Best Ever Military History Books

[KZNSeagull]

Owning a bookshop helps (even if it is in South Africa!!), so here are a few suggestions that have sold well:

Dunkirk by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore
Soldier by General Sir Mike Jackson
Europe at War by Norman Davies
The Regiment by Michael Asher (about the SAS)

Zulu Victory by Lock and Quantrill is excellent if you want something african!!

Pan Macmillan do/did a box set called the Pan Grand Strategy boxset, containing 10 books including Bomber Command, Station X, Scapa Flow, Siegfreid etc. You might be able to find this at a knockdown price and these books would be good for holiday reads.

Nemesis by Max Hastings is published on 6/10/08 in paperback.

Hope this helps!!

 

[portlock seagull]

AJP Taylor's The Origins of The Second World War got me through school nicely. Fabulous, fascinating book

.

Yes mate, I remember reading that for my A levels. Have got it on my bookshelf still too and probably needs a re-read!

 

[portlock seagull]

oops ! forgot to add... " Once a Warrior King, Memories of an American Officer in Vietnam" by David Donovan.

Forget the usual gung-ho gum chewing arrogance.. Donovan was in a special "Hearts and Minds" team in the Mekong delta. He was part of a team of 5 specialists who lived and worked with the local Vietnamese in the fight against Viet-Cong insurgents. absolutely amazing and a very subtle critique of the U.S. war machine. Very vivid and moving

I've read Wellington: Iron Duke (Holmes is a great expert/author, though I'm just not getting on with his addition of Marlborough strangely, probably just the period that's not doing it for me). Anyone want it, just PM me. Don't want anything for it, but you'll have to wait until the Hereford game as that's likely the first home match I can get to this season.

Anyway thanks Vegster for the above suggestion. Never read anything on the Vietnam war before, though seen all the films. Will stick on my 'to-do' list!

 

[Kylies Stunt Arse]

The Quiet Operator by Mark Adkin and John Simpson.

I probably should expand on this. It is a biog, and the guy's story is just amazing. It may be difficult to get hold of to buy, but libraries stock it.

 

[portlock seagull]

Owning a bookshop helps (even if it is in South Africa!!), so here are a few suggestions that have sold well:

Dunkirk by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore
Soldier by General Sir Mike Jackson
Europe at War by Norman Davies
The Regiment by Michael Asher (about the SAS)

Zulu Victory by Lock and Quantrill is excellent if you want something african!!

Pan Macmillan do/did a box set called the Pan Grand Strategy boxset, containing 10 books including Bomber Command, Station X, Scapa Flow, Siegfreid etc. You might be able to find this at a knockdown price and these books would be good for holiday reads.

Nemesis by Max Hastings is published on 6/10/08 in paperback.

Hope this helps!!

Excellent suggestions, esp. love the Zulu war and surprisingly I've not read the one you mention. Is you avatar the famous Buffalo River / Fugitives Drift by chance? I've crossed it on horseback if so!! Lovely part of the world.

 

[Buzzer]

This book should be on everyone's holiday reading list

 

[seagully]

Mud, Blood and Poppycock by Gordon Corrigan-
laid out as a series of short essay type chapters and seeks to explode the myths of the First World War as being 'unecessary or ineptly conducted by the British'. Very readable book which certainly left me questioning a lot of the esatblished views on WW1.

The Last Escape by John Nichol and Tony Rennell-
tells the story of Allied POWs being forced to march hundreds of miles across Germany to escape the oncoming Russian advance in appalling conditions. Fascinating, if a little harrowing in places but again very readable.

 

[Uter]

Loved Stalingrad so much I read it twice. Berlin was good, but not as good as Stalingrad.

