"What 's your favorite WWII novel?" Topic

A few of mine,

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Winds of War by Herman Wouk
War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk
Cain Mutiny by Herman Wouk

I would add The Cross of Iron, A Walk in the Sun and South Pacific (which is actually a book of linked short stories).

Warriors for the Working Day

closely based on British 11th Armoured Division in Normandy

Tank by Ken Tout.. only just a novel, a fictionalised story of Normandy again

The Cruel Sea

A Town Like Alice
All the Light We Can Not See
The Narrow Road to the Deep North

- The Caine Mutiny
- The Thin Red Line
- The Enemy Below
- The Winds of War
- Men at Arnhem

All good reads.

Richard Powell's The Soldier--US Army in the Pacific.

But not to neglect Twelve O'clock High or Run Silent, Run Deep.

Funny I was thining of that too.

"Warriors for the Working Day" by Peter elstob I think.

A tank commander on into the advance into Germany who has seen too much.

Another vote for The Cruel Sea.
Life and Fate (Grossman)
The Sword of Honour Trilogy (Waugh)
The Sands of Valour (Wagner) – because it's got A10s …
Flesh Wounds (Holbrook) – more tanks – read it at school and was much affected

Battle Cry by Leon Uris
The Good Shepherd by CS Forester
Bomber by Len Deighton

Whip by Martin Caidin
The Last Dogfight by Martin Caidin
Goodbye Mickey Mouse by Len Deighton
Crack of Doom by Willi Heinreich

The Regiment by Farley Mowat (A Canadian regiment – The Hasty P's in Sicily and Italy)
Guadalcanal Diary by Richard Tregaskis (The marines, enough said)

Bob

We have some very high quality classics listed so far.

So, on the other end of the spectrum, I really like the totally fictional works of Sven Hassel. I loved them as a teen and can still enjoy time with my old friends.

Tip of the top hat to you and now I'll retire to my bunker and await the inevitable artillery strike.

Battle Cry
Guadalcanal Diary

The Eagle Has Landed
The Guns of Navarone
Snow Treasure
Where Eagles Dare

The Guns of Navarone

Catch 22 was an awful experience for me. Nearly unreadable.

Tramp in Armour (Colin Forbes)

The Cruel Sea (Nicholas Monsarrat)

The Eagle Has Landed (Jack Higgins)

The Caine Mutiny while being a favorite movie the book is that much better

Wheels of Terror by Sven Hassel :-)

Most of my favourite 'novels' are actually thinly disguised autobiographies, as was fashionable in the 1950s. The Cruel Sea, Mailed Fist, Warriors for the Working Day, HMS Ulysses etc.

Most actual WW2 novels are pretty poor though, honourable exceptions being Catch 22, A Walk in the Sun, The Naked and the Dead, Slaughterhouse 5 and Bomber by Len Deighton.

'Panzer' by Harold Calin was very good though, covering a US Rifle Company in the Bulge and an interesting study of small unit tactics. I suspect the author had done some of this stuff for real as well.

I have read both 'Crack of Doom' and 'Cross of Iron' by Heinrich and prefer the latter.

I pride myself by having a pretty complete collection of Sven Hassel.

The Eagle Has Landed
Where Eagle's Dare
Cruel is the Sea
Run Silent, Run Deep
Whip
Bomber

Cruel Sea and Winds of War.

James Benn's Billy Boyle novels are worth reading.

Catch 22

Codename Verity
Between Shades of Gray (aka Ashes in the Snow)
Salt to the Sea
The Light in Hidden Places
Bluebird
Artifice
(All fairly recent, featuring female protagonists dealing with other aspects of war than battle, from espionage to civilian refugees, resistance groups, and more. All offer different perspectives than what one expects from a "war" novel, and are important reminders that soldiers aren't the only ones caught up in war, or the only ones fighting.)

I too found Catch 22 almost unreadable.

I Had to give a book report on "Run Silent Run Deep" in high school. Good read.

Catch 22 all the way.

Alistair Mclean the guns of navarone
Jack Higgins the eagle has landed and eagle has flown
Leo Kessler Stormtroop series
Sven Hassel series
regards Allan

Catch-22 I guess , but I haven't read many.