Best of
World-War-Ii

1990

Because of Romek: A Holocaust Survivor's Memoir


David Faber - 1990
    This is the riveting, true story of a young boy's survival in the face of Nazi atrocities. In the mid-1960s, the German government contacted David Faber to testify against Nazi war criminals. Until then, he did not know that his older brother, Romek, whom the Nazis had tortured to death many years earlier, had been involved in a Polish Underground plot to avert Nazi Germany's ability to create an atomic bomb. When David finally agreed to testify, he began to relive all the horrors of his experiences during the war: concentration camps, murders, tortures, starvation, and disease. When David Faber was 13 years old, he had witnessed the Nazi murders of his parents, brother Romek, and five of his six sisters. He survived nine concentration camps between the ages of 13-18, from 1939 to 1945, including Auschwitz and Buchenwald. When he was liberated in 1945 from the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen, he weighed a mere 72 pounds. Because of Romek fulfills David's promise to his dead mother that he would survive and tell the world about the horrors committed against him and his family. This moving narrative is also a useful tool for educators. To today's students, the Holocaust too often seems to be an abstract event in the dim past. Because of Romek pulls the reader into the story, thereby illuminating the past and putting a face on history.

Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle


Richard B. Frank - 1990
    It was a brutal six-month campaign that cost the lives of some 7,000 Americans and over 30,000 Japanese.This volume, ten years in the writing, recounts the full story of the critical campaign for Guadalcanal and is based on first-time translations of official Japanese Defense Agency accounts and recently declassified U.S. radio intelligence, Guadalcanal recreates the battle--on land, at sea, and in the air--as never before: it examines the feelings of both American and Japanese soldiers, the strategies and conflicts of their commanders, and the strengths and weaknesses of various fighting units.

Eichmann in My Hands: A First-Person Account by the Israeli Agent Who Captured Hitler's Chief Executioner


Peter Z. Malkin - 1990
      1n 1960 Argentina, a covert team of Israeli agents hunted down the most elusive war criminal alive: Adolf Eichmann, chief architect of the Holocaust. The young spy who tackled Eichmann on a Buenos Aires street—and fought every compulsion to strangle the Obersturmführer then and there—was Peter Z. Malkin. For decades Malkin’s identity as Eichmann’s captor was kept secret. Here he reveals the entire breathtaking story—from the genesis of the top-secret surveillance operation to the dramatic public capture and smuggling of Eichmann to Israel to stand trial.   The result is a portrait of two men. One, a freedom fighter, intellectually curious and driven to do right. The other, the dutiful Good German who, through his chillingly intimate conversations with Malkin, reveals himself as the embodiment of what Hannah Arendt called “the banality of evil.” Singular, riveting, troubling, and gratifying, Eichmann in My Hands “remind[s] of what is at stake: not only justice but our own humanity” (New York Newsday).   Now Malkin’s story comes to life on the screen with Oscar Isaac playing the heroic Mossad agent and Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley playing Eichmann in Operation Finale.

General of the Army: George C. Marshall, Soldier and Statesman


Ed Cray - 1990
    Army's Chief of staff through World War II, George Catlett Marshall (1880-1959) organized the military mobilization of unprecedented number of Americans and shaped the Allied strategy that defeated first Nazi Germany, then Imperial Japan. As President Truman's Secretary of State, and later as his Secretary of Defense during the Korean War, Marshall the statesman created the European Recovery Act (known as the Marshall Plan) and made possible the Berlin Airlift. Ed Cray in this masterful biography brings us face-to-face with a genuine American hero and the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

To Fly and Fight: Memoirs of a Triple Ace (Warcraft)


Clarence E. Anderson - 1990
    During World War II Anderson flew with Chuck Yeager in the famed 357th Squadron where he became a triple ace by shooting out of the sky fifteen enemy planes. Following World War II, Anderson became a test pilot and later commanded jet fighter squadrons in South Korea and Okinawa. Then, in 1970, at an age when most pilots have long-since retired, Anderson flew combat strikes over Vietnam.