I had the misfortune of reading "D-Day" by Stephen Ambrose once expecting an impartial and comprehensive account of the Normandy Landings. What a let down. It should be re-titled "D-Day or why America is the best country in the world, by the American author Stephen Ambrose". Long chapters devoted to the two American beaches. Three very short chapters covering the British and Canadian beaches. Nothing at all from the German point of view. Littered with personal opinions, all of them fervently pro-American. Every opportunity to criticise or belittle British involvement siezed upon with relish. If you can bring yourself to ignore his bias and treat this as a collection of moving personal accounts of the day, rather than an objective military history then you might like it. This man was not IMO a credible military historian. Actually if anyone can recommend a decent account of D-Day...

Pegasus Bridge was better, but quite short.

 

[KZNSeagull]

Excellent suggestions, esp. love the Zulu war and surprisingly I've not read the one you mention. Is you avatar the famous Buffalo River / Fugitives Drift by chance? I've crossed it on horseback if so!! Lovely part of the world.

Unfortunately not - it is the Amphitheatre of the Drakensberg Mountains (in the Royal Natal National Park, between Bergville and Sterkfontain Dam), which is also a lovely part of the world and is I believe where the filming of the film Zulu took place. When were you at Fugitives Drift??

Zulu Victory is definately worth a read sometime as it tries to give a full account of what actually happened at Isandlwana (where that is possible), exposing some of the stories created by the British to cover up their embarrassment!! I heard an interesting theory about Rourkes Drift the other day - essentially, the Zulus did not try to overrun Rourkes Drift - they were sent there to keep the British occupied, whilst the rest of their armies rustled all the cattle on the frontier farms which the farmers had deserted temporarily. The person who told me this said that the 13 VC's awarded at Rourkes Drift were a sham to deflect the bad press that Isandlwana created. Interesting!!

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

Unfortunately not - it is the Amphitheatre of the Drakensberg Mountains (in the Royal Natal National Park, between Bergville and Sterkfontain Dam), which is also a lovely part of the world and is I believe where the filming of the film Zulu took place. When were you at Fugitives Drift??

Zulu Victory is definately worth a read sometime as it tries to give a full account of what actually happened at Isandlwana (where that is possible), exposing some of the stories created by the British to cover up their embarrassment!! I heard an interesting theory about Rourkes Drift the other day - essentially, the Zulus did not try to overrun Rourkes Drift - they were sent there to keep the British occupied, whilst the rest of their armies rustled all the cattle on the frontier farms which the farmers had deserted temporarily. The person who told me this said that the 13 VC's awarded at Rourkes Drift were a sham to deflect the bad press that Isandlwana created. Interesting!!

The Rourkes Drift VC's were most definitely political and were almost certainly more easily won than any subsequently awarded. The disaster at Isandlwana needed an antidote and Rourkes Drift was it.

 

[Titanic]

Unfortunately not - it is the Amphitheatre of the Drakensberg Mountains (in the Royal Natal National Park, between Bergville and Sterkfontain Dam), which is also a lovely part of the world and is I believe where the filming of the film Zulu took place. When were you at Fugitives Drift??

We had a fantastic couple of days in the Drakensberg 2 years ago (on a rugby tour)... we stayed at Hlalanathi (?sp).. as a halfway stop between Johannesburg and Durban where we were based for the first half of the trip. I particularly remember a walk/climb up the mountains alongside a stream and ending up at a crystal clear pool under a waterfall. It is a truly magnificent place!

 

[KZNSeagull]

The Rourkes Drift VC's were most definitely political and were almost certainly more easily won than any subsequently awarded. The disaster at Isandlwana needed an antidote and Rourkes Drift was it.

Im sure that this is the case. Having visited Rourkes Drift a couple of years ago, there is absolutely no way that they could have kept out that many number of Zulus had the Zulus actually wanted to get into the camp - the hill that they came around to attack the camp was only 200 to 300 meters away.

 

[KZNSeagull]

We had a fantastic couple of days in the Drakensberg 2 years ago (on a rugby tour)... we stayed at Hlalanathi (?sp).. as a halfway stop between Johannesburg and Durban where we were based for the first half of the trip. I particularly remember a walk/climb up the mountains alongside a stream and ending up at a crystal clear pool under a waterfall. It is a truly magnificent place!

