Best book on Eastern front?
- Thread starter NoxNoctum
- Start date
"Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer... It is the authors memoirs about serving with the Gross Deutchland Division operating on the eastern front. Guy Sajer was Alsace-Lorraine-ian and was drafted into the Wehrmacht. It takes you from basic training to his gritty accounts on the eastern front. The best book I have read on the subject.
Ivans War is highly informative as well, you'll not go wrong with any of the books mentioned thus far.
Which books do you consider good ones on the Western Front? Then corresponding specific suggestions can be made for the Eastern Front: Allied or Axis perspective, memoirs, broad strategic overviews, individual campaigns and battles, fiction, tank/infantry/air perspectives, weaponry, everyday life, and so on.
Wilsonam provided a good list under Downloads->Manuals: http://www.redorchestragame.com/index.php?categoryid=3&p13_sectionid=5&p13_fileid=19
Also, there are a few of threads under the Podium and History topics devoted to Ostfront books.
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Hmm, i pretty much agree with whats been suggested so far, actually, I havent read Gotterdammerung or Stalingrad so i might read those myself, but i think i'd add Red Road From Stalingrad, by Mansur Abdulin, which is a memoir, or Enemy At The Gates(No relation to the movie), by William Craig, which is a narrative composed of several memoirs.
If you want a quick read, without wading through all the narrative verbiage (meaning you want information at your fingertips; don't get me wrong: military history books are great and are a great genre of writing), especially on a specific campaign or want more information about the Russian Army, I suggest some of the titles by Osprey Publishing Company on the Eastern Front.
http://www.osprey-publishing.com
You can see some previews at that site.
The booklets are written by various military experts and historians. They usually contain about 6-8 pages of color plates of uniform information, though I wouldn't call them unifrom books.
The booklets run about $16-18-24.00 U.S., depending on the series you buy (Men-At-Arms; Elite; Campaign). That's a little pricey, because they average 40-50-60 pages or so, but they are chock full of information, and I've never been dissappointed with any that I've bought.
Any better hobby store in the U.S. should have them, or you can order online.
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http://www.osprey-publishing.com
You can see some previews at that site.
The booklets are written by various military experts and historians. They usually contain about 6-8 pages of color plates of uniform information, though I wouldn't call them unifrom books.
The booklets run about $16-18-24.00 U.S., depending on the series you buy (Men-At-Arms; Elite; Campaign). That's a little pricey, because they average 40-50-60 pages or so, but they are chock full of information, and I've never been dissappointed with any that I've bought.
Any better hobby store in the U.S. should have them, or you can order online.
Iron Europe Needs YOU to Volunteer, TODAY!!
http://forums.darkesthourgame.com/
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They do good uniform books but their book about Stalingrad could suck-start a leaf-blower.
Beevor's Stalingrad book would benefit from a new edition where he went through some of the newly-released archival materioal and got rid of all the apocryphal cold-war-filtered (by both sides) bollox.
I might have to pick up a copy of that one. Does it deal with the Eastern Front from the beginning to the end?
Gotterdammerung is by far my favorite Eastern Front book after Beevors Stalingrad book. Gotterdammerung deals with the Eastern Front from Jan 45 until May 45. Day to day operations, personal accounts..the book contains everything. I couldn't put it down.
I thought Barbarosa was god-awful boring. Never did find a good overall book.
If you can find it on Bookfinder.com, Vasili Chuikov's memoirs from Stalingrad are superb. I've got his fall of Berlin book, but haven't read it yet.
If you can find it on Bookfinder.com, Vasili Chuikov's memoirs from Stalingrad are superb. I've got his fall of Berlin book, but haven't read it yet.
If you guys ever come across Zinchenko's or Neustroev's memoirs (I don't know if there is a translated version), definetly buy them! They are worth checking.
My personal favourite is Aleksandr Pylcyn's "The truth about penal batallions". He served whole his war as a combat officer in a penal batallion (he wasn't "sentenced", it was his job). He participated in liberation of Byelorussia and fought his way to Oder. He with a handful of men captured first positions on the other side of the river, repelled first German counter-attack and catched a buller to his head, but survived. He made it to Berlin and had his autograph written on the Reichstag.
After reading this book, I really want to vommit while watching TV-series "Shtrafbat" or reading another crap-article about how those soldiers were the only one inthe whole Red Army, how they had only wooden weapons, attacked only when they had zagradotriads behind their backs etc etc etc. A VERY good book!
My personal favourite is Aleksandr Pylcyn's "The truth about penal batallions". He served whole his war as a combat officer in a penal batallion (he wasn't "sentenced", it was his job). He participated in liberation of Byelorussia and fought his way to Oder. He with a handful of men captured first positions on the other side of the river, repelled first German counter-attack and catched a buller to his head, but survived. He made it to Berlin and had his autograph written on the Reichstag.
After reading this book, I really want to vommit while watching TV-series "Shtrafbat" or reading another crap-article about how those soldiers were the only one inthe whole Red Army, how they had only wooden weapons, attacked only when they had zagradotriads behind their backs etc etc etc. A VERY good book!
From the overview side: published in March this year and receiving a lot of praise is Evan Mawdsley's Thunder in the East: The Nazi-Soviet War, 1941-1945. The reason why Ostfront history is undergoing a revival is that new archival material is surfacing and the end of the Cold War has brought about fresh perspectives. For example, from the article:
Stalin
Stalin
Blood Red Snow by Gunther K Koschorrek and Sniper on the Eastern Front by Sepp Allerberger are two very good war memoirs from the German POV of the Eastern Front.
Also, most Sven Hassell books deal with the Eastern Front, they're highly entertaining, if far fetched at times.
Also, most Sven Hassell books deal with the Eastern Front, they're highly entertaining, if far fetched at times.
BTW, if anyone is interested, PM me and I'll give you a free link to download a pdf version of Osprey's book "Soviet rifleman 1941-1945". Not the best book on this topic for sure (eg - it says that EatG scenes with one rifle for 3 soldiers was close to reality), but still gives you some info.
Seems very interesting book. Have to try to get it at once.