# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![James\_Rigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8797f3/32.png) [@James\_Rigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Rigby)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/41 "2011-05-08T23:54:44Z")
British … From The City, From The Plough … Alexander Baron American … A Walk In The Sun … Harry Brown German … The Time Of Light … Gunnar Kopperud Russian … anything by Vasily Grossman … The People Immortal, or Life And Fate ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/42 "2011-05-09T00:15:33Z")
Kings Go Forth -Joe David Brown. Guns of Navarone, and Force Ten From Navarone -Alistair MacLean ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/43 "2011-05-09T10:03:48Z")
best book - the caine mutiny best world war 2 exploit - raid at st. nazaire. ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/44 "2011-05-09T13:04:28Z")
Not German or Russian but I’d recommend \*[The Magic Army](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Magic-Army-Leslie-Thomas/dp/0099469170)\*by Leslie Thomas, a brilliant story based around the arrival of the American troops in a sleepy corner of southern England prior to D Day. No battles but a great sense of time and place and of the impact of the war on individuals. **jjimm** has mentioned the memoirs of Spike Milligan for the actual daily experience of a soldier in WWII, on a similar line is \*Quartered Safe Out Here \*by George MacDonald Fraser, the author of the Flashman books. In 1944/45 he was a 19 year old infantryman fighting the Japanese in Burma and his his book give a real sense of what it was like to at the bottom of the military pile, 10000 miles from home, part of the Forgotten Army fighting a mostly forgotten war. ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/45 "2011-05-09T13:50:32Z")
> [@LH75](#): > > my favorite WWII novel is Battle Cry, which was Leon Uris’s first book. I came in to say this one, It’s my favorite too. A beautiful beautiful book. ---
**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 9, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/46 "2011-05-09T14:32:02Z")
> [@janis\_and\_c0](#): > > I came in to say this one, It’s my favorite too. A beautiful beautiful book. Character actor L.Q. Jones changed his name to that because it was his first role in the movie. [link](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0428618/) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/47 "2011-05-09T14:35:45Z")
I’ll put in another vote for Len Deighton’s _Bomber_. Absolutely riveting plot, filled with technical details, and a macabre twist. One of my favorite last lines: “…it doesn’t look like anywhere. It doesn’t look like anywhere.” ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/48 "2011-05-09T15:00:55Z")
> [@LH75](#): > > Character actor L.Q. Jones changed his name to that because it was his first role in the movie. > > [link](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0428618/) Did not know that, have never seen the movie, I’ll have to keep an eye out for it! ---
**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 9, 2011, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/49 "2011-05-09T15:06:05Z")
The movie was very well done. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/50 "2011-05-10T19:15:00Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > Psst Check post #8 > 🙂 Sorry, missed it. Second the love for “Battle Cry” and “Quartered Safe Out Here”. C.S. Forester’s “The Good Shepherd” about an Atlantic convoy under the command of an American captain is pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/51 "2011-05-10T19:29:37Z")
I have not read the novels of [Heinrich Böll](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_B%C3%B6ll), but his friend Kurt Vonnegut called him the best WW2 inspired German novelist so he might be worth checking out. He and his family were anti-Nazi but he was later forced intot he Wehrmacht and, like Vonnegut, he survived the bombing of a city and he was a PoW before war’s end. He’s a leader in the"[literature of the rubble](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tr%C3%BCmmerliteratur)" movement. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/52 "2011-05-10T20:11:12Z")
[Piece of Cake](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piece_of_Cake_%28novel%29) by Derek Robinson. It focuses on the Battle of Britain, and is my favorite historical novel dealing with WWII. I wrote some of the Wiki entry. ---
**Author:** ![Estilicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Estilicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Estilicon)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/53 "2011-05-10T20:27:49Z")
This could be a highjack but does anybody know a good novel about the battle of jutland? ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/54 "2011-05-10T22:01:25Z")
I’ve never read one (or any bad novels about Jutland for that matter). I think a great novel could be written around the story of _HMS New Zealand_ the battlecruiser present at all the major WWI encounters in the North Sea, protected by her captain wearing the grass skirt and tiki presented to him by a Maori chief… ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/55 "2011-05-11T02:41:22Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > _HMS New Zealand_ the battlecruiser present at all the major WWI encounters in the North Sea, protected by her captain wearing the grass skirt and tiki presented to him by a Maori chief… Christ, I _know_ I’m gonna regret this… Did he wear pants? Dammit ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/56 "2011-05-11T05:36:26Z")
I’m guessing he did - judging by the photo here the skirt is [pretty skimpy](http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/law-of-the-sea/1/3/2). Captain (later Admiral) Halsey donned it at [Heligoland Bight](http://www.dacorumheritage.org.uk/ww1-halsey.htm) and Dogger Bankl. Captain Green at [Jutland](http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2Navy-a7.html) and after. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/57 "2011-05-11T06:44:14Z")
David L. Robbins: Liberation Road (about the Red Ball Express) War of the Rats ( Stalingrad) The Last Citadel ( Battle of Kurst) ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/58 "2011-05-11T20:41:52Z")
> [@Estilicon](#): > > This could be a highjack but does anybody know a good novel about the battle of jutland? I think bits of it appear in John Masters’ _Loss of Eden_ trilogy about the First World War. (Now, God Be Thanked; Heart of War; By the Green of the Spring) There was an indifferent novel named something like "To the Honor of the Fleet"or something similar which describes US Naval observer officers with the Royal Navy Grand Fleet during Jutland who somehow (knowingly or inadvertently, I forget) transmit information to the German High Seas Fleet. If you liked Derek Robinson’s _Piece of Cake_ which is excellent, you might appreciate his _A Good Clean Fight_ which deals with the Desert Air Force and the SAS in North Africa. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/59 "2011-05-11T20:43:43Z")
Has anyone read [Soldat](http://www.amazon.com/Soldat-Reflections-German-Soldier-1936-1949/dp/0440215269)? ---
**Author:** ![jinty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dbc845/32.png) [@jinty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jinty)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075/60 "2011-05-13T08:56:03Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#): > > [Piece of Cake](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piece_of_Cake_%28novel%29) by Derek Robinson. PoC is the only time I’ve ever got to the end of a book and gone right back to the start to re-read. Loved it. Loved everything by Robinson I’ve ever read; he writes such good prose. One of my favourite lines from PoC is when one of the pilots shoots down a German bomber: “The parachutes opened like clever conjuring tricks.” Damfino - have you read Damned Good Show? It’s the third of Robinson’s WW2 novels, it’s about an RAF bomber squadron. Also among my favourites are: **Night over Day over Night** by Paul Watkins. About a German teenager who joins the Waffen SS and fights in the Battle of the Bulge. Pretty unflinching. **Paper Doll** by Jim Shepard. Novel about a B-17 crew in England in 1943. **Easter Day 1941** by GF Borden. About a British tank crew (with an American commander) in the Libyan desert. **Killing Rommel** by Stephen Pressfield. Mostly about a Long Range Desert Group patrol, again in the Libyan desert. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-world-war-ii-novels/581075.md?page=4)