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Bowen, Robert M.,
FIGHTING WITH THE SCREAMING EAGLES: With the 101st Airborne from Normandy to Bastogne.
NEW copy. Hardcover with dust jacket. (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2001).
Bibliography, Roll of Honor, 256 pages.
~~~
"Robert Bowen found himself unexpectedly assigned to the 401st Glider Infantry Regiment,
shortly after joining the US Army. His service with the 101st begins with intensive training
in North Carolina, where he forges friendships with fellow company members and prepares for
combat in Europe. Transported to Britain, Bowen witnesses first-hand the devastation in the
cities and is bemused by the wartime strictures of his new environment. As training continues,
the division sense that something important awaits them, and that -- as prophesied by one of
the men -- 'Uncle Sam needs something for his money'. Shortly after, they receive their
brief on Operation Overlord. As reserve to the 4th Division at D-Day, Bowen and fellow
division members storm ashore amid the chaos on Utah Beach. They experience the ultimate
test: picking their way through unfamiliar terrain littered with minefields and hidden
snipers, while keeping track of ever-changing commands. Bowen is injured on D+1, but goes
on to participate in the perilous airborne assault over Holland, where as platoon leader
during the fighting he is forced to make vital decisions in the face of mounting casualties.
When exhausted troops are moved to the Ardennes to participate in the Battle of the Bulge,
Bowen falls victim to a second injury which leaves him at the mercy of advancing German
troops. He becomes a POW just days before Christmas 1944, when the 'trip through hell'
truly begins. Written shortly after the war -- but never before published -- Bowen's
narrative is immediate, direct and compelling. His account, one of the few by a member
of a glider regiment, is a brutal insight into the battlefields of World War II and a
vivid recreation of just what life was like in an elite unit. From the horror of D-Day
and the despair of captivity, to personal recollections of ordinary men in an extraordinary
conflict, this memoir tells the story of one man's total war."
~~ OUT OF PRINT.
$30.00
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Burgett, Donald R.,
SEVEN ROADS TO HELL: A Screaming Eagle at Bastogne.
NEW copy. Hardcover with dust jacket. (NY: Ballantyne Books, 1999). Maps, photographs, 225 pages.
~~~ From Kirkus Reviews: "A stirring combat memoir by a WWII paratrooper of
the elite 101st Airborne Division, the famed Screaming Eagles. Burgett writes here of his
experiences during the heroic stand of small US forces at the strategic Belgian town of
Bastogne, crossroads of seven converging, passable roads in the heavy forests of the
Ardennes that the Germans needed to capture to ensure the steady stream of men, machines,
and supplies necessary for a quick victory in the Battle of the Bulge. Burgett had already
survived the carnage of D-day and Arnhem to become one of the "old men" (aged 19) in the
successful defense of Bastogne, an epic of courage, fortitude, and spirit that stopped the
huge, powerful, armored German army short of the vital port of Antwerp. Surrounded by
overwhelming enemy man- and fire-power, the outnumbered light infantry paratroopers plus
small elements of the 10th Armored Division and field artillery battalions held the line
for weeks. American forces paid a heavy cost in lives and wounded until relieved by General
Patton's Third Army attacking the German flank. Burgett lost many of his buddies and
original comrades in the bloody struggle -— he himself was wounded three times -— but the
troops never lost the fighting spirit of their heroic leader, Brigadier General Anthony C.
("Nuts") McAuliffe, who refused to surrender in a very dark time. Burgett's spare prose
captures the gritty reality of subzero temperatures; rough, snow-covered terrain; shortages
of food, adequate clothes, heavy weapons, and ammunition. He gives the reader a sense of
actually being there day to day with the squad and platoon, capturing the tension,
excitement, and drama of their seeminglydoomed situation, even though the reader may know
the final outcome. Burgett bypasses the generals' war-game vantage point to give us a
front-line soldier's blood-and-guts eyewitness account of a decisive WWII battle."
~~~ Originally published at $24.95, now OUT OF PRINT.
$25.00
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Kershaw, Alex,
THE LONGEST WINTER: The Battle of the Bulge and the Epic Story of World War II's Most Decorated Platoon.