Have not been there, but know where it is. Will check it out sometime!! (and your spelling is spot on!). Were you travelling by bus? Oliviershoek Pass must have been fun!!

 

[Titanic]

Have not been there, but know where it is. Will check it out sometime!! (and your spelling is spot on!). Were you travelling by bus? Oliviershoek Pass must have been fun!!

Yes we were on a coach! Quite a spectacular journey.

I also remember there being a trout fishing lake at the start of our walk... with some old colonial types wetting a few flies.

The water in the pool at the top was breathtakingly COLD !

 

[KZNSeagull]

Yes we were on a coach! Quite a spectacular journey.

I also remember there being a trout fishing lake at the start of our walk... with some old colonial types wetting a few flies.

The water in the pool at the top was breathtakingly COLD !

Yeah, I bet. Did you manage to visit the marvellously named "Tower of Pizza"?!!

And most importantly, did you win the Rugby?

 

[Titanic]

Yeah, I bet. Did you manage to visit the marvellously named "Tower of Pizza"?!!

And most importantly, did you win the Rugby?

No, I don't recall the 'Tower of Pizza'... but we did have a great braai in the car park at Kings Park - with a splendid beer snake!

The rugby (it was my son's U15 team) ended P4 W1 D1 L2... two private schools in Durban provided rather stiff opposition and in fierce hot and dusty conditions, but they fared better in the rather cooler Cape Town matches.

 

[portlock seagull]

I had the misfortune of reading "D-Day" by Stephen Ambrose..... Actually if anyone can recommend a decent account of D-Day...

Read Max Hasting's Overload 20 years ago. Never read anything on this subject that's better imo

 

[portlock seagull]

Mud, Blood and Poppycock by Gordon Corrigan-
laid out as a series of short essay type chapters and seeks to explode the myths of the First World War as being 'unecessary or ineptly conducted by the British'. Very readable book which certainly left me questioning a lot of the esatblished views on WW1.

The Last Escape by John Nichol and Tony Rennell-
tells the story of Allied POWs being forced to march hundreds of miles across Germany to escape the oncoming Russian advance in appalling conditions. Fascinating, if a little harrowing in places but again very readable.

Read both of these and agree, they're superb.

 

[Lord Large]

Stalingrad is not only one of the best military books ever - it is one of the best books over.

AJP Taylor's The First World War.

George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia.

 

[portlock seagull]

Unfortunately not - it is the Amphitheatre of the Drakensberg Mountains (in the Royal Natal National Park, between Bergville and Sterkfontain Dam), which is also a lovely part of the world and is I believe where the filming of the film Zulu took place. When were you at Fugitives Drift??

Zulu Victory is definately worth a read sometime as it tries to give a full account of what actually happened at Isandlwana (where that is possible), exposing some of the stories created by the British to cover up their embarrassment!! I heard an interesting theory about Rourkes Drift the other day - essentially, the Zulus did not try to overrun Rourkes Drift - they were sent there to keep the British occupied, whilst the rest of their armies rustled all the cattle on the frontier farms which the farmers had deserted temporarily. The person who told me this said that the 13 VC's awarded at Rourkes Drift were a sham to deflect the bad press that Isandlwana created. Interesting!!

September 2002; we stayed with David Rattray if you've heard of him, poor bloke. Murdered last year. Amazing story teller, quite extraordinary and I don't use
that word lightly. His lodge was where part of Zulu Dawn was filmed, whilst you're right about the Drakensberg Mts & Zulu.

Anyway, I too have heard the theory of Rorkes Drift's VC sham. Whilst undoubtedly brave soldiers, it's my opinion too that it's just too coincidental that so many were awarded on the same day an unsurpassed colonial defeat happened a few miles away (only 200+ in the whole of WW2!) It rocked the government of the day, and anything the spin doctors could use to deflect attention from Isandlwana was used. You can argue they spin doctors won - today, millions more have heard of Rorkes Drift than Isandlwana!