Hi Everyone!
In anticipation of Steel Division: Normandy 44, I have decided to put together a reading list of various books and other sources that relate to the Normandy campaign. Why not grab one or two of these books out of the library while you wait for the game to be released? This is intended to help everyone from experts who may have missed a new work on the subject to people whose knowledge of the Normandy campaign begins and ends with Saving Private Ryan. There is no shame if you fall into the latter category, as we are all here to learn. I am not an expert on this specific area, and therefore I must thank a friend at Oxford University for helping me with some of these suggestions.
I also intend for this list to grow, so if you see important works that are missing please feel free to leave the source information in a comment down below along with a short description of what the work is about. You can also mention if the work has any notable shortcomings (i.e. a memoir written by someone with a particular axe to grind). If free PDFs are legally available from official sources they will be noted below. All you have to do to acquire them is use some mild Google searching (i.e. US Army Green Books PDF). It is important to note that critical reading is always important, and doubly so when dealing with memoirs. Now, without further ado:
General
Canada
Free French
United Kingdom
United States of America
Other Allied Combatants
*WIP* (I could use lots of help here.)
Germany
In anticipation of Steel Division: Normandy 44, I have decided to put together a reading list of various books and other sources that relate to the Normandy campaign. Why not grab one or two of these books out of the library while you wait for the game to be released? This is intended to help everyone from experts who may have missed a new work on the subject to people whose knowledge of the Normandy campaign begins and ends with Saving Private Ryan. There is no shame if you fall into the latter category, as we are all here to learn. I am not an expert on this specific area, and therefore I must thank a friend at Oxford University for helping me with some of these suggestions.
I also intend for this list to grow, so if you see important works that are missing please feel free to leave the source information in a comment down below along with a short description of what the work is about. You can also mention if the work has any notable shortcomings (i.e. a memoir written by someone with a particular axe to grind). If free PDFs are legally available from official sources they will be noted below. All you have to do to acquire them is use some mild Google searching (i.e. US Army Green Books PDF). It is important to note that critical reading is always important, and doubly so when dealing with memoirs. Now, without further ado:
General
Battle Orders series from Osprey for the divisions (and independent units)'s TO&E.
The relevant sections of The Cambridge History of the Second World War (2015).
Normandy, 1944: Allied Landings and Breakout by Stephen Badsey *This is just a short, basic Osprey book for people into that kind of thing.
D-Day: The Battle for Normandy by Antony Beevor *This work is a reasonably good popular history, but has a badly dated and overly critical portrayal of Montgomery.
World War II Ballistics: Armor and Gunnery, 2nd Ed. by Lorrin Rexford Bird and Robert D. Livingston
Second World War Infantry Tactics: The European Theatre by Stephen Bull *This author has several other similar works available.
Decision in Normandy: The Real Story of Montgomery and the Allied Campaign by Carlo D'Este *This was on the reading list of one of my history seminars back in the day. Apparently parts of it are dated, but it is still a very good book overall.
From Victory to Stalemate: The Western Front, Summer 1944 by C. J. Dick *This is pretty much out of the scope of the game, but it is still a wonderful book.
Stalingrad en Normandie by Eddie Florentin (French only from what I have seen) *From EUG_MadMat: "Focusing more on the later part (Falaise pocket) of the Normandy campaign. Too chronological and a bit messy, but very detailed."
Tank Tactics: From Normandy to Lorraine by Roman Jarymowycz
Six Armies in Normandy by John Keegan
The Battle of Normandy, 1944 by Robin Neillands
Normandy: The Landings to the Liberation of Paris by Olivier Wieviorka
D-Day, 1944 edited by Theodore A. Wilson
The relevant sections of The Cambridge History of the Second World War (2015).
Normandy, 1944: Allied Landings and Breakout by Stephen Badsey *This is just a short, basic Osprey book for people into that kind of thing.
D-Day: The Battle for Normandy by Antony Beevor *This work is a reasonably good popular history, but has a badly dated and overly critical portrayal of Montgomery.
World War II Ballistics: Armor and Gunnery, 2nd Ed. by Lorrin Rexford Bird and Robert D. Livingston
Second World War Infantry Tactics: The European Theatre by Stephen Bull *This author has several other similar works available.
Decision in Normandy: The Real Story of Montgomery and the Allied Campaign by Carlo D'Este *This was on the reading list of one of my history seminars back in the day. Apparently parts of it are dated, but it is still a very good book overall.
From Victory to Stalemate: The Western Front, Summer 1944 by C. J. Dick *This is pretty much out of the scope of the game, but it is still a wonderful book.
Stalingrad en Normandie by Eddie Florentin (French only from what I have seen) *From EUG_MadMat: "Focusing more on the later part (Falaise pocket) of the Normandy campaign. Too chronological and a bit messy, but very detailed."