NEW copy, hardcover with dust jacket. Maps, photographs, notes, bibliography, index, 326 pages. "It was a cold December
morning in 1944, deep in the Ardennes forest of Belgium. Eighteen men of a small intelligence platoon commanded by
twenty-year-old lieutenant Lyle Bouck were huddled in their foxholes, desperately trying to keep warm. Suddenly the
early morning silence was broken by the roar of a huge artillery bombardment. Hitler had launched his bold and risky
offensive against the Allies - his "last gamble" - and the American platoon was facing the main thrust of the entire
German assault." "Vastly outnumbered, the platoon repulsed three German assaults in a fierce day-long battle to defend
a strategically vital hill. Only when Bouck's men had run out of ammunition did they surrender." "But their long winter
was just beginning." As POWs, Bouck's platoon experienced an ordeal far worse than combat - surviving in captivity with
trigger-happy German guards, Allied bombing raids, and a starvation diet. While hundreds of other captured Americans in
German POW camps were either killed or died of disease, the men of Bouck's platoon miraculously survived - all of them -
and returned home after the war. More than thirty years later, when President Carter recognized the unit's "extraordinary
heroism" and the U.S. Army approved combat medals for all eighteen men, they became America's most decorated platoon of
World War II."
$25.00
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Binder, L. James,
LEMNITZER: A Soldier for his Time.
Brassey's, 1997. NEW copy. Photographs, notes, index, 385 pages. "This is the first biography of the Army general who,
after achieving greatness in the very highest posts in his own service, went on to become chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff and then Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, during one of the Cold War's most potentially explosive periods. A
quiet, unassuming young man from a small Pennsylvania manufacturing town, Lemnitzer endured serving as a low-ranking
lieutenant for fifteen years in some of the U.S. Army's most obscure posts. Yet eight years after finally becoming a
captain, he was a general, the principal planner of the invasion of North Africa, and deputy chief of staff of the 15th
Army Group in Italy. Never lacking for physical courage, he led, with Mark Clark, one of World War II's most celebrated
cloak-and-dagger missions, a dangerous submarine trip behind German lines in North Africa. Later, disguised as a
civilian, he slipped into France and Switzerland to help negotiate the surrender of a million German troops fighting in
Italy. During the Korean War, Lemnitzer commanded the 7th Infantry Division and subsequently was commander in chief of
the Far East Command. Toward the end of his distinguished career, he was at the peak of his profession - Army chief of
staff and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Eisenhower and then Kennedy. He gracefully overcame being unfairly
blamed for the debacle at the Bay of Pigs to serve brilliantly as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.
$30.00
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Burgett, Donald R.,
BEYOND THE RHINE: A Screaming Eagle in Germany.
NEW copy. (Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 2001). Maps, photographs, 169 pages.
~~~ "Donald R. Burgett and the rest of the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne had
fought long and hard since the Normandy invasion. They fought through seventy-two days of
continuous combat in Holland, and thirty days of frozen hell in Bastogne during the Battle
of the Bulge. War weary, tired, and bloodied, Burgett and other Screaming Eagles of A Company
were heading for the last battle, the drive that would carry them through Alsace, Germany's
Ruhr Valley, the Rhineland, Austria, and the end of the war in Europe. The last push across
Germany did not hold the full-scale fanatic resistance the U.S. command had expected, but
rather, small pockets of die-hard Nazis unwilling to admit that they had lost. It became
clear why some did not wish to surrender. Burgett and the other American soldiers discovered
forced labor camps of half-starved Poles, Russians, Czechs, and Jews; men, women, and
children all forced to labor for the cause of Germany, or die. Burgett and his men
liberated four Nazi concentration camps where inmates were starved, brutally and
systematically tortured, medically and surgically experimented on, and finally gassed and
cremated. Burgett writes: 'German guards were still forcing inmates to stoke the furnaces
with human bodies as we tore through the barbed-wire enclosures. We witnessed atrocities
that were beyond human comprehension.' The Americans fought on from the Black Forest in
Bavaria, to Berchtesgaden, where VE day found the Screaming Eagles finally at rest in the
Eagle's Nest, Hitler's fabled mountaintop retreat. Certainly now the hard charging
paratroopers could return home to enjoy the fruits of their victory, bloodied but
proud, to take up family life with loved ones in a world they fought to keep free. But the
war against Japan still raged, however, and the 101st was one of two airborne divisions
alerted for redeployment to the Pacific. August 1945 brought atomic relief to Burgett and
millions more around the world with the surrender of Japan. On New Year's Eve, 1945,
Sergeant Burgett finally returned to his home in Detroit, still just twenty years old."
~~~ Originally published at $24.95, now OUT OF PRINT.
$25.00
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Collins, Lawrence D., M.D.,
THE 56th EVAC HOSPITAL: Letters of a WWII Army Doctor.
