Military novels from the otherside

I like to read,among other things, military thrillers. You know, Tom Clancy, etc. They are all written where the US are the good guys fighting the evil Russian or Chinese bad guys.

Are there any that are opposite? The good Russians fighting the evil American plan to take control of Russia?

There’s Sergent Lamb of the Ninth, released as Sergent Lamb’s America in the United States, and it’s sequel Proceed, Sergent Lamb by Robert Graves. Lamb is an Irishman enlisted in the British Army during the American Revolution and the book goes over his adventures there.

Try Sniper by Nicolai Linin and One Soldier’s War in Chechnya by Arkady Babchenko.

I don’t know if this is exactly what the OP has in mind. But G. A. Henty wrote True to the Old Flag, a book about the American Revolution, wherein the hero is on the Loyalist side.

I’ll take a gander at some of those for sure, but modern day is more what I’m looking for. Like “Red Storm Rising” or “Hunt for Red October” type of stories.

I know there are plenty of Chinese films with westerners as the bad guys. Not sure about novels, though.

That would definitely be the good guys. :wink::canada:

I posted about it before here but there’s a popular Korean military fiction book written by a South Korean in the 00s where basically the plot is “North and South Korea want to peacefully unify, American clearly doesn’t want this because it would mean there would no longer be any need for US military bases in Korea so America invades South Korea claiming their government is illegitimate. While the entire US military is in Korea though a joint secret North/South Korean 100,000 soldier task force secretly assembles in Mexico and then invades the United States and takes over the ENTIRE American southwest.”

I remember reading there is an entire subgenre all over the world of countries with “America takes us over” books and the plot is almost always “We resist the invasion but pay a heavy price but it was worth it in terms of national pride”

I think it’s the present day part that’s going to be problematic. You’ve got a relatively limited set of adversaries for Western forces- Soviet Union, North Korea, Vietnam, China, Iraq, Taliban, and al Qaeda.

I don’t know that any of those nations had much of a commercial fiction publishing industry, and even if they did, I don’t know that military novels are common.

Here are some options though for Iraq and Vietnam.

The Best Vietnam War Stories by Vietnamese Authors (theculturetrip.com)

The best books about what the Iraq War was like for Iraqis (shepherd.com)

Well, it doesn’t have to be written by one of “them”, but told from their side as the “good guys”.

I’m sure I’ve read about Soviet and East European TV spy series, so presumably there were similar books.

I’d guess that not a lot would be translated into English, on the assumption that publishers wouldn’t expect much of a market on ‘our side’.

I’ll be checking the library catalog, thanks

Red Army by Ralph Peters.

It’s a late Cold War era look at a conventional WWIII scenario told from the invading Soviet perspective. It’s pretty well done.

Just what I think I’m looking for. Ordered from Amazon

Well, I just finished Red Army and found it interesting. Though not written by a Russian, the author made a good effort to highlight the disgust with the non russian troop in the army. Pointing out their inability to even speak much of the language.

Thanks for the recommendation.

The OP mentioned Tom Clancy. Have you read his second novel, Red Storm Rising? It’s about a Soviet invasion of western Europe. The book has a number of different viewpoint characters, many of whom are Soviets.

Oh yeah, great book. I even read the stuff he’s written since his death. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

Not quite what you’re asking for, but… in The Winds of War by Herman Wouk (about WWII) one recurring feature is “translated” sections of a (fictional) history of the war written by a (fictional) German general (and in fact many German generals did write such histories after the war; often, one cynically assumes, in attempts to ground themselves purely in the military side of things, not the holocaust side of things). I thought it gave everything a fascinating perspective.

Thanks, I may look for that at the library.

Hell, even Canada has a few of those. I read this one back in highschool: