# Best World War II Novels? **URL:** \ **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:** 2
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/21 "2011-05-07T21:49:40Z")
> [@NiceGuyJack](#): > > I’m pretty sure Sven Hassel’s books were translated into English. All of them were. Not sure they were _entirely_ authentic though. “Hey this punishment battalion needs more Tiger tanks!”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![NiceGuyJack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/niceguyjack/32/3069_2.png) [@NiceGuyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NiceGuyJack)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/22 "2011-05-07T22:00:38Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > All of them were. Not sure they were _entirely_ authentic though. “Hey this punishment battalion needs more Tiger tanks!”. 😃 Good point. I do recall that Sven Hassel’s books were met with some controversy regarding accuracy. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/23 "2011-05-07T22:07:17Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Perhaps I confused the novel with [HMS Glowworm.](http://www.hmsglowworm.org.uk/) It’s one of those utterly bizarre honour in war things that the Captain of _Glowworm_ was awarded his VC, at least partly but it’s a hell of a commendation, on the submission via the Red Cross of the Captain of the _Admiral Hipper_. A similar charge by a hopelessly outgunned ship against a giant is the case of the [Jervis Bay](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Jervis_Bay_%28F40%29), this time against the \*Admiral Scheer \* ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/24 "2011-05-07T22:11:04Z")
Ah, I just remembered a really good one: [City of Thieves](http://www.amazon.com/City-Thieves-Novel-David-Benioff/dp/B004P5ONOU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304805960&sr=8-1). May be a bit mature-subject-matter-kind-of-intense for **Qin** ( **Imp** made me mention this part), but in general, wow, what a great book. Inside, and outside the siege of Stalingrad looking for eggs. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/25 "2011-05-07T23:42:41Z")
my favorite WWII novel is Battle Cry, which was Leon Uris’s first book. ---
**Author:** ![Quia\_Sic\_Dico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/bbce88/32.png) [@Quia\_Sic\_Dico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quia_Sic_Dico)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/26 "2011-05-08T01:11:22Z")
If you’d like to read something about (perhaps not so) ordinary civilian life in Nazi Germany for a change, you should give “The Book Thief” by Mark Zusak a go. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/27 "2011-05-08T02:11:39Z")
> [@Estilicon](#): > > Cruel Sea by Nicholas Monsarrat. Yep, “I must say, I am bloody tired.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/28 "2011-05-08T02:33:22Z")
_Once An Eagle_ by Anton Myrer is a good one. It goes beyond just WWII - it’s about the life of a career army officer and it extends through a major portion of the twentieth century - but WWII is a big portion of the story. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/29 "2011-05-08T02:48:11Z")
One interesting book is _Fox on the Rhine_ by Douglas Niles and Michael Dobson. It’s a realistic book about a WWII battle. But what makes it different is that it’s alternate history - the book starts with the premise that Hitler is killed by the 20 July plot (the conspirators are defeated and Himmler takes control of Germany). Most WWII battle novels suffer from an unavoidable problem - if you know anything about history you know how the book is going to end. That means there’s a certain inherent lack of tension in a book about Midway or El Alamein or the Bulge. But by putting this story in an AH setting, the authors are able to write about a major WWII battle while keeping the outcome a surprise. I’ll also note that the authors wrote two more AH novels; a sequel titled _Fox at the Front_ and a book about the Pacific War titled _MacArthur’s War: A Novel of the Invasion of Japan_. They’re not bad but they’re not as good as their first work together. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/30 "2011-05-08T05:36:06Z")
> [@NiceGuyJack](#): > > 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. I’m guessing it’s **Hans Helmut Kirst** you’re trying to remember. Aside from the Gunner Asch series he also wrote _Night of the Generals_, _Officer Factory_ and my personal favourite _The Fox of Maulen_ (also known as _The Wolves_. Kist writes more about how people react to the amoral Nazi state than war novels as such but there’s plenty of action going on. Oh and the movie adaptation of _Night of the Generals_ is worth having a look for - Omar Sharif and Peter O’Toole together in a very different movie from _Lawrence of Arabia_. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/31 "2011-05-08T06:25:35Z")
Was that the one about a serial killer? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/32 "2011-05-08T07:14:46Z")
Neither German or Russian, nor a novel but: if you’re prepared to read something that isn’t any of these three, I would recommend in the strongest possible way to anyone who has any interest in the actual daily experience of a soldier in WWII, rather than the geopolitical bits or the blood and guts and derring do, the Spike Milligan War Diaries. Spike Milligan was a bipolar genius of humor and a jazz trumpeter, who had a long and successful career after the War (he had a very strong influence on Monty Python); these diaries are his humorous yet moving account of his experiences. This is the only thing I’ve ever read that comes anywhere close to letting me understand what it was _actually like_ to be a soldier. Not just the fighting, but the long periods of boredom and fear, how the conscripts filled that emptiness with their own music, comedy shows, pranks and fart jokes; the bad food, horrible NCOs, the unbridled lust, and occasional liaisons with the opposite sex; then the short and terrifying bursts of fighting. Scabrous and pulling no punches in their raw honesty, these books are hilarious and ultimately incredibly moving, charting Milligan’s military career from trying to avoid the draft, to training, to North Africa, then Italy, his wounding in the battle for Montecassino, then internment in a military hospital with mental illness. There are six books in all but each is fairly slim. I’ve read them all two or three times - they’re unfailingly entertaining. [Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall](http://www.amazon.com/Adolf-Hitler-Part-Downfall-Memoirs/dp/0140035206/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304838548&sr=8-1) [“Rommel?” “Gunner Who?”](http://www.amazon.com/Rommel-Gunner-Who-Confrontation-Biography/dp/0140041079/ref=pd_sim_b_1) [Monty: His Part in My Victory](http://www.amazon.com/Monty-Part-Victory-Biography-Vol/dp/0140045031/ref=pd_sim_b_2) [Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall](http://www.amazon.com/Mussolini-Part-Downfall-Biography-Vol/dp/0140051961/ref=pd_sim_b_1) [Where Have all the Bullets Gone?](http://www.amazon.com/Where-Have-Bullets-Gone-Memories/dp/014008892X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304838649&sr=1-1) [Goodbye Soldier](http://www.amazon.com/Goodbye-Soldier-War-Biography-Vol/dp/0140103384/ref=pd_sim_b_1) There’s a seventh book in the series, written about his post war life, that I didn’t even know about but am ordering from Amazon now: [Peace Work](http://www.amazon.com/Peace-Work-v-7-Milligan/dp/0140149708/ref=pd_sim_b_2). ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/33 "2011-05-08T08:50:43Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Was that the one about a serial killer? That’s the one. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/34 "2011-05-08T19:22:28Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > Catch 22 That’s the one. Really, that is the one. Few novels will stay in your head the rest of your life. That one will. Also highly recommended: From the German side, [The Willing Flesh](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Willing_Flesh) by Willi Heinrich (basis of the movie _Cross of Iron_ starring James Coburn) Norman Mailer’s _The Naked and the Dead_ _King Rat_ by James Clavell ---
**Author:** ![Suse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Suse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suse)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/35 "2011-05-08T20:41:47Z")
My favorites: _The Winds of War_ and _War and Remembrance_ by Herman Wouk _The Last Convertible_ by Anton Myrer _Catch-22_ by Joseph (?) Heller and if you’re interested in the Pacific theatre, _Gods of War_ by John Toland. It has a sequel called _Occupation_ that I haven’t read but I remember really enjoying this book. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/36 "2011-05-08T21:30:28Z")
> [@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. [nitpick]cruiser[/nitpick]based on eighteen months as a torpedoman on the Russian convoys.. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/37 "2011-05-08T21:34:11Z")
> [@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. Nicholas Monsarrats’ “The Cruel Sea” maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/38 "2011-05-08T21:39:23Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I, too thought she was a destroyer. Perhaps I confused the novel with [HMS Glowworm.](http://www.hmsglowworm.org.uk/) Read “Battle of the April Storm” ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/39 "2011-05-08T21:50:13Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Neither German or Russian, nor a novel but: if you’re prepared to read something that isn’t any of these three, I would recommend in the strongest possible way to anyone who has any interest in the actual daily experience of a soldier in WWII, rather than the geopolitical bits or the blood and guts and derring do, the Spike Milligan War Diaries. > > Spike Milligan was a bipolar genius of humor and a jazz trumpeter, who had a long and successful career after the War (he had a very strong influence on Monty Python); these diaries are his humorous yet moving account of his experiences. This is the only thing I’ve ever read that comes anywhere close to letting me understand what it was _actually like_ to be a soldier. Not just the fighting, but the long periods of boredom and fear, how the conscripts filled that emptiness with their own music, comedy shows, pranks and fart jokes; the bad food, horrible NCOs, the unbridled lust, and occasional liaisons with the opposite sex; then the short and terrifying bursts of fighting. > > Scabrous and pulling no punches in their raw honesty, these books are hilarious and ultimately incredibly moving, charting Milligan’s military career from trying to avoid the draft, to training, to North Africa, then Italy, his wounding in the battle for Montecassino, then internment in a military hospital with mental illness. There are six books in all but each is fairly slim. I’ve read them all two or three times - they’re unfailingly entertaining. > > [Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall](http://www.amazon.com/Adolf-Hitler-Part-Downfall-Memoirs/dp/0140035206/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304838548&sr=8-1) > [“Rommel?” “Gunner Who?”](http://www.amazon.com/Rommel-Gunner-Who-Confrontation-Biography/dp/0140041079/ref=pd_sim_b_1) > [Monty: His Part in My Victory](http://www.amazon.com/Monty-Part-Victory-Biography-Vol/dp/0140045031/ref=pd_sim_b_2) > [Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall](http://www.amazon.com/Mussolini-Part-Downfall-Biography-Vol/dp/0140051961/ref=pd_sim_b_1) > [Where Have all the Bullets Gone?](http://www.amazon.com/Where-Have-Bullets-Gone-Memories/dp/014008892X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304838649&sr=1-1) > [Goodbye Soldier](http://www.amazon.com/Goodbye-Soldier-War-Biography-Vol/dp/0140103384/ref=pd_sim_b_1) > > There’s a seventh book in the series, written about his post war life, that I didn’t even know about but am ordering from Amazon now: [Peace Work](http://www.amazon.com/Peace-Work-v-7-Milligan/dp/0140149708/ref=pd_sim_b_2). read “Puckoon” his only humorous novel, which is well worth the trouble. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/40 "2011-05-08T22:56:22Z")
> [@Damfino](#): > > [nitpick]cruiser[/nitpick]based on eighteen months as a torpedoman on the Russian convoys.. Psst Check post #8 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075.md?page=3)