NEW copy, still in shrinkwrap. Hardcover in dust jacket. University of North Texas Press, 1995. 40 b&w photos, map,
bibliography, index, 352 pages. "Collins arrived in North Africa in 1943 as a member of the 56th hospital unit, which
hailedfrom Baylor Medical College in Dallas, and eventually wound up in Bizerte, Tunisia. His letters to his wife and
mother, often accented by wit or irony, first tell about his military and travel experiences and discuss books he is
reading. Then the 56th crosses the Mediterranean to Italy and receives its first real combat experience, the most
rugged part of it consisting of 73 days at the Anzio beachhead. Shelling and bombing become so intense that several
patients go AWOL from the hospital and return to their units on the front line because they feel they will be safer
there. Although a physician, Collins has to do a considerable bit of surgery; his work with gas gangrene proves
especially interesting. Moreover, his descriptions of a Benedictine monastery above Pompeii and of other sites add
interest to his engaging letters."
$30.00
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Bowen, Robert M.,
FIGHTING WITH THE SCREAMING EAGLES: With the 101st Airborne from Normandy to Bastogne.
NEW copy. Hardcover with dust jacket. (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2001).
Bibliography, Roll of Honor, 256 pages.
~~~
"Robert Bowen found himself unexpectedly assigned to the 401st Glider Infantry Regiment,
shortly after joining the US Army. His service with the 101st begins with intensive training
in North Carolina, where he forges friendships with fellow company members and prepares for
combat in Europe. Transported to Britain, Bowen witnesses first-hand the devastation in the
cities and is bemused by the wartime strictures of his new environment. As training continues,
the division sense that something important awaits them, and that -- as prophesied by one of
the men -- 'Uncle Sam needs something for his money'. Shortly after, they receive their
brief on Operation Overlord. As reserve to the 4th Division at D-Day, Bowen and fellow
division members storm ashore amid the chaos on Utah Beach. They experience the ultimate
test: picking their way through unfamiliar terrain littered with minefields and hidden
snipers, while keeping track of ever-changing commands. Bowen is injured on D+1, but goes
on to participate in the perilous airborne assault over Holland, where as platoon leader
during the fighting he is forced to make vital decisions in the face of mounting casualties.
When exhausted troops are moved to the Ardennes to participate in the Battle of the Bulge,
Bowen falls victim to a second injury which leaves him at the mercy of advancing German
troops. He becomes a POW just days before Christmas 1944, when the 'trip through hell'
truly begins. Written shortly after the war -- but never before published -- Bowen's
narrative is immediate, direct and compelling. His account, one of the few by a member
of a glider regiment, is a brutal insight into the battlefields of World War II and a
vivid recreation of just what life was like in an elite unit. From the horror of D-Day
and the despair of captivity, to personal recollections of ordinary men in an extraordinary
conflict, this memoir tells the story of one man's total war."
~~ OUT OF PRINT.
$30.00
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Carafano, James Jay,
AFTER D-DAY: Operation Cobra and the Normandy Breakout.
NF/NF. A quarter-sized area of slight discoloration on rear end-page, otherwise book is in new condition.
Tables, maps, notes, bibliography, index, 294 pages.
~~~ From Booknews: "After the D-Day landing in Normandy, Allied forces were
stopped cold by German resistance. Finally, US troops smashed through the German wall of
fire and opened the road to Berlin. Carafano demonstrates that what carried the battle was
effective leadership by field grade and junior officers as well as sergeants and privates,
who seized initiative and took decisive action to exploit sudden battlefield opportunities.
Combat narratives are illuminated by eyewitness reports. Carafano has held a variety of
positions with the US Army."
~~~ OUT OF PRINT.
$25.00
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D'Este, Carlo,
DECISION IN NORMANDY.
E.P. Dutton, Inc., 1983. Stated First Edition but no price on dust
jacket, so probably a Book Club edition. A like-NEW copy. Hardcover
with dust jacket. Photographs, notes, bibiliography, index, 555
pages. "The first full account of what actually happened in the
Normandy campaign." ~~ OUT OF PRINT.
$25.00
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Penrose, Jane (ed),
THE D-DAY COMPANION: Leading Historians Explore History's Greatest Amphibious Assault.
NEW copy, hardcover with dust jacket.
(Osprey Publishing, Ltd., 2004).
Maps, photographs, notes, bibliography, index, 288 pages.
~~~ "Published to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the
Normandy landings, this book brings together the perspectives and
opinions of some of the most respected military historians working
today. More than a dozen leading historians from either side of the
Atlantic have collaborated to produce a unique and incisive examination
of the momentous events that surrounded June 6, 1944. Operation Overlord
saw two of the Allies' greatest military strategists, Eisenhower and
Montgomery, pit their wits against Hitler in a bold bid to liberate
continental Europe. Each chapter of this new book focuses on a different
aspect of the D-Day landings, from the build-up to the attack to the
experiences of the troops on the ground."
~~~ From Library Journal: "To mark the beginning of the
liberation of Western Europe from Nazi occupation, the publisher has
put together a first-rate examination of this event. The D-Day Companion,
officially endorsed by the National D-Day Museum, combines the talents of some
of the biggest names in military history, including Allan Millett, Williamson
Murray, and Carlo D'Este. The chapters are thematic, covering topics like the
evolution of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF),
German plans for defending the coast, and the paratrooper drops. Most of
the coverage is at the strategic level, although some tactical coverage
and personal accounts are included. This book will be a great resource
for those looking for a 'big picture' of D-day or whose only exposure
has been through squad-level books like Alex Kershaw's The Bedford
Boys or Stephen Ambrose's D-Day: June 6, 1944. Highly
recommended.
$29.95
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Habe, Hans,
A THOUSAND SHALL FALL:
A Soldier's Story of the Battle Against Germany. VG/VG. Light chipping to jacket, and a 1/2" square
hole in jacket on spine, not affecting picture or lettering. Jacket
in mylar protector. Book clean and tight. Former owner's small ink
signature on front flyleaf. (NY: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1941).
Second Printing. 442 pages.
~~~ Author was born in Budapest in 1911, edited the Viennese newspaper 'Der Morgen' while only 21 years of age.
He worked as a foreign correspondent and wrote two novels, one of which was burned by the Nazis,
who also tried to murder him in Vienna in 1932. With the outbreak of war, Habe enlisted in the French
21st Infantry of Foreign Volunteers, and fought in engagements on the Belgian and Luxembourg frontiers.
He was captured by the Germans near Charmes in the Vosges in late June, 1940,
and interred in a prison camp at Dieuze, forty kilometers north of Nancy. By August of that
year he had escaped and made his way into unoccupied France.
~~ A common title, but uncommon in dust jacket. ~~ OUT OF PRINT.
$35.00
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Blumenson, Martin.
BLOODY RIVER: THE REAL TRAGEDY OF THE RAPIDO.
Houghton Mifflin Co. 1970, VG+/VG+. Book Club edition. Nice clean
copy with no flaws. Dust jacket in mylar protector. Photographs,
maps, appendix, bibliographical note, index, 157 pages. "In the shadow of
Monte Cassino on January 21-22, 1944, the U.S.
Army's 36th "Texas" Division tried to cross Italy's Rapido River.
The rout of this former National Guard unit from Texas was one
of the worst defeats Americans suffered on the battlefields of
World War II, one that prompted veterans to present charges of
incompetent leadership before Congress."
~~ OUT OF PRINT.
$25.00
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Comeau, M.G.,
OPERATION MERCURY: A British Airman's First-Hand Account
of the Fall of Crete in 1941.
Patrick Stephens Limited, Somerset, England, 1991. Reprinted &
expanded from the William Kimber & Co. 1961 edition., NEW, a mint
copy. OUT OF PRINT. Maps, photographs, appendices, bibliography,
index, 232 pp. "The classic account of one of the great reversals of
the war, now updated with recently unearthed information.
$55.00
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Davin, D.M.,
CRETE.
Battery Press reprint edition of the original 1953 edition published in New Zealand. Hardcover issued without dust
jacket; 58 photos/drawings; 28 maps; 565 pages. A volume in the official history of New Zealand in world War II.
Originally published in 1953, this volume is probably the best overall account of the operations in Crete in 1941.
This volume chronicles in great detail not onlyu he operations of the New Zealand forces defending Crete, but an
excellent study of the opposing German parachute forces during the battlke of April/May l94l. A detailed day by day
account of all operations to the surrender and withdrawal on June lst 1941.
$53.00
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Historical Sections, 5th U.S. Army, IV Corps,
19 DAYS, THE FINAL CAMPAIGN ACROSS NORTHWEST ITALY.
Battery Press, 1988. NEW copy. Hardcover
with dust jacket. 95 photos/drawings; 19 maps. This is a combination book consisting of two booklets published just after the
war by units in Italy to cover the Po Valley campaign in April/May 1945.
$30.00
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Kelly, Sgt. Charles E. (Commando), with Pete Martin,
ONE MAN'S WAR.
