"German History" Topic

Are there many narrative histories on WWII written from the German perspective?

Not talking about the personal histories like Mellenthin and Guderoan and Luck.

Any "historian" more scholarly type work using German records and diaries, etc, similar to Atkinsons Trilogy or even Ryan or Ambrose. But German historians, etc.

Two that I can think of are:
"The Germans In Normandy" – Hargreaves – Pen & Sword and
"Fighting The Invasion" – Isby – Greenhill Books. I do recall a book from my youth in the '60s called "Invasion – They Are Coming" but it is so old that I would question the value of the info inside. (Dang it, now I'm going to have to root through and see if I still own it.)

Ambrose!? Seriously? Ambrose the jingoistic liar and PLAGIARIST? You would have to read Mein Kampf to get German point of view equal to Amrose's nonsense.

It's not a question of age invalidating the information -- "Invasion -- They're Coming" was written by Obersturmbannfuehrer Paul Schmidt, chief press officer to Ribbentrop, so I think he'll handsomely out-lie anything Ambrose has ever come up with.

All the best,

John.

The Forgoten Soldier, by Guy Sajer. Been awhile since I read it (like 20+ years) but I do remember it being very depressing.

Sajer's book is extremely depressing and self serving and has been questioned about it's accuracy.
But it gives a very good overview of what it was like to be a German soldier on the Eastern Front, (imho, only)

I agree that while some aspects of The Forgotten Soldier may be the product of the author's imagination it is a great read

Look for Stackpole Military History on Amazon. Lots of books in the series were written by or at least co-authored by WWII German Soldiers.

I can't think of historian based ones but some other good personal narratives are Fur Volk and (sic) Fuehrer, Black Edelweiss, 6 days in January, an infantryman in Stalingrad and one other whose name escapes me at present and I can't find my copy; something about 4 fronts in 5 years or similar?

The Military Book Club has lots and lots of German first person memoirs in their selection, as well as many Soviet memoirs. I find it an excellent bargain, and commend it to your attention.

Also, if you google WWII German Soldiers Memoirs, a list of about 70 books comes up on Amazon.

There's the official history. It's a little spendy, >$600 for just the volume on Barbarossa. Here's the link on amazon in the states but it would probably be better to seek it out on interlibrary loan:

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The OP specifically said he didn't want personal histories but narrative histories.

The only ones I can really think of are Carrell/Schmidts efforts and Schroeters Stalingrad, but neither of them were professional historians. The modern Stackpole books come close I guess but all the ones I've read teeter ever so closely on the edge of panzer porn. Decision in the Ukraine was very interesting, even if the authors somewhat bizarre explicitly stated purpose was to demonstrate that the Waffen SS were actually really, really combat effective. What an original idea.

There are many many millions….

link
Printed on a weekly basis!

"many many millions…. " = "Landser"

You are joking. The "Landser" is a trivial, apologetic, semi-fictional journal for wanna-be soldiers.

There are many new interesting books by german historians, who have analyzed aspects of world war 2. Most are about war atrocities etc., but some have shown also new aspects of classic military history.

For example:
Karl-Heinz Frieser, Blitzkrieg-Legende. Der Westfeldzug 1940. – He argues, that the german Blitzkrieg in France was no plan by Hitler and Manstein, but a result of the activities of military leaders at the front.

Soenke Neitzel, Soldaten. Protokolle vom Kämpfen, Töten udn Sterben. – Neitzel has found new sources in wiretap transcripts of german prisoners. He shows the mentality of German soldiers en detail. For me the most intersting thing was, that these german soldiers feared the war could be lost by beeing not brutal enough to the enemies.

There are a LOT of them! So, yes, there are.

I flew for the Fuhrer by Heinz Knoke is a good read.

Panzer Truppen, Vol. II, By Thomas Jentz, Schiffer Military History Books, ISBN: 0-7643-0080-6. This volume deals primarily with the experiences of several Panzer formation commanders during the war. Mr. Jentz has taken official records (re: Commander's battle reports) and has translated them from German to english. He has grouped them by theme. There are returns that not only account for how many vehicles were damaged, but how long they would not be available for action and by types; total write-offs. Almost all reports give insight to the problems faced by these commanders. Often, Panzer units were attached to an infantry command where the infantry commander had no concept of armored warfare. The true heroes seem to have been the maintenance and supply troops! Recovery of damaged vehicles and seemingly miraculous efforts performed by these men to keep the panzers rolling can be found everywhere in this book.

Schiffer has many such volumes where first hand accounts are offered that often give great insight to the daily lives of the German soldiers in WWII. Highly recommended!

Tom Dye

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Teppsta, that's one great read, have it myself. Very interesting photo's in it.

Paul Carell on the Eastern Front is pretty near to what you are after DukeWacoan. This thread does illustrate how little serious German WWII history gets through to English-speakers, and how many TMPers read narrative believing it to be 'history'! I enjoy books about/by individuals too – but they are neither what was asked for, nor necessarily history. In my view, most are self-serving whitewashes about how brave they were, how rotten everyone else was, and how, no, they knew nothing about atrocities.

Beware of Paul Carell. He was under the name Paul (Karl) Schmidt chief press officer of Ribbentrop and SS-Obersturmbannführer.

Karl-Heinz Frieser, Blitzkrieg-Legende. Der Westfeldzug 1940.

I heartily second this recommendation. It's available in English:

link

His explanation of why Hitler halted the Panzers at Dunkirk is excellent as well (basically those nasty Panzer commanders were scaring the Fuhrer, and he felt obliged to exert his control).

It has good maps, too, as I recall.

I picked up Blitzkrieg Legend on Kindle based on recommendations here. About 1/3 way in. Very good. I'd recommend. Good smooth translation. I had forgotten Halder considering a coup and assassination. Just finished that section.

I'm guessing that all the generals disagreeing with Hitler and Hitler turning out right did a great deal to cause the later attitudes and deference to Hitler.

Looking for more like that.