Mitch,

Sadly, I have a copy from The Times Publishing(1953), "Britian's Homage To 28,000 American Dead". It's preface includes a message from The Rt. Hon. Winston S. Churchill, O.M., C.H., M.P.:

Our two countries, parted long ago by war,
were brought together again by war in a unity and understanding such as we had never known.
Through long years of endeavor and endurance we shared all things, and though we lost so much we found a lasting friendship. We shall not forget those gallant American soldier, sailors and airmen who fought with us, some in our own ranks, countless others from our shores. To those who did not return the best memorial is the fellowship of our two countries, which by their valor they created and by their sacrifice
they have preserved.

mm411

Mitch,

I remember enjoying these books:

"A Blood-Dimmed Tide: The Battle of the Bulge by the Men Who Fought It", Gerald Astor

"Kasserine Pass", Martin Blumenson

"The Mighty Endeavor: The American War In Europe", Charles B. MacDonald

"The X-Craft Raid", Thomas Michael Gallagher - about the mission to sink the Tirpitz

Eric

ah, a fellow Battle of Britain enthusiast! perhaps, then, you'll already know The Battle of Britain : July-December 1940 by Marcel Jullian. a very unusual, very French (in a good way) take on the battle, with an emphasis on personal anecdotes of the combatants. quite touching.

that Forgotten Soldier is quite a mind-boggler. got it out of the San Francisco Public Library once.

What, nobody's seen "Casablanca?"

I was in the annual Nijmegen march while in the Army, and we watched "A Bridge Too Far" in a theatre there, just a few miles from a bridge from the campaign. The march also crosses the bridge.

http://www.4daagse.nl/frameset.asp?lan=eng

The folks there *really* liked us GI's.

Films:

"Bridge on the River Kwai" (I know only one other person who has actually seen this; perhaps I need to hang with a better class of people)

"Hope and Glory"
Absorbing, funny and UNSENTIMENTAL view of civilian life in WWII England.

"A Private Function"
Michael Palin and Maggie Smith try to hide a highly prized (and illegal) pig in heavily-meat-rationed wartime London.

"Rogue Male"
A splendid made-for-TV BBC production featuring Peter O'Toole as a loopy British nobleman who sets out to assassinate Hitler. Suspenseful and gripping.

A Midnight Clear, a movie about a truce and fight around Christmas in the Ardennes.

Set Europe Ablaze, a non-fiction history of the S.O.E. in Europe in WWII. Sorry, I can't remember the author.

I've posted my movie entries.

http://blog.infinitemonkeysblog.com/archive/000577.html

I imagine that my books would all fall under the "everybody knows" heading.

Mitch,
Is the "The GI War" the one by Ernie Pyle taken from articles and despatches he wrote while covering the war? I read that one many times while growing up and it made a big impression on me.
Here's two more books.
"With The Old Breed" by E.B. Sledge
The personal account of a young Marine fighting in the South Pacific. Very powerful with harrowing descriptions of battle on Peleliu and on Okinawa.
"the Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer
The experience of a German soldier on the Russian Front. Brutal, Fasinating.

Er, sorry Mitch, just noticed you listed Sajer's book first on your list

Pyle contributed to the "GI War" I remember, but wasn't the author or editor. It long postdated his death, obviously.

Drizzle - Midnight Clear is a great one. Also, one starring Ron Eldard whose name eludes me, set at the battle of the Huertgen Forest (the main setting of the memoir I ghost-wrote) was excellent.

Tim - Have seen "Kwai" - excellent. And "Hope and Glory" - great catch. I loved that. I should add "The Great Escape". It did a wonderful job of explaining the true story; as long as you can leave out Steve McQueen's grandstanding part (the motorcycle jump), which is really the only completely ahistorical part of the show, its' fantastic. (That and the fact that the three successful escapees were two Norwegians and a Dutchman...)

Yep, Brian - I'm not the only one to have seen Casablanca. I changed the title of this post without editing that closely, from "Best" to "Never Heard Of".

And I've also done the road from Eindhoven to Arnhem. Humbling. Especially the Niewebrucke at Nijmegen; you look at that, and think "people paddled across THIS? In CANVAS BOATS? UNDER FIIIIIIRE?" Amazing.

"The Second World War" by Winston Churchill
He won the Nobel Prize for literature for his memoirs.