N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf., 1944. First Edition. NF/VG. Book is bright &
tight. Jacket without chips or tears, just some very minor soiling.
Original "$2.00" price still on jacket. As nice a copy as one is
likely to find. Inscribed & dated by author (Sept 18, 1944).
Photographs, 182 pages. Author won Medal of Honor during Invasion of
Italy. Book is also the only known history of the 143rd Infantry
Regiment. ~~~ OUT OF PRINT.
$100.00
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Wingate, John, D.S.C.,
NEVER SO PROUD: CRETE: MAY, 1941 ~ THE BATTLE AND EVACUATION.
Meredith Press,, 1966. VG/VG. First U.S. Edition. Minor flaws to
jacket, which is in a mylar protector. Map on endpapers, appendix,
236 pages.
~~~ OUT OF PRINT.
$35.00
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Irwin, John P.,
ANOTHER RIVER, ANOTHER TOWN: A Teenage Tank Gunner Comes of Age in Combat, 1945.
NEW copy, hardcover with dust jacket. (Random House, 2002). 176 pages.
~~~ From Kirkus Reviews: "The last days of WWII in Europe as seen --
deftly, and not without its measure of absurdity -- from inside a Sherman tank, by its
gunner. The Battle of the Bulge created a need for personnel in the Allied armies, and
Irwin was one of those who helped fill that need. Armored warfare was his destiny, and
he was put in charge of the tank's cannon. He might have been a bad boy -- one of his joys
in enlisting was that he didn't have to finish high school -- but he has a native
intelligence that makes the kind of storyteller who keeps the pace and tone just right,
embroidered but not to the point of Irish lace, one who is able to let spring from his
words, seemingly unbidden, intelligent reflections on the nature of combatants versus
enemies or comrades versus friends. He can also make plain and clear what it was like
to drive a tank through the last months of war, through the Rhineland and against the
last unyielding remnants of German resistance, through Marburg, Paderborn, Haarbruck,
and Dessau; how it felt to kill children as they approached his tank with bombs; how it
felt to venture into a slave labor camp after a battle. What Irwin excels at is giving a
sense of the mayhem and constant insecurity of warfare, the never knowing where you're
going to be sent, what you're going to run up against, how you're going to react -- in,
for example, the strange face-to-face encounters with the German soldiers in combat, not
hand to hand but human to human. Irwin, for instance, shakes a captured German tank gunner's
hand for an act of uncommon bravery against Irwin's own tank, simply because he knew what it
was like to have done it. The rest of Irwin's tank crew understood just as well. An ace of a
wartime narrative: rawboned, terrible, and possessing its own strange kind of humor."
~~~ Originally published at $21.95, now OUT OF PRINT.
$30.00
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Malaparte, Curzio,
KAPUTT.
VG--/VG--. Original '$3.75' price still intact on jacket flap. Jacket chipped at head & heel of
spine, and along crease of spine and back cover. Jacket in mylar. Slight tape residue present at
top and bottom of book covers. Paper label and address stamp of former owner on front end pages;
book otherwise clean and tight. A sound copy overall. (NY: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1946). Second Printing.
407 pages.
~~~ "From the opening scene of luxury and magnificence in Prince Eugene's
palace at Stockholdm to the final picture of complete degradation of human values in Naples,
here is a remarkable panorama of the moral and physical disintegration of modern Europe. All
phases of life in a decadent society under the impact of Nozi domination are vividly illuminated
-- from the highest military and diplomatic circles living in feudal splendor and debauchery, to
thedregs of humanity living in poverty and filth. With a tremendous sweep and scope, Kaputt
has as its sitting all of Europe as Malaparte moves back and forth across the continent among
the people of Sweden, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Romania, Poland, Finland."
~~~ "In his
preface, the author tells the extraordinary tory of the manuscript of his book. Begun in the Ukraine in 1941 and finally finished in Capri in 1943, the manuscript escaped time and time again discovery and inevitable destruction by the authorities. Hidden by a Russian peasant from the Gestapo on the russian front in 1941, worked on in Poland and while on the Smolensk front, it was carried by Malaparte in the lining of his sheepskin coat as he went from Poland to Finland. On leaving Helsinki he entrusted for safe keeping separate parts of the manuscript to Spanish and Romanian diplomats who were his friends. Several chapters, written in Berlin, were hidden by friends in the German capital at great danger to themselves. Some of the last chapters were successfully hidden
in the double soles of his shoes when he was arrested by the Fascist authorities and sent to prison in Rome."