Night Action


Alan Evans - 1990
    Lieutenant David Brent and his crew are waiting on a torpedo boat – fast, agile and terribly vulnerable.They are the sole members of a Commando raiding party, poised to charge ashore on a carefully orchestrated rescue mission. Little do they know that Hell is about to break loose…The near-suicidal mission has been ordered at the very highest level of government. Now, engines idling, alert for the tell-tale sounds of patrolling E-boats, they can only pray to come out of this alive… A nerve-shredding war thriller that crackles with intensity, perfect for fans of Anthony Trew, Douglas Reeman and Philip McCutchan.

The Schweinfurt-Regensburg Mission: The American Raids on 17 August 1943


Martin Middlebrook - 1990
    For American commanders it was the culmination of years of planning and hope, the day when their self-defending formations of the famous Flying Fortress could at last perform their true role and reach out by daylight to strike at targets in the deepest corners of industrial Germany. The day ended in disaster for the Americans. Thanks to the courage of the aircrews the bombers won through to the targets and caused heavy damage, but sixty were shot down and the hopes of the American commanders were shattered. Historically, it was probably the most important day for the American air forces during the Second World War.While researching this catastrophic raid the Author interviewed hundreds of the airmen involved, German defenders, ‘slave workers’ and eye witnesses. This took him twice to both the USA and Germany.The result is a mass of fresh, previously unused material with which the author finally provides the full story of this famous day’s operations. Not only is the American side described in far greater depth than before but the previously vague German side of the story – both the Luftwaffe action and the civilian experiences in Schweinfurt and Regensburg, are now presented clearly and in detail for the first time. The important question of why the RAF did not support the American effort and follow up the raid on Schweinfurt as planned is also fully covered.

Through Hell for Hitler


Henry Metelmann - 1990
    This book portrays the gradual awakening in the mind of a young Hitler Youth æeducatedÆ soldier of a Panzer Division, bogged down in the bitterest fighting on the Eastern Front, to the truth of the criminal character of what he is involved in.Having in mind that about 9 out of 10 German soldiers who died in WWII were killed in Russia, the book throws light on the largely unreported heroic sacrifices of Soviet soldiers and civilians often against seemingly hopeless odds, without which Europe might well have fallen to fascism. It deals less with grand strategies, tactics and military technicalities than with the human involvement of ordinary people, from both sides, who were caught up in that enormity of a tragedy, that epic struggle in Russia.It throws light on the chasm which existed between officers and men in the sharply class-divided Wehrmacht with most of the top rank officers having been drawn from the old imperial aristocracy.

Operation Drumbeat: Germany's U-Boat Attacks Along the American Coast in World War II


Michael Gannon - 1990
    The dramatic national bestseller and remarkably exciting account of Germany's little-known U-boat campaign against merchant shipping along the North American Atlantic coast during the first six months of 1942.

It Never Snows in September: The German View of Market-Garden and the Battle of Arnhem, September 1944


Robert Kershaw - 1990
    Based on extensive research and containing new material it uniquely chronicles that struggle through the eyes of the German soldier and analyses the reasons for the eventual outcome.

The Discovery of the Bismarck


Robert D. Ballard - 1990
    In words and pictures, Robert Ballard gives a gripping account of his exploration of the wreck of the Bismarck and sheds new light on many of the questions that surround the sinking -- or was it scuttling? -- of this mighty war machine.Inside are over 400 illustrations, two full-page fold-outs, full-color maps, charts and diagrams.