Tank Tactics: From Normandy to Lorraine by Roman Jarymowycz
Six Armies in Normandy by John Keegan
The Battle of Normandy, 1944 by Robin Neillands
Normandy: The Landings to the Liberation of Paris by Olivier Wieviorka
D-Day, 1944 edited by Theodore A. Wilson
Canada
Official History of the Canadian Army in the Second World War. Volume III. The Victory Campaign: The Operations in North-West Europe, 1944-1945 by C. P. Stacey (Free PDF available)
Maple Leaf Against the Axis by David J. Bercuson
Fight to the Finish: Canadians in the Second World War, 1944-1945 by Tim Cook
Fields of Fire: The Canadians in Normandy, 2nd Ed. by Terry Copp
The Canadian Army and the Normandy Campaign by John A. English
The Best Little Army in the World: The Canadians in Northwest Europe, 1944-1945 by J. L. Granatstein
Canada’s Army: Waging War and Keeping the Peace, 2nd Ed. by J. L. Granatstein
Stopping the Panzers: The Untold Story of D-Day by Marc Milner *Must Read
A Military History of Canada, 5th Ed. by Desmond Morton
No Holding Back: Operation Totalize, Normandy, August 1944 by Brian A. Reid
Maple Leaf Against the Axis by David J. Bercuson
Fight to the Finish: Canadians in the Second World War, 1944-1945 by Tim Cook
Fields of Fire: The Canadians in Normandy, 2nd Ed. by Terry Copp
The Canadian Army and the Normandy Campaign by John A. English
The Best Little Army in the World: The Canadians in Northwest Europe, 1944-1945 by J. L. Granatstein
Canada’s Army: Waging War and Keeping the Peace, 2nd Ed. by J. L. Granatstein
Stopping the Panzers: The Untold Story of D-Day by Marc Milner *Must Read
A Military History of Canada, 5th Ed. by Desmond Morton
No Holding Back: Operation Totalize, Normandy, August 1944 by Brian A. Reid
Free French
La 2ème DB dans la liberation de Paris. 2 Volumes. by Alain Eymard and Laurent Fournier (French only from what I have seen) *From EUG_MadMat: "Richly illustrated and detailed albums about Leclerc's armored division's dash from Normandy to Paris."
EUG_MadMat on French Resistance involvement in Normandy:
EUG_MadMat on French Resistance involvement in Normandy:
United Kingdom
Victory in the West Volume I: The Battle of Normandy. History of the Second World War. United Kingdom Military Series. Official Campaign History edited by James Butler
British Armour in the Normandy Campaign, 1944 by John Buckley
Montgomery's Scientists: Operational Research in Northwest Europe (The Work of No.2 Operation Research Section with 21 Army Group June 1944 to July 1945) edited by Terry Copp (Free PDF available)
Goodwood: The British Offensive in Normandy, July 1944 by Ian Daglish
The Sherman Firefly by Mark Hayward *Obviously the Firefly was used by non-UK forces as well, but I feel it fits most comfortably here.
Caen: Anvil of Victory by Alexander McKee *This work also involves Canadians.
The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Montgomery by Bernard Montgomery *If I remember correctly, Montgomery fired the "opening shots" in the infamous war of memoirs between former Allied commanders.
The Tank War: The British Band of Brothers - One Tank Regiment's World War II by Mark Urban *From neverlay: "A history through diaries and interviews of the 5th Royal Tank Regiment's war, from France 1940 to Hamburg 1945 via North Africa and Normandy with the Desert Rats."
Flame Thrower by Andrew Wilson
British Armour in the Normandy Campaign, 1944 by John Buckley
Montgomery's Scientists: Operational Research in Northwest Europe (The Work of No.2 Operation Research Section with 21 Army Group June 1944 to July 1945) edited by Terry Copp (Free PDF available)
Goodwood: The British Offensive in Normandy, July 1944 by Ian Daglish
The Sherman Firefly by Mark Hayward *Obviously the Firefly was used by non-UK forces as well, but I feel it fits most comfortably here.
Caen: Anvil of Victory by Alexander McKee *This work also involves Canadians.
The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Montgomery by Bernard Montgomery *If I remember correctly, Montgomery fired the "opening shots" in the infamous war of memoirs between former Allied commanders.
The Tank War: The British Band of Brothers - One Tank Regiment's World War II by Mark Urban *From neverlay: "A history through diaries and interviews of the 5th Royal Tank Regiment's war, from France 1940 to Hamburg 1945 via North Africa and Normandy with the Desert Rats."
