# Please recommend books on WWII from the German and Japanese POV **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 3, 2013, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-books-on-wwii-from-the-german-and-japanese-pov/673006 "2013-11-03T22:36:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![spunkymuzicnote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@spunkymuzicnote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spunkymuzicnote)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2013, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-books-on-wwii-from-the-german-and-japanese-pov/673006/1 "2013-11-03T22:36:25Z")
I enjoy learning about history and a good deal of my reading and documentary watching time has been spent on WWII. I’ve easily found sources from the American point of view, the British POV, and even the POV of those who were in the concentration camps. Still, I haven’t found any resources about what it was like for those in the Axis armies or the civilians who supported them. I would be very interested in this because, although I certainly don’t agree with what they were fighting for, I would like to understand it. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions you may have of books or films that I might watch (I have Netflix). Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-books-on-wwii-from-the-german-and-japanese-pov/673006/2 "2013-11-03T23:11:19Z")
If fiction is okay - Hans Helmut Kirst, personally I think _The Fox of Maulen_ (aka _The Wolves_) is his best work. \*Night of the Generals \*(made into a film with Omar Sharif and Peter O’Toole) and _Officer Factory_ are also good as well. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2013, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-books-on-wwii-from-the-german-and-japanese-pov/673006/3 "2013-11-03T23:58:20Z")
Inside the Third Reich - Albert Speer The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - William L. Shirer The German Generals Talk - Basil H. Liddell Hart ---
**Author:** ![Silence\_Lenore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@Silence\_Lenore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silence_Lenore)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-books-on-wwii-from-the-german-and-japanese-pov/673006/4 "2013-11-04T01:19:38Z")
The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer, war memoir of a German soldier in the Russian campaign. ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-books-on-wwii-from-the-german-and-japanese-pov/673006/5 "2013-11-04T01:22:32Z")
Ooka Shohei - ‘Fires On the Plain’ (1951). Tubercular Japanese soldier tries to survive during the last days of the Philippine Campaign. Sakai Saburo - ‘Zero’. Sakai’s account of his experiences as a Naval Aviator. Ibuse Masuji - ‘Black Rain’. A novel based on historical records of the Hiroshima bombing and it’s aftermath. Albert Speer - ‘Inside the Third Reich’. ---
**Author:** ![Petey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f1d935/32.png) [@Petey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petey)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-books-on-wwii-from-the-german-and-japanese-pov/673006/6 "2013-11-04T02:02:13Z")
> [@Philliam](#): > > Sakai Saburo - ‘Zero’. Sakai’s account of his experiences as a Naval Aviator. I don’t know about this book, but Saburo Sakai’s memoir “Samurai!” is excellent. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-books-on-wwii-from-the-german-and-japanese-pov/673006/7 "2013-11-04T02:06:04Z")
Adolf Galland - _The First and the Last_ - fighter pilot Heinz Guderian - _Panzer Leader_ - tank general Hans-Ulrich Rudel - _Stuka Pilot_ - dive-bomber and tank-buster pilot Hans von Luck - _Panzer Commander_ - tank officer F W von Mellenthin - _Panzer Battles_ - tank general Teddy Suhren - _Teddy Suhren: Ace of Aces_ - U-boat skipper Erich Topp - _The Odyssey of a U-Boat Commander_ - U-boat skipper Mitsuo Fuchida - _Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan_ - naval bomber pilot And I know it’s the wrong war, but I’ll also recommend: Georg von Trapp - _To the Last Salute_ - WWI Austrian U-boat skipper ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-books-on-wwii-from-the-german-and-japanese-pov/673006/8 "2013-11-04T02:22:00Z")
Haven’t read the following yet, but they sound interesting: Shoichi Yokoi - _Private Yokoi’s War and Life on Guam, 1944-72_ - holdout on Guam until 1972 Hiroo Onoda - _No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War_ - holdout in the Philippines until 1974 ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-books-on-wwii-from-the-german-and-japanese-pov/673006/9 "2013-11-04T02:46:59Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > And I know it’s the wrong war, but I’ll also recommend: > Georg von Trapp - _To the Last Salute_ - WWI Austrian U-boat skipper And yes, this is the Captain Von Trapp from “Sound of Music”, in case you were wondering. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-books-on-wwii-from-the-german-and-japanese-pov/673006/10 "2013-11-04T04:36:53Z")