~~~ OUT OF PRINT and SCARCE, especially in jacket.
$45.00
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Nicolson, David D.,
ARISTIDE, WARLORD OF THE RESISTANCE.
London: Leo Cooper, 1994. NEW copy. Hardcover with dust jacket. Two
full page maps, glossary of code names, notes, appendices, index,
214 pages.
$30.00
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Orbaan, Albert,
DUEL IN THE SHADOWS: True accounts of anti-Nazi underground warfare during World War II.
VG/VG. (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Co., 1965). First Edition.
Drawings, photographs, bibliography, 229 pages.
~~~ During the dark days of WWII, the Nazi "Superman" in occupied Europe was smothered by a blanket of underground resistance woven of individual deeds of heroism.
Duel in the Shadows is the true story of intrigues, sabotage, and daring escapes -- or heroes and heroines, many still in their teens.
This book -- a factual account more exciting than a mystery -- recounts the great stories of the underground resistance in France, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Holland, and Belgium.
~~~ When the Reichswehr -- the German Army -- rolled over Europe, the resistants were ill-equipped, outnumbered, and poorly organized. But there was a force the enemy did not take into consideration or, if they did, underestimated.
This was the desire for freedom and the sheer bravery that meshed the individuals into a cohesive secret army that
struck hard and vanished into the night, aggravating and hindering the Nazi war machine at every turn.
$35.00
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Pogue, Forrest C.,
THE EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS: The Supreme Command.
Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of
Military History, Department of the Army., 1954. . VG. 1978 reprint.
Small owner's signature on front flyleaf. Small perforation on
spine. Otherwise a clean, tight copy. Bound-in pocket in rear of
book with removeable folding map, and another folding map attached.
Part of the U.S. ARMY IN WORLD WAR II series. Photographs, charts,
index, appendices, 607 pages. ~~~ OUT OF PRINT.
$45.00
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Reynolds,Quentin.
DRESS REHEARSAL: The Story of Dieppe.
Random House, 1943, VG+. Clean, tight copy, lacks dust jacket.
Signature of previous owner on front endpaper. First Printing.
Frontispiece photo. 278 pages.
~~~ OUT OF PRINT.
$20.00
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Sacco, Jack,
WHERE THE BIRDS NEVER SING: The True Story of the 92nd Signal Battalion and the Liberation of Dachau.
NEW copy. Hardcover with dust jacket.
(NY: Regan Books / Harper Collins, 2003) First Edition. With a Foreward by Bob Dole. Maps, photographs, 316 pages.
~~~ From Publishers Weekly: "Written in an unusual style by the son of a G.I., this episodic WWII chronicle covers the career of the author's father, Joe Sacco (no relation to the comics artist), from his induction into the U.S. Army and stateside training during 1943, overseas deployment to Great Britain in early 1944, and his experiences in combat and behind the lines at Normandy through the end of the war. The account of the liberation of Dachau concentration camp, in late April 1945, comprises only one short chapter in the book. Although the narrative is first-person, the author's father is given neither co-authorship, nor "as told to" credit. This peculiar style limits the impact of some of the writing. "They say that war is comprised of one surreal moment after another, millions of them all strung together until nothing is real anymore except for one's own mortality"-loses some punch if linked back to "a director, writer, and composer living in Los Angeles," as this debut author is credited. Yet the extensive reconstructed (or invented?) dialogue is largely successful: Sacco's barracks life and period profanity make for one of the more accurate and compelling recreations of the G.I. experience in recent years. The book is particularly good on Sacco's first few days in the service, combat action in a small German city in March 1945, and on the liberation of Dachau, but readers expecting extensive tales of armed conflict will be disappointed. While not a classic among World War II memoirs, nor particularly historically significant, this odd duck quacks convincingly."
~~~ Hardcover originally published at $24.95, now OUT OF PRINT.
$25.00
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Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to Parliament,
THE BRITISH WAR BLUE BOOK, MISCELLANEOUS NO. 9 (1939).
N.Y.: Farrar & Rinehart on Murray Hill, 1939.
2nd Printing. VG/VG. Dust jacket slightly chipped at top of spine,
otherwise nicely intact. Jacket spine somewhat darkened. In mylar
protector. Original "$1.50" price still intact on jacket flap. Full
title of book reads: DOCUMENTS CONCERNING GERMAN-POLISH RELATIONS
AND THE OUTBREAK OF HOSTILITIES BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND GERMANY ON
SEPTEMBER 3, 1939. 251 pages.
~~~ OUT OF PRINT.