A War to be Won: Fighting the Second World War


Williamson Murray - 1990
    Its global scope and human toll reveal the true face of modern, industrialized warfare. Now, for the first time, we have a comprehensive, single-volume account of how and why this global conflict evolved as it did. 'A War to be Won' is a unique and powerful operational history of the Second World War that tells the full story of battle on land, on sea, and in the air. Williamson Murray and Allan R. Millett analyze the operations and tactics that defined the conduct of the war in both the European and Pacific Theaters. Moving between the war room and the battlefield, we see how strategies were crafted and revised, and how the multitudes of combat troops struggled to discharge their orders. The authors present incisive portraits of the military leaders, on both sides of the struggle, demonstrating the ambiguities they faced, the opportunities they took, and those they missed. Throughout, we see the relationship between the actual operations of the war and their political and moral implications. 'A War to be Won' is the culmination of decades of research by two of America's premier military historians. It avoids a celebratory view of the war but preserves a profound respect for the problems the Allies faced and overcame as well as a realistic assessment of the Axis accomplishments and failures. It is the essential military history of World War II-from the Sino-Japanese War in 1937 to the surrender of Japan in 1945-for students, scholars, and general readers alike.

That Eternal Summer


Ralph Barker - 1990
     In this book, Ralph Barker unearths twelve little-known but unforgettable stories of men whose names may be unfamiliar but without whose selfless tenacity Britain would not have survived. The restoration of squadron morale after the debacle in France, the misunderstanding of the RAF's role at Dunkirk, the harnessing of the 'ace' mentality to the attritional contest - all these are recounted, together with the inside story, related here for the first time. The award of Fighter Command's only VC; of the 'mad Irishman' who knocked down his adversary with his wing-tip in mid-air; of the fight to the death over Hyde Park Corner which stopped London's traffic; and of the poignant tragedy of the nineteen-year-olds who sold their lives dearly when thrown in at crisis point with scant preparation to plug ever-widening gaps. The bomber crews, too, are not forgotten, their losses being even greater than those of the fighter pilots; nor are those left behind to mourn, like 'Bunny' Lawrence, who loved two brothers and was equally loved in return, only to lose them both within twenty-four hours at the climax of the Battle. In this unusual and moving book, Ralph Barker has written a worthy and exhilarating tribute to the indomitable Few. About the author… Ralph Barker was born in 1917 and educated at Hounslow College. He joined the editorial staff of Sporting Life in 1934, but later went into banking. Meanwhile, he had begun writing, and several of his sketches and scenes were produced in West End Revue. In 1940 he joined the RAF as a wireless operator/air-gunner, served in the Middle East and West Africa as well as the UK, and completed 2,000 flying hours before demobilisation in 1946. He returned to banking for a year, and then went into civil aviation as a radio officer. At the end of 1948, Ralph Barker rejoined the RAF and went to Germany as a public relations officer on the Berlin Airlift; he worked on the official airlift history. After two years in Service broadcasting at BFN Hamburg, he was posted to the Air Ministry in November 1952 to work on official war narratives. His first book Down in the Drink was published in 1955, and in addition to several other non-fiction books with an aviation background, The Schneider Trophy Races, he has written an account of a mountaineering expedition and three books on cricket. In 1959 he was posted to RAF Aden, until April 1961 when he retired voluntarily from the RAF to write full time. He was a frequent contributor of feature stories to the Sunday Express.

The Knight, Death, and the Devil


Ella Leffland - 1990
    How leading Nazi Hermann Goering could be also a devoted husband, loving father, and charming friend provides the core of a novel that has taken the author a decade to research and write.

Fatal Voyage: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis


Dan Kurzman - 1990
    The ship had just left the island of Tinian, delivering components of the atomic bomb destined for Hiroshima. As the torpedoes hit, the Indianapolis erupted into a fiery coffin, sinking in less than fifteen minutes and leaving nine hundred crewmen fighting for life in shark-infested waters. They expected a swift, routine rescue, unaware that the Navy high command didn’t even realize that the Indianapolis was missing. Help would not arrive for another five days. Drawn from definitive interviews with key figures, Fatal Voyage recounts the horrific events endured as the number of water-treading survivors dwindled to just 316. Each gruesome day brought more madness and slow death, from explosion-related injuries, dehydration, and, most terrifying of all, shark attacks. But the pain did not end when the men finally returned home: The Indianapolis’s commander, Captain Charles B. McVay III, was court-martialed for causing the clearly unavoidable disaster. With a new afterword chronicling the fifty-five-year campaign by Indianapolis survivors and their supporters to win public vindication for Captain McVay, this classic is restored, along with memories of the Indianapolis crew.