Oh, I should have mentioned that while they may fall outside of Mitch's idea of the guidelines, I learned a TON of stuff from reading bound collections of firsthand accounts written by Marine correspondents who were like today's embeds, only further in harm's way. They often went in with the regular Marines, even in first and second waves of assaults, tasked predominantly with utilizing their pen and pad rather than their weapon.

Other things that can be found in good university libraries are unit histories. For example, I have my grandfather's, titled, Ours to Hold It High: The History of the 77th Infantry Division in World War II, by The Men Who Were There. (That's really the author credit.)

Here's a link for unit histories: http://www.library.unt.edu/govinfo/wwii/selected_unit_histories.htm

I read "The Forgotten Soldier" years ago, but I don't recall it being much better than average. I can recommend "Incredible Victory" by Walter Lord, a page-turning account of the battle of Midway, and "A Time For Trumpets" about the Battle of the Bulge. I loaned that ook out and never got it back. I don't remember the author's name, but it was a very good book.

"Once An Eagle" ...plus, I've seen "Bridge on the River Kwai probably 10 times over the years.

Popski's Private Army by Vladimir Peniakoff.
PPA (their official title!) was the smallest independent command in the Allied forces of WW11.
Peniakoff (Popski) was a White Russian running a sugar mill in Egypt in the 1930s and amusing himself by exploring deep into the Sahara in his spare time, in a battered old Ford called the Pisspot. Came the war and he put together a group of about 40 men in jeeps to gather intelligence and raid the Germans from the South.
After the invasion of Italy (they were first ashore at Taranto) they followed the fighting up the Appennine mountains within(!) the German front lines all the way to Venice.
Wonderful story, and a truly amzing man.

For movies, I would add "Tora, Tora, Tora," quite accurate historically. Among the books, there is a trilogy of novels by Thedor Plevier, _Leningrad_, Moscow_, _Stalingrad_. he is a German lefty, possibly a Commie, but a superb writer.

For books - 'Thunderbolt' by Robert Johnson.

My earliest reading about WWII was probably the best choice it could have been -- Ernie Pyle's HERE IS YOUR WAR - Follows the North Africa Campaign and on into Sicily. A few years later I got a copy of Pyle's BRAVE MEN which takes him through Italy and into the south of France. I have had a great weakness for the first person memoir since then. One of the best of these is Carter's (I believe his first name was Ross or Russ) THOSE DEVILS IN BAGGY PANTS - 82nd Airborne from North Africa to Market Garden -- reading how he was the only survivor of his original group of friends is a harrowing experience. To then read in the final notes that he died of cancer in 1947 makes you wonder what this talented writer and the many other silenced voices of his generation could have contributed to our world.

No movie about WWII touches the series BAND OF BROTHERS for authenticity of setting, equipment etc. Sorry, but Private Ryan while a technologic marvel (my wife's uncle, John, who was in the 29th Division and in the second wave at Omaha said they got the sound of bullets pinging off the steel obstructions ABSOLUTELY right!) but the story spun off in a predictable Hollywood direction, Uncle John thought the assault on the radar station made no sense at all. For little seen movies, BATTLEGROUND is unique and AWAY ALL BOATS GIVES a realistic Navy story (I believe it was based upon a memoir) DAS BOOT in German with English subtitles makes you do two things - forget you actually don't know German and hope by the end that these guys will survive their doomed cruise (even though they ARE the enemy).
An earlier post mentioned the Ron Eldard movie about the Huertgen Forest (where my Father in Law lost his twin brother) I believe the title was WHEN TRUMPETS FADE.

Billy Bob,

Re Das Boot - I minored in German in college. The first time I saw it, it was German without subtitles. Incredible. I've seen it since with subtitles and dubbed - but the German-only version was best.

I'll second Churchill's history. He doesn't always make himself look good in it, either.

I have a first edition around the house somewhere by Neville Chamberlain. I believe the title is "Peace in our Lifetime." It is a fascinating read (no sarcasm meant...it really is good since you know how things turn out).

This doesn't qualify as true WW II literature, but I do have to mention Mein Kampf. As a friend once said, it's the closest you'll ever have to a conversation with the man.

And while I haven't read it yet, I just received "The Fall of Berlin" by Antony Beevor. Got extremely good reviews.