Best WWII non-fiction you've read

[ellecf21]

Mine was Tattooist of Auschwitz. Possibly one of the most incredible stories I've ever read. What's yours?

A book published originally as a chidren's book but a satisfactory adult read (adults more likely to read the nightmare truths between the lines as times) is Mischling Second Degree by Ilse Koehn. As a girl with one Jewish grandparent, Ilse had to be careful and conformist as a child, neither of which came easily to her. She describes her experiences as a Hitler Youth member - an interesting account of an individual trapped in an evil system.

The Most Dangerous Enemy - Stephen Bungay, the best history of the Battle of Britain I have encountered.

The Wooden Horse - Eric Williams, non-fiction but reads like a thriller, escape from POW camp in Germany.

The Sharp End - John Ellis, the clearest picture by a historian of the eperience of fighting soldiers in WWII.

Hannah Goslar Remembers - I read it as a young teen and it is an extraordinary read. She was a childhood friend of Anne Frank (and is mentioned in Anne Frank's diary). The book covers Hannah's experience of the Holocaust

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich - William Shirer

A lot of my favourites have already been mentioned:
Schindler’s Ark, Thomas Keneally
Five days that shocked the world, Nicholas Best
If this is a man / The Truce, Primo Levi
if this is a woman, Sarah Helm
A woman in Berlin, Anonymous
Agent Zigzag, Ben MacIntyre
Suite Francais, Irene Nemirovsky

I missed off A Woman of No Importance, Sonia Purnell.

Read The Escape Artist last year and thought it was outstanding.
Agree with Night and A Woman in Berlin.
Currently reading The House of Glass by Hadley Freeman and loving it- about a Polish Jewish family who emigrate to France in the 1930s (haven't got much further than that!)

The silver sword by Ian Serraillier. It's a kids book, I first read it when I was about 10 and it stayed with me all my life! I've read it on and off for the past 40 years and it's still as good.

Enemy Coast Ahead by Wing Commander Guy Gibson VC, DSO & bar, DFC & bar. The story of the bomber pilot's bomber pilot. Raised, trained & led the Dambusters of 617 Squadron. Killed over Holland in 1944, aged 26.

Also "Quartered Safe Out Here" by George Mcdonald Fraser - his time in the Border Regiment in Burma as a 19 year old. So good it's on the reading list at Sandhurst.

@GiltEdges the last one was WW2. I finished it today.

Spike Milligan's war diaries.

Blitz Spirit compiled from the Mass Observation archive (Becky Brown)

Looking For Trouble by Virginia Cowles, a young journalist who covered the outbreak of WWII (up to 1941) for the Sunday Times. She really gets around and seems to have a talent for arriving somewhere just as things are kicking off. She also meets a lot of the key players in the war. I found it a hugely interesting book.

Seconded. Spike is writing from an ordinary private’s point of view and it’s such a different insight to the war than you get from members of the Officer class. Plus his war memoirs are often hilarious despite the awfulness of the situation and it’s interesting to read the beginnings of his music and showbiz career entertaining the troops.

Under Fire by Naomi CLifford - based on the diaries of a society girl who volunteered as an ambulance driver in the Blitz - absolutely fascinating.

www.amazon.co.uk/Under-Fire-Diaries-Volunteer-Ambulance-ebook/dp/B09B5BKHM8

You saved me the trouble of typing? A Life in Secrets is the best book I have ever read.

I also enjoy Ben Macintyre's books.

A Brilliant Little Operation by Paddy Ashdown - account of a daring commando raid in Bordeaux by a small group of special forces men in canoes and their attempted escape through occupied France. Paddy Ashdown was in the special forces himself before becoming an MP so brings his own insight to it.
Also second Band of Brothers & The Colditz Story.

Not sure what this thread is really asking for, as most of what is asked for is actually fictionalised versions of fact, so not non-fiction at all.

Soo........Regeneration trilogy by Pat Barker - fictionalised
Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose - non-fiction
Into That Darkness by Gitta Sereny - non-fiction

How the girl guides won the war.

'Reach for the sky' - Paul Brickhill
Was one I loved as a teen. It was full of wonderful heroism. (It is the story of Douglas Bader -Royal airforce pilot who was not deterred by air-crashes, deaths, or losing his own legs.)

The Choice by Dr Edith Eger. Strictly speaking, it's not entirely a WW2 book, but it is the story of her survival and life after. It is a compelling read.

i think there's quite a stretch on the definition of non-fiction in some of these.

I will echo the Beevor book about Stalingrad (and if you want a fictional account try Life and Fate by Vassily Grossmann)
Women of Steel by Michelle Rawlins (she's now writing fiction about the women in Sheffield from that period)
and also echo the Spike Milliigan books

forgot to mention: while at school (so around the time of the TV series) i read the 2 (or e? or more?) books by Major Pat Reid about his time in Colditz, and their escape. It is absolutely fascinating.

The colditz story.

The Cruel Sea is only lightly fictional.