Red Road From Stalingrad: Recollections of a Soviet Infantryman


Mansur Abdulin - 1990
    This is his extraordinary story. His vivid inside view of a ruthless war on the Eastern Front gives a rare insight into the reality of the fighting and into the tactics and mentality of the Red Army's soldiers. In his own words, and with a remarkable clarity of recall, he describes what combat was like on the ground, face to face with a skilled, deadly and increasingly desperate enemy. The terrifying moments of action, the discomfort of existence at the front, the humorous moments, the absurdities and cruelties of army organization, and the sheer physical and psychological harshness of the campaign - all these aspects of a Soviet soldier's experience during the Great Patriotic War are brought dramatically to life in Mansur Abdulin's memoirs. Of special interest is the insight he offers into ordinary operations and daily life in the lower ranks of the Soviet army. As he tells his story he reveals much about the thinking of the men, their attitude to the war and their loyalties. He also sheds light on the tense relationships between the disparate national groups that were thrown together to create a huge fighting force. But most memorable are his honest, horrifying descriptions of combat, of being bombed and shelled, of trench warfare, of enduring tank attacks and friendly fire, and of coping with the wounded and the dead. The Author Mansur Gizzatulovich Abdulin was born a Tatar in Anzhero-Sudzhensk, near Tomsk in central Siberia, in 1923. He worked as a miner before volunteering to fight for the Red Army in June 1942. After completing his course at the Tashkent infantry school, he fought on the Stalingrad front, during the encirclement of the German 6th Army, participated in the bitter, decisive battle at Kursk and harried the Germans as they retreated across the Steppes to the banks of the Dnieper river where he was seriously wounded. After the war he returned to his work as a miner and he now lives in retirement at Novotroitsk near Orenburg in the Urals.

The Holocaust: The Fate of European Jewry, 1932-1945 (Studies in Jewish History)


Leni Yahil - 1990
    Representing twenty years of research and reflection, Leni Yahil's book won the Shazar Prize, one of Israel's highest awards for historical work. Now available in English, The Holocaust offers a sweeping look at the Final Solution, covering not only Nazi policies, but also how Jews and foreign governments perceived and responded to the unfolding nightmare. The Holocaust is astonishingly comprehensive. Yahil weaves a gripping chronological narrative that stretches from the Norwegian fjords to the Greek islands, from Amsterdam to Tehran--and even Shanghai. Her writing is balanced, objective, and compelling, as she systematically explores the evolution of the Holocaust in German-occupied Europe, probing its politics, planning, goals, and key figures. Yahil uses her command of the many relevant languages to marshal an impressive array of documentary and statistical evidence, driving her narrative forward with telling details and personal accounts--such as a survivor's description of her perseverance during a death march, or the story of the Struma, a boat that sank with over 700 Jewish refugees when the British refused to receive it in Palestine. Along the way, she destroys persistent myths about the Holocaust: that Hitler had no plan for exterminating the Jews, that the Jews themselves went peacefully to the slaughter. Though Yahil finds that Nazi policies were often inconsistent, particularly during the years before the war, she conclusively demonstrates that Hitler was always working toward a final reckoning with world Jewry, envisioning his war as a war against the Jews. The book also recounts numerous uprisings and acts of resistance in ghettos and concentration camps, as well as the activities of Jewish partisan units. Yahil describes the work of Jews in America, Palestine, and world organizations on behalf of Hitler's victims--often in the face of resistance by the Allied governments and neutral states--and explores the factors that affected the success of rescue efforts. The Holocaust is a monumental work of history, unsurpassed in scope and insightful detail. Objective yet compassionate, Leni Yahil brings together the countless diverse strands of this epic event in a single gripping account.

