WWII Historical References

The Battle of the Atlantic was a fight for Britain's very survival. Winston Churchill, wartime prime minister, claimed that the 'U-boat peril' was the only thing that ever really frightened him during World War Two.

The Battle of the Atlantic was one of the longest campaigns of World War Two, and it was proportionally among the most costly. Between 75,000 and 85,000 Allied seamen were killed.

About 28,000 - out of 41,000 - U-boat crew were killed during World War Two, and some two-thirds of these died in the course of the Battle of the Atlantic. The stakes could not have been higher. If the U-boats had prevailed, the western Allies could not have been successful in the war against Germany.

fiskog · Post by **fiskog** » Mon May 18, 2009 2:38 pm

Sealion Analysis. This is pretty harsh.

http://www.philm.demon.co.uk/Miscellaneous/Sealion.htm

Sealion Analysis

Kuz · Post by **Kuz** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 1:53 am

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/AAF-H-DDay/

rkr1958 · Post by **rkr1958** » Fri Oct 02, 2009 3:06 pm

Anne Frank: the only existing film images

rkr1958 · Post by **rkr1958** » Sat Feb 13, 2010 4:11 pm

Women Russian Snipers

I ran across this link to a youtube video on another site. I thought I'd post it here. Very interesting.

rkr1958 · Post by **rkr1958** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 2:51 am

Aus Meiner Sicht(From My View). Excerpts from The Memoirs of Werner Mork

A Private's Life in the Wehrmacht during World War II

Werner Mork, pictured above at age 17, turned 18 (military age) just two months prior to the German Invasion of Poland. Although he did not see it as such at the time, he surrendered his youth to war and to the German army.

When the war broke out he rushed to enlist. He enlisted because he loved his country and felt himself to be a patriot. He enlisted because he admired and respected the country's leader, Adolf Hitler, who had settled the social unrest in his small town that had manifested itself as almost daily riots in the streets.

He enlisted because he wanted to see Germany regain its rightful place as a respected power in Europe and undo the humiliation of the Treaty of Versailles.

Most of all he enlisted because he wanted to help reunite the German populations who found themselves cut off from the Fatherland in Alsace-Lorraine, the Sudetenland, Danzig and East Prussia and put an end to the tales of their persecution that filled the newspapers daily.

His memoirs chronicle the life of a ordinary solder in the German army, but it also reflects the gradual disillusionment of the German people and their eventual awakening to an new understanding of humanity and their place in the world.

Happycat · Post by **Happycat** » Fri Sep 03, 2010 6:03 pm

Here is a useful website for a quick overview of a large number of WW2 generals:

http://www.generals.dk/

StevenCarleton · Post by **StevenCarleton** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 2:18 am

Note: Most of these are still in print. If not, they can be purchased very cheaply as used books on e-bay.

"Lost Victories" - Manstein. Great analysis of Hitler's strategic options after France. Describes his command of a Pz Corps in Northern Russia in 41, taking the Crimea in 42 and fighting with Army Group South from 42-44 (Stalingrad, Kursk). Interesting and readable, but a little self-serving. The english version omits most of his detailed account of Kursk - damn!

"Panzer Battles" - von Mellenthin. Not sure if this is sill in print. He was a Panzer staff officer in the Afrika Corps, then fought in Russia under Manstein, then finshed the war fighting the Americans in the west. Interesting strategic and tactical analysis throughout. His comparisons of the British, Soviet and American armies is worth the price of the book.

Books by Paul Carell:
"Hitler Moves East", "Scorched Earth" - Barbarossa
"'Invasion! They're Coming!" - D-Day
"'Foxes of the Desert'" - Duh!

As an ex-SS guy, he paints a rather slanted view of the war, but he writes in the style of C. Ryan, etc so very entertaining and informative.
He does provide sources and footnotes. Books were written in the sixties, so he includes alot of eyewitness accounts from survivors.

StevenCarleton · Post by **StevenCarleton** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 11:06 am

"Blitzkrieg: The Rise of Hitler to the Fall of Dunkirk" (1979) - Len Deighton. Scholarly and balanced discussion of how the Blitzkrieg really worked. Lots of facts not commonly discussed in other texts.

"Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II" - http://reviews.ebay.ie/Ballantine-apos- ... 0004555359
I loved this series as a teenager. Each book is well focused with lots of pics and maps.

StevenCarleton · Post by **StevenCarleton** » Mon Sep 20, 2010 10:07 pm

"The Rise and Fall of the Luftwaffe - The Life of Field Marshal Erhard Milch" - David Irving

Wow, I can't believe they made this available as a PDF!
http://www.fpp.co.uk/books/Milch/Milch.pdf

WW2 buffs sometimes wonder why the Luftwaffe collapsed so quickly in the last two years of the war.
After reading this you'll wonder how, under Goering's leadership, the Luftwaffe got anything right at all!
Milch was a sort of Chief of Staff under His Majesty Goering.
This well-researched text also describes the roles of Speer, Galland, Udet, etc.

WWII Historical References

WWII Historical References

Sealion Analysis

Allied Air Power In Normandy

Classic Books

Classic Books

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