[Japanese Destroyer Captain](http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Destroyer-Captain-Tameichi-Hara/dp/0345278941/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1383539268&sr=1-2&keywords=japanese+destroyer+captain) [Lost men of Anatahan](http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Men-Anatahan-Teiji-Fukami/dp/B0007ERL1A/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1383539400&sr=1-1&keywords=japanese+island++holdouts) [Japanese Zero Ace](http://www.amazon.com/Samurai-Martin-Caiden/dp/0743412834/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1383539505&sr=1-9&keywords=japanese+zero+ace) [U-Boat 977](http://www.amazon.com/U-Boat-977-Heinz-Schaeffer/dp/0553267302/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1383539711&sr=1-2&keywords=uboat+977) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-books-on-wwii-from-the-german-and-japanese-pov/673006/11 "2013-11-04T04:53:50Z")
\*\*\*The Blond Knight of Germany: A Biography of Erich Hartmann \*\*\* by Raymond Toliver and Trevor Constable. A good book on what it was like to be a Luftwaffe pilot on the Eastern Front. **NB:** For those who are wondering, Austria does not have a coastline; Austria–Hungary did. Its main naval base was Trieste. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-books-on-wwii-from-the-german-and-japanese-pov/673006/12 "2013-11-04T04:59:08Z")
_ **The Reich Marshal: A Biography of Hermann Goering** _ by Leonard Mosley, who actually knew Goering and was a guest at his estate before the war. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-books-on-wwii-from-the-german-and-japanese-pov/673006/13 "2013-11-04T19:41:58Z")
Along the same lines, I just saw another documentary on the siege of Khe Sanh. I would love to hear the Vietnamese perspective of that battle. What could have been going through their minds during the B-52 strikes? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2013, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-books-on-wwii-from-the-german-and-japanese-pov/673006/14 "2013-11-04T20:38:40Z")
_The German Raider Atlantis_ by Rogge, Bernhard H J Brennecke (1954). _Ghost Cruiser HK33_. ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-books-on-wwii-from-the-german-and-japanese-pov/673006/15 "2013-11-06T00:15:51Z")
> [@Petey](#): > > I don’t know about this book, but Saburo Sakai’s memoir “Samurai!” is excellent. Oops, mis-remembered the title - Yes, it is good. ETA: ‘Stuka Pilot’ - Hans-Ulrich Rudel ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-books-on-wwii-from-the-german-and-japanese-pov/673006/16 "2013-11-06T04:19:49Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > Haven’t read the following yet, but they sound interesting: > Hiroo Onoda - _No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War_ - holdout in the Philippines until 1974 Read this. Surprising to say the least. Onoda was an exception among the Japanese stragglers. You’ll understand when you read his book, and then supplements like “The Stragglers.” Another Japanese book I recommend is “Japanese Destroyer Captain” by Tameichi Hara. It was the best gun and torpedo book I ever read. You’ll understand the reasons behind the spectacular Japanese naval victories during night fighting. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-books-on-wwii-from-the-german-and-japanese-pov/673006/17 "2013-11-06T05:06:30Z")
_Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier_ by Siegfried Knappe. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-books-on-wwii-from-the-german-and-japanese-pov/673006/18 "2013-11-06T14:03:02Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > What could have been going through their minds during the B-52 strikes? Primarily [blast overpressure waves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blast_injury), I suspect. ---
**Author:** ![Tante\_Dillie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Tante\_Dillie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tante_Dillie)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-books-on-wwii-from-the-german-and-japanese-pov/673006/19 "2013-11-06T15:43:09Z")
Here’s another vote for Albert Speer’s _Inside the Third Reich_. It’s self-serving as hell but fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-books-on-wwii-from-the-german-and-japanese-pov/673006/20 "2013-11-06T15:56:08Z")
An oldie, but still a goodie–_The Rising Sun_, by John Toland. WWII from the Japanese perspective, with lots of quotes from soldiers and civilians and some harrowing accounts from Japanese nurses that you will want to skip if you have a weak stomach. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-books-on-wwii-from-the-german-and-japanese-pov/673006.md?page=2)