best-World-War-II-Novels/lm/R35E495AUPN0DX](http://www.amazon.com/Best-World-War-II-Novels/lm/R35E495AUPN0DX)
[http://www.amazon.com/Best-World-War-2-Novels/lm/RB475MKQD3BHN](http://www.amazon.com/Best-World-War-2-Novels/lm/RB475MKQD3BHN)
[http://www.amazon.com/Top-World-War-II-Novels/lm/2OKQ78AJVVMB](http://www.amazon.com/Top-World-War-II-Novels/lm/2OKQ78AJVVMB)
[http://bookstove.com/historical-fiction/ten-best-world-war-ii-novels/](http://bookstove.com/historical-fiction/ten-best-world-war-ii-novels/)
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/3 "2011-05-07T17:20:41Z")
Herman Wouk wrote several excellent ones.
I like several of Ken Follett’s
Fatherland by Robert Harris
_Winter_ by Len Deighton. He also wrote several other very good WWII novels including _Bomber_. Also a bunch of great Cold War spy thrillers, many of which were made into movies.
Another thing I would suggest is that there are a whole bunch of excellent and thrilling non-fiction books from the war. Just tons and tons of memoirs that have a kind of novelistic feeling because they are personal stories rather than sweeping histories.
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/4 "2011-05-07T17:22:36Z")
I know of several very good WWII memoirs by German and Japanese authors, but I’m not familiar with any fiction. My WAG is that not a whole lot of them got translated and published in English.
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### Author:  [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/5 "2011-05-07T18:38:40Z")
Alistair MacLean mostly wrote trashy (but fun) thrillers, but his first novel _HMS Ulysses_ is a gripping, and at times horrific, account of a destroyer escorting a convoy on the Murmansk run.
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### Author:  [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/6 "2011-05-07T18:49:05Z")
Catch 22
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### Author:  [@colonial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colonial)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/7 "2011-05-07T18:50:05Z")
Herman Wouk’s three WW2 novels were IMO all fantastic:
_The Caine Mutiny
Winds of War
War and Remembrance_
German Willi Heinrich’s novel It was titled \*Cross of Iron \*
in the English edition, and in the movie by Sam Peckinpaugh
was also good.
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### Author:  [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/8 "2011-05-07T19:04:29Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#):
>
> Alistair MacLean mostly wrote trashy (but fun) thrillers, but his first novel _HMS Ulysses_ is a gripping, and at times horrific, account of a destroyer escorting a convoy on the Murmansk run.
[del]Destroyer[/del] cruiser. Yes a great read.
I would add Run Silent, Run Deep by Edward L. Beach.
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/9 "2011-05-07T19:09:20Z")
Thirded for _HMS Ulysses_ being a great book. Light cruiser, right?
I seem to remember another very good book about frigate, or maybe DE or cutter, in the North Atlantic. Can’t recall a title or author, though.
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### Author:  [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/10 "2011-05-07T19:14:21Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#):
>
> Light cruiser, right?
Ah, yes my mistake. She’d probably be a similar type to [HMS Belfast](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Belfast_%28C35%29)
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### Author:  [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/11 "2011-05-07T19:21:08Z")
_Das Boot_ by Lothar-Günther Buchheim is excellent. It’s the story of a U-Boat on North Atlantic duty. The movie/mini-series of the same name is also excellent (there are various versions - try and see the Director’s Cut).
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### Author:  [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/12 "2011-05-07T19:45:04Z")
> [@colonial](#):
>
> Herman Wouk’s three WW2 novels were IMO all fantastic:
>
> _The Caine Mutiny
> Winds of War
> War and Remembrance_
Definitely agree. Reading _War and Remembrance_ was one of the emotional highlights of my literary life.
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### Author:  [@tingbudong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tingbudong)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/13 "2011-05-07T19:45:37Z")
Not 100% WW2, but _Cryptonomicon_ is fun.
