Best of
World-War-Ii

1964

Russia at War: 1941-1945


Alexander Werth - 1964
    Himself an eyewitness to the shattering historical drama he vividly records, Werth offers an intensely detailed chronicle of the events that exceeded in savagery and hatred any other on Russian soil. From the hardships of the citizenry to the sweep of massive military operations to the corridors of diplomacy, this modern classic captures every aspect of the grim but heroic Soviet-German war that turned Russia into the most powerful nation in the Old World.

Reminiscences


Douglas MacArthur - 1964
    Douglas MacArthur's memoir spans more than half a century of modern history. His vantage point at center stage during major controversies of the twentieth century enabled him to present unique views of the conflicts in which he played a vital role. No soldier in modern time has been more admired--or reviled. Liberator of the Philippines, shogun of Occupied Japan, victor of the Battle of Inchon, the general was a national hero when suddenly relieved of his command by President Truman. His supporters believe his genius for command and ability to implement that command by strategy stand as landmarks in military history. His critics are not so kind, calling him a gigantic ego paying homage to himself in this book. Decade by decade, battlefield by battlefield, this self portrait is a moving final testament to a life of service that began at West Point and continued in Vera Cruz during the Mexican uprisings and throughout the world wars. Appointed Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the Pacific, MacArthur was the architect of the campaign to drive the Japanese from their strongholds at Bataan, Corregidor, and New Guinea. His recounting of World War II is dramatically punctuated with intimate portraits of key personalities and insights into his stand on controversial issues. Although the autobiography was written more than thirty years ago, it continues to be a valuable document of the period.

Report from #24


Gunnar Sonsteby - 1964
    Sonsteby tells his courageous story of espionage and sabotage against the Naziz and of eluding capture through daring, intuition, and a constant slew of changing identities.

The Survivor


Robb White - 1964
    Because he knows aircraft, Japanese, and is expendable, an untried Navy pilot is assigned to Marine guerrillas during World War II for vital reconnaissance of an enemy-held Pacific island.

Nemesis of Power: The German Army in Politics 1918-1945


John Wheeler-Bennett - 1964
    Wheeler-Bennett tells the story of how the German Army, having survived the disaster of 1918, proceeded to dominate the political life of the German Republic, exercising a virtually paramount degree of power and influence by its very withdrawal from the active arena of politics: and of how, when later it was mistaken enough to play politics instead of controlling them, it began a descent which only ended in abject defeat - militarily, politically and spiritually. The author reveals the extent of the responsibility of the Army for bringing the Nazi regime to power, for tolerating the infamies of that regime once it had attained power, and for not taking the measures - at a time when only the Army could have taken them - to remove it from power. In this second edition a new foreword by Professor Richard Overy sets Wheeler-Bennett's classic text in a modern context.

Air War Against Hitler's Germany


Stephen W. Sears - 1964
    The air war over Europe proved to the world that havoc from the skies could be even more earth-shaking than any man could have dreamed. When the war ended every major city in Germany was in ruins. Of that destruction, and the aircraft that caused it, a German writer admitted that his own nation, in taking up the sword to conquer the world, had "summoned up those bands of furies which raced across the German skies."