$30.00
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Showalter, Dennis,
PATTON AND ROMMEL: Men of War in the Twentieth Century.
NEW copy. Hardcover with dust jacket.
(NY: Berkeley Caliber, 2005) 'A History Book Club Exclusive Edition', with an 'Exclusive History
Book Introduction by the Author'. Index, 441 pages.
~~~ From Publishers Weekly: "One of the most distinguished American historians of WWII returns with an outstanding parallel biography of George Patton and Erwin Rommel. The research is thorough, the quality of the writing superb. The two men came from substantially different backgrounds--Patton from an upper-class family with a distinguished record in the Confederate Army, Rommel from staunchly middle-class Wurttemburgers barely eligible to send their son into the Kaiser's army. Both saw combat in WWI (Rommel far more than Patton), spent a frustrating interwar period (in which Rommel fared better than Patton) and rose to high distinction as experts in mobile warfare in WWII. Today, each is more admired in the other's country, and the author argues persuasively that they had different ambitions in their pursuit of mobility: Patton lived a cavalryman's image of antique heroism a century out-of-date, while Rommel was the consummate technical expert (except in logistics). They certainly rank together as two of the most written-about, and two of the most accomplished, military commanders of the century, and Showalter, the former head of the Society for Military History, ranks as a scholar who has done them justice, making two complex men and a vast panorama of military history remarkably accessible for experts and lay readers alike.
$24.95
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Bishop, Chris.
SS: HELL ON THE WESTERN FRONT: The Waffen-SS in Europe, 1940-1945.
NEW copy, hardcover with dust jacket. (St Paul, MN: MBI Publishing Company, 2003).
Laminated boards, profusely illustrated with b&w photographs throughout, tables, maps, List of Waffen-SS Knights
Cross Winners, SS Orders of Battle, Index, 192 pages.
~~~ Despite their success in the invasion of Poland, the Waffen-SS still had
something to prove as a fighting organization when they arrived in the west for the
attack on the Low Countries. SS: Hell on the Western Front describes in vivid detail the
exploits of the Waffen-SS in Western Europe from 1940 to 1945.
$24.95
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Middleton, Drew,
ALLGEMEINE-SS: The Commands, Units & Leaders
of the General SS. NEW
copy, hardcover. (Atglen, PA: Schiffer Books, 1997).
Maps, over 120 photographs, index, 256 pages.
~~~ The commands, units and leaders of the General SS are finally compiled into a single detailed reference book for both the historian and SS memorabilia collector. This complete volume begins with an explanation of the twelve administrative and command main offices involving the SS to include the development, components and functions of each, as well as their respective office chiefs. The following section explores the most powerful posts in the SS, the Higher SS and Police Leaders, along with the subordinate SS and Police Leaders found in occupied territories - both the commands and the individual holder of these posts are examined in depth. The SS Main Districts are covered next including all their various subordinate components, title changes, development, commanders and chiefs of staff. The more than forty SS Districts follow, detailed in a similar format. Examining the more than one-hundred and twenty-five SS Foot Regiments in the General SS, the names and ranks of the hundreds of commaners, as well as details of unit location changes, popular and honor titles as well as other data for each are within a separate chapter. Finally, the elite SS Riding Districts and Regiments are covered similarly. Career biographies are included for more than two hundred senior SS commanders, many of whom served portions of their career in the Waffen-SS, Polizei, SD and other facets of Himmler's commands. The biographical data for individuals alone adds vast detail to this fascinating topic. Along with more than 120 rare photos of SS senior ranking officers and seven maps, a detailed index allows referencing of individual commands or personalities. Size: 8.5"x11", over 120 photos and maps, 256 pages.
$49.95
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Middleton, Drew,
COMRADES TO THE END: The 4th SS Panzer-Grenadier Regiment Der Fuhrer 1938-1945. NEW
copy, hardcover. (Atglen, PA: Schiffer Books, 1999).
30 maps, over 70 photographs, index, 480 pages.