Anton the Dove Fancier: and Other Tales of the Holocaust


Bernard Gotfryd - 1990
    Here we watch young Bernard break curfew to secure a rare chicken for the High Holidays—only to see it given to the Christian janitor because it is not kosher; we meet Alexandra, a Polish resistance fighter who enlists the teenaged Bernard in the cause but who perishes while he survives; and we share Bernard's fear as he spends one very uncomfortable night—hours after his liberation—in the seemingly sympathetic home of the parents of a young SS officer.

Bounden Duty: The Memoirs of a German Officer, 1932-45


Alexander Stahlberg - 1990
    Here is Stahlberg's personal account of the Hitler years, and his experiences in war, both as a soldier and as Adjutant to Field Marshal von Manstein. 32 photographs, 6 maps.

Admiral Arleigh Burke


E.B. Potter - 1990
    Black-and-white photographs.

Between Two Fires: Europe's Path in the 1930s


David Clay Large - 1990
    Episodes are linked to illustrate this, such as the Stavinsky affair in France, the murder of Ernst Roehm, and the civil war in the red quarters of Vienna.

Bataan, Our Last Ditch: The Bataan Campaign, 1942


John W. Whitman - 1990
    Unpublished letters, written and oral testimony of over 350 veterans restores these gruelling months into a historical record.

Making of a Paratrooper


Kurt Gabel - 1990
    These forces were often dropped behind enemy lines, and despite casualties they triumphed in some of the bloodiest fighting of the war, including the Battle of the Bulge. One such paratrooper was Kurt Gabel, and this is his story.

B-17s Over Berlin (P)


Ian L. Hawkins - 1990
    strike Berlin in a daylight raid and winner of three Presidential Distinguished Unit citations. Its personal stories chronicle furious air combat, fiery crashes, captures, escapes and friendships forged for life. Caught up in a global war, the men of the legendary 95th found the courage to alter the course of history. Ian Hawkins is the author of Munster: Bloody Skies Over Europe.

Letters to Freya: 1939-1945


Helmuth James von Moltke - 1990
    Throughout the war, he fought through the labyrinthine insanity of wartime bureaucracy on behalf of Jews and foreign prisoners and organized a clandestine resistance to the Nazi regime.From 1939 to the eve of his execution from treason in 1945, von Moltke wrote letters to his wife, Freya. Gathered here, these letters transcend their format to create at once a horrifying record of the daily workings of the Third Reich and an inspiring testament to the powers of love, courage, and conscience in the most conscienceless of times."Remarkable . . . A unique historical document, a morality tale, a love story, all set within the very heart of the Third Reich and, in a real sense, in the soul of a man of conscience."--Los Angeles Times Book Review"The words of this extraordinary patriot and humanitarian echo with astonishing relevance [and] stand on their own as testament to the impact for good a courageous individual can still exert."--Chicago Sun-Times"One of the great books of the twentieth century, [telling] a story of human failure, of overwhelming odds, of patience, and of grace."--Christian Science Monitor

Fighter General: The Life of Adolf Galland: The Official Biography


Raymond F. Toliver - 1990
    He ended the war as a Lieutenant General - and was again a squadron commander - this time flying Me 262 jet fighters. In all of aviation history there is no comparable rise and fall by a fighter pilot. The most famous German ace and fighter leader of his generation, Galland's story is simultaneously that of the Luftwaffe Fighter Arm, in which he served from foundation to finish. Fighter General recounts the career of an outstanding combat leader torn from the fighter cockpit to defend his country - and sometimes his own pilots - in the bizarre bureaucracy of the Luftwaffe High Command. Galland's battles against the Allied air forces, both as a general and in individual combat, hold no less drama than his head-on battles with Goering and Hitler. Galland's triumphs and tragedies, his friends and his flames, his humor and heartaches pulse anew in Fighter General. Here in this official biography is real-life adventure to shame the wildest fiction.