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/14 "2011-05-07T19:48:34Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#):
>
> [http://www.flashlightworthybooks.com/Novels-World-War-II-2-Books/88](http://www.flashlightworthybooks.com/Novels-World-War-II-2-Books/88)
>
> [http://www.amazon.com/Best-World-War-Two-novels/lm/R9QJOMMIJWYB8](http://www.amazon.com/Best-World-War-Two-novels/lm/R9QJOMMIJWYB8)
>
> [http://www.amazon.com/Best-World-War-II-Novels/lm/R35E495AUPN0DX](http://www.amazon.com/Best-World-War-II-Novels/lm/R35E495AUPN0DX)
>
> [http://www.amazon.com/Best-World-War-2-Novels/lm/RB475MKQD3BHN](http://www.amazon.com/Best-World-War-2-Novels/lm/RB475MKQD3BHN)
>
> [http://www.amazon.com/Top-World-War-II-Novels/lm/2OKQ78AJVVMB](http://www.amazon.com/Top-World-War-II-Novels/lm/2OKQ78AJVVMB)
>
> [http://bookstove.com/historical-fiction/ten-best-world-war-ii-novels/](http://bookstove.com/historical-fiction/ten-best-world-war-ii-novels/)
Some of these have been mentioned here already but I can also vouch for some others from these lists being very good.
_The Eagle Has Landed_ by Jack Higgens
_From Here to Eternity_ by James Jones
_Slaughterhouse-Five_ - Kurt Vonnegut
_The Cruel Sea_ - Nicholas Monsarrat (I’m pretty sire this is the mystery book I referred to in my last post)
Other pretty good Alistair MacLean WWII novels are _Where Eagles Dare_, _The Guns of Navarone_ and _Force 10 From Navarone_. While pretty good, they don’t hold a candle to HMS Ulysses.
Looking through all the suggestions on this page, I’m kinda surprised how many have been made into movies. Good movies! I dunno why I should be surprised though. Hollywood is still churning them out.
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### Author:  [@Estilicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Estilicon)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/15 "2011-05-07T19:51:55Z")
Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat.
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### Author:  [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/16 "2011-05-07T19:55:53Z")
> [@tingbudong](#):
>
> Not 100% WW2, but _Cryptonomicon_ is fun.
That’s the one I came here to mention. Lots of knowledge about various theaters of The War to be gathered amid the fantasy & SF. _Gravity’s Rainbow_ is in a similar vein–& totally different. (Yes, I’ve also read most of the “more realistic” stuff here–often, many years ago.)
For a non-fiction option, [Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743235452/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0451228715&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=143W1FWGRZS4R0RY4588) was very moving for children of one of those “boys” who survived WWII but didn’t make it through The Cold War. (Mom said he never discussed his experiences in Europe; if he’d lived, he might have joined up with the other vets, later in life.)
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/17 "2011-05-07T19:58:21Z")
If you want great non-fiction options, just say the word. I know lots more of those.
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### Author:  [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/18 "2011-05-07T19:58:39Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#):
>
> Thirded for _HMS Ulysses_ being a great book. Light cruiser, right?
>
> I seem to remember another very good book about frigate, or maybe DE or cutter, in the North Atlantic. Can’t recall a title or author, though.
Perhaps you’re thinking of _[The Cruel Sea](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cruel_Sea_%28novel%29)_. Corvette/DE sailors in the Battle of the Atlantic.
ETA. Dang, too late there.
One bit of non-fiction that I would add to the OP’s recommended list is _[Last Letters from Stalingrad](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Letters_from_Stalingrad)_. Consisting of fragments from letters on the last plane out of the Sixth Army pocket there. The letters were seized for study by the high command, and show some twenty vignettes of how the Wehrmacht troops were dealing with their impending defeat, and how they tried to prepare their loved ones for that event.
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### Author:  [@NiceGuyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NiceGuyJack)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/19 "2011-05-07T20:50:44Z")
I’m pretty sure Sven Hassel’s books were translated into English.
Dane who served with the Germans as he was half Danish, half German.
The books were originally written in Danish, the language I read them in, but I recall having seen his books in English. Couldn’t tell you you how well they were translated though as I only read the originals.
There was another German author I remember reading so many years ago, but I can’t recall the authors name. I only remember, he wrote very humorously about it. It was funny, yet sad at the same time. I’ll see if I can find/recall the name and get back to you.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/20 "2011-05-07T21:07:07Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#):
>
> Ah, yes my mistake. She’d probably be a similar type to [HMS Belfast](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Belfast_%28C35%29)
I, too thought she was a destroyer. Perhaps I confused the novel with [HMS Glowworm.](http://www.hmsglowworm.org.uk/)
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