~~~ Written by Swords to the Knight`s Cross holder and last regimental commander Otto Weidinger, Comrads to the End is the complete history of SS-Regiment "Der Fuhrer". One of the orginal infantry regiments of the pre-war SS-Verflugungstruppe (Special Purpose troops), "Der Fuhrer" was formed in 1938 and fought throughout the war as a component of Division "Das Reich". Being among the most succseeful and decorated regiments of the Waffen-SS, this complete history was written with the full assistance of four highly decorated regimental commanders. In addition to Otto Weidinger, portions of the text were contributed by Grorg Keppler (Knight`s Cross), Sylvester Stadler (Swords to the Knight`s Crocc) and Otto Kumm (Swords to the Knight`s Cross). From its creation from primarily Austrian recruits through the Western Campaign, to the bitter battles in Russia where it was almost completly destroyed, the authors explain the engagements of this famous unit in full detail. Later it fought in Normandy and finally in Austria at the end of the war as one of the last fully battle ready units of the Waffen-SS. this classic study is now available for the first time in a complete English edition. With a preface by famed Waffen-SS commander Paul Hausser, the detailed text is illustrated by more than twenty regimental maps in addition to photographs.
$39.95
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Weingartner, James J,,
HITLER’S GUARD:
The Story of the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, 1933-1945.
NEW copy. Battery Press, 1989. Hardcover with dust jacket.
27 photos/drawings, 208 pages.
~~~ This is an important study of the premier Waffen-SS unit, the
lst SS Panzer Division "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler", from its formation
as the Fuhrer's bodyguard in 1933 to its expansion and operations as a
crack armored division. 1989 reprint of 1974 edition.
$29.00
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British General Staff,
HANDBOOK OF THE GERMAN ARMY, 1940.
NEW copy. Battery Press. Hardcover issued without dust jacket.
85 photos/drawings, 417 pages. "This was printed by the British War Office in Dec. 1940, and presents up to date
information on the German Army. There are chapters on organisation & strength of all types of formations, including
Infantry, SS,. Para, Panzer and more. There are details on small arms, close support & anti-tank weapons, all types
of artillery, and armoured units, engineer & engineer equipment, signal services, chemical warfare & smoke,
administrative services, Police, Gendarmerie, semi-military forces & labour force, uniforms, badges, Air Force,
Parachute & Air Landing units. Plus a section on tactics. Many appendices.
$48.00
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Mason, Chris,
CAPTURED WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT OFTHE GERMAN WEHRMACHT 1938-1945. NEW
copy, trade PAPERBACK. (Atglen, PA: Schiffer Books, 1998).
Over 100 b&w photographs & drawings, 48 pages.
~~~ Covers the variety of captured weapons and equipment used by the Wehrmacht.
$9.95
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Lucas, James.
HITLER'S COMMANDERS: German Bravery in the Field, 1939-1945.
Cassell & Co. 2000, Fine/VG. Two small tears to spine of dust
jacket, otherwise in NEW condition. Military Book Club edition.
Photographs, index, 223 pages.
$29.00
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Mason, Chris,
PERSONAL EFFECTS OF THE GERMAN SOLDIER IN WORLD WAR II. NEW
copy, hardcover. (Atglen, PA: Schiffer Books, 1999).
Over 320 color and b&w photographs, 176 pages.
~~~ German soldiers, sailors and airmen of World War II went to war with a fascinating variety of personal effects in their pockets and knapsacks. Chris Mason’s new book explores this most personal, private, and often poignant aspect of military history, through a study of the small items German soldiers used in the barracks and in the trenches for work, hygiene, eating, relaxation, and survival. This study of these small personal items, presented with hundreds of full-color and period photos, provides a remarkable window into the daily lives of men caught in the maelstrom of history.
$39.95
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Wurst, Spencer F., and Gayle Wurst,
DESCENDING FROM THE CLOUDS: A Memoir of Combat in the 505 Parachute Infantry, Regiment, 82d Airborne Division.
NEW copy, hardcover with dust jacket. (Casemate, 2004).
Maps, 28 b/w photographs, notes, index, 266 pages. "Spencer Wurst saw it all. As a paratrooper of the 82nd Airborne from 1943 to 1944, he was bound to. Italy, Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge changed him from a greenhorn to a seasoned platoon leader. Wurst’s exciting, fast-paced, cleanly written combat memoir does a superb job of transporting the reader back to the crucial phases of the war in Europe.
From parachuting into Normandy with tracers whizzing past his face to meals of “boiled chicken-in-a-helmet,” Descending from the Clouds packs in an astonishing amount of detail. Wurst’s writing contains a rhythmic quality that surpasses most memoirs. For instance, the passage on how he and his unit suited up for the Normandy invasion is as engaging as his striking description of shooting a German soldier from two feet away.
You’ll be by Wurst’s side through his entire tour, from training in Georgia to
the frozen Ardennes, where he served at point man on his 20th birthday. Wurst
earned two purple hearts and a Silver Star. Sixty years later, he says, he
thanks God every day for seeing him through it all."
$32.00
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