Flame Thrower by Andrew Wilson
United States of America
The relevant volumes of the U.S. Army Green Books. (Free PDFs available)
A Soldier's Story by Omar Bradley
After D-Day: Operation Cobra and the Normandy Breakout by James Jay Carafano
Patton: A Genius for War by Carlo D'Este
History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Volume 11. The Invasion of France and Germany, 1944-1945 by Samuel Eliot Morison
Sabers through the Reich: World War II Corps Cavalry from Normandy to the Elbe by William Stuart Nance
War as I Knew It by George Patton
Fire Mission! The Siege at Mortain, Normandy, August 1944 by Robert Weiss
A Soldier's Story by Omar Bradley
After D-Day: Operation Cobra and the Normandy Breakout by James Jay Carafano
Patton: A Genius for War by Carlo D'Este
History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Volume 11. The Invasion of France and Germany, 1944-1945 by Samuel Eliot Morison
Sabers through the Reich: World War II Corps Cavalry from Normandy to the Elbe by William Stuart Nance
War as I Knew It by George Patton
Fire Mission! The Siege at Mortain, Normandy, August 1944 by Robert Weiss
Other Allied Combatants
*WIP* (I could use lots of help here.)
Germany
The relevant volumes of Germany and the Second World War. (German semi-official history)
D-Day Through German Eyes: The Hidden Story of June 6th, 1944 edited by Holger Eckhertz *From neverlay: "Holger Eckhertz...was a German Journalist through WW2 to the 1950s. In the 50's he collected the interviews he made with German D-Day Veterans into this book. What got me was how they were all told they were defending United Europe from the Communists and their English Stooges more or less."
**From MarcoRossolini: "I believe this and other books from the same publisher are widely regarded as utter rubbish at best and war porn at worst. There's a "memoir" from a Tiger driver whose view appears to be panoramic and picks up the finest details of people being blow up. I'd honestly avoid it."
The Lions of Carentan: Fallschirmjager Regiment 6, 1943-1945 by Volker Griesser
The Germans in Normandy by Richard Hargreaves *From _Sev_: "[An attempt] to set the picture from the German point of view." From EUG_MadMat: "Good read from the German side."
The Rommel Papers edited by B. H. Liddell-Hart
Grenadiers: The Story of Waffen SS General Kurt "Panzer" Meyer by Kurt Meyer
Panzer Commander: The Memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck by Hans von Luck
Tigers in Normandy by Wolfgang Schneider *From _Sev_: "Fanatically tries to discover the fate of every Tiger deployed there, also very informative including a (rightful) Wittmann bashing.^^"
Waffen-SS Armour in Normandy: The Combat History of SS Panzer Regiment 12 and SS Panzerjager Abteilung 12, Normandy 1944, Based on their Original War Diaries by Norbert Szamveber *From _Sev_: "Very detailed, shows the combats of the 12. SS Pz Reg, in the appendix a gold mine of tables, documents etc."
Normandy, 1944: German Military Organization, Combat Power and Organizational Effectiveness by Niklas Zetterling *Must Read
D-Day Through German Eyes: The Hidden Story of June 6th, 1944 edited by Holger Eckhertz *From neverlay: "Holger Eckhertz...was a German Journalist through WW2 to the 1950s. In the 50's he collected the interviews he made with German D-Day Veterans into this book. What got me was how they were all told they were defending United Europe from the Communists and their English Stooges more or less."
**From MarcoRossolini: "I believe this and other books from the same publisher are widely regarded as utter rubbish at best and war porn at worst. There's a "memoir" from a Tiger driver whose view appears to be panoramic and picks up the finest details of people being blow up. I'd honestly avoid it."
The Lions of Carentan: Fallschirmjager Regiment 6, 1943-1945 by Volker Griesser
The Germans in Normandy by Richard Hargreaves *From _Sev_: "[An attempt] to set the picture from the German point of view." From EUG_MadMat: "Good read from the German side."
The Rommel Papers edited by B. H. Liddell-Hart
Grenadiers: The Story of Waffen SS General Kurt "Panzer" Meyer by Kurt Meyer
Panzer Commander: The Memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck by Hans von Luck
Tigers in Normandy by Wolfgang Schneider *From _Sev_: "Fanatically tries to discover the fate of every Tiger deployed there, also very informative including a (rightful) Wittmann bashing.^^"
Waffen-SS Armour in Normandy: The Combat History of SS Panzer Regiment 12 and SS Panzerjager Abteilung 12, Normandy 1944, Based on their Original War Diaries by Norbert Szamveber *From _Sev_: "Very detailed, shows the combats of the 12. SS Pz Reg, in the appendix a gold mine of tables, documents etc."
Normandy, 1944: German Military Organization, Combat Power and Organizational Effectiveness by Niklas Zetterling *Must Read
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