Japanese Agent in Tibet


Hisao Kimura - 1990
    After a year's detention, he continued to Tibet and India where he was recruited by British Intelligence to gather information on Chinese intentions in Eastern Tibet.

The Norton Book of Modern War


Paul Fussell - 1990
    Divided into the First World War, the Wars in Asia, and includes prose and poetry from literary figures such as Rupert Brooke, Ernest Hemingway, and James Jones.

Soviet Military Intelligence in War


David M. Glantz - 1990
    It examines the area where intelligence and operations overlap; the nature of co-ordination between the two; and the support provided by intelligence to operational planning and execution (or the absence of such support). This is not a study of intelligence work as such, but of how intelligence can improve the chances of success on the battlefield by facilitating the more effective and economical use of troops.

The Greatest War: Americans in Combat: 1941-1945


Gerald Astor - 1990
    Maps & photos included.

Heroes of WW II: True Stories of Medal of Honor Winners


Edward F. Murphy - 1990
    We witness the climactic moments and brave deeds that made history in World War II: the bombing of Pearl Harbor, where fifteen men earned the medal; the vicious, desperate fighting in the Pacific islands; the invasion on the beaches of Normandy, and other crucial battles in the European theater, as the history of World War II unfolds in the heroic deeds of the men who won the war.

I Saw Two Englands: His Last Glimpse of Pre-War England and His First Impressions of England at War


H.V. Morton - 1990
    

Brute Force: Allied Strategy And Tactics In The Second World War


John Ellis - 1990
    Skillfully analyzing a mass of previously inaccessible and often quite astonishing data, he demonstrates conclusively that Allied victory—against both the Axis and Japan—finally owed for more to the endless stream of tanks, artillery and military aircraft rolling off Allied production lines than it did to the ability of their commanders. Drawing from his masterly analysis of production statistics, Ellis reviews the entire course of the war and demonstrates how American, British and Russian commanders continually mismanaged the resources at their deposal and how serious mistakes were made in almost every theater of war—land, sea and air. Time and again, Allied generals proved incapable of deploying their numerical advantage in the most effective way, instead falling back on crude, attritional tactics that prolonged the war unnecessarily: appalling armored tactics in Africa, Italy and Northwest Europe; Bomber Command’s wrongheaded targeting policies; Russian acceptance of enormous casualty bills; the American navy’s failure to recognize that Japan’s economy and lines of imperial communication should have been the prime target—all of these issues and many more are thoroughly aired in this authoritative and stimulating work.

The Leibstandarte III


Rudolf Lehmann - 1990
    This volume covers the 1st SS Panzer Division "LAH" from December 18, 1942 to January 21, 1944. It deals with such important actions as the fighting around Kharkov, Operation Zitadelle (Kursk), the LAH’s deployment to Italy and the savage fighting for Zhitomir. A detailed history of this hard-fighting SS Panzer Division.

Yamamoto: The Man Who Planned the Attack on Pearl Harbor


Edwin P. Hoyt - 1990
    Hoyt demonstrates both his flair for dramatic battle accounts and his penetrating eye for personal and political motivation. He offers a thorough and engaging portrait of Admiral Yamamoto and, from that vantage point, provides a revealing new view of the events of World War II."Yamamoto" details his life from his youth in Nagaoka and his early military successes, to the dynamic leader's orchestration of the infamous sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, his subsequent naval victories, and his eventual assassination by American fighter planes in the Solomon Islands at the order of President Roosevelt himself.

Unsung Sailors: The Naval Armed Guard in World War II


Justin F. Gliechauf - 1990
    There are 150 first-hand accounts from former guardsmen, as well as historical data telling how the US Naval Armed Guard's 6000 merchant ships transported supplies.