"Infantry Combat Novels" Topic

Are they any partiularly good historical novels or memoirs that focus on squad and platoon level combat on the Western Front? Something like Black Hawk Down or House to House but for WW2?

Thanks!

Not a novel, but a memoir: I recommend "18 Platoon" by Syndey Jary if you can find a copy.

Memoirs, 18 Platoon by Jary, Company Commander by Macdonald, I Bought a Star by Firbank.

Novels, A Walk in the Sun, The Long Days Dying. I'm sure there are others but infantry novels are hard to come by, plenty about tanks, ships and planes.

"If You Survive" by George Wilson – a memoir of a wet-behind-the-ears GI infantry LT in the ETO .

"Men at Arnhem" by Geoffrey Powell – this is a memoir disguised as a novel. Powell was a company commander that dropped into Arnhem. His company is whittled down to a weak platoon in only a couple of days. Very gripping read.

"The Fortress: A Diary of Anzio and After" by Raleigh Trevelyan

A nice brief memoir. The best part is when the author, a young subaltern, leads his platoon on an attack against dug-in positions.

18 Platoon is available from riflesdirect.com. Cost is 20 quid mind so a bit pricey. Quartere Safe out Here by George Macdonald Fraser is a must for the Burma campaign, as is The Road Past Mandalay by John Masters. These are all autobiographies though.

The Sergeant Jack Tanner series are a great read.

I forgot 'Arnhem Spearhead' by Sim, and there was a memoir by someone in a carrier platoon in the Rifle Brigade whose title escapes me.

Apologies to the late GMDF for forgetting 'Quartered Safe Out Here', his McAuslen trilogy is an excellent and very thinly fictionalised account of life in the army in the immediate aftermath of WW2.

Novel, the Glory Jumpers.

Chalfant

There is Cross of Iron
Crack of Doom

by Willi Heinrich. Its about German Infantrymen on the eastern front. His book Mark of Shame is about a soldier that is captured by the Russians and when released he tries to make his way in Post war Germany.
As he served on the eastern front, he writes about situations and conditions he had familiarity with.

Memoirs of rifleman Bowlby

"Liquidate Paris" by Sven Hassel. Highly authentic.

"Hell's Highway" by George Koskimaki-- 101st Airborne during Market Garden. The author served with the 101st; interviews with other vets provide a good description of low- level actions.

I quite enjoyed "The Steel Wave" by Jeff Shaara. It's historical fiction, putting words and ideas into characters and situations drawn from the real world. Stories range from the generals down to grunts. And in a way he pulls it off -- almost explaining people's behavior like Patton in ways that relate to modern sensibilities.

I was put off by Jeff Shaara when his primary credentials were that his daddy wrote a Pulitzer Prize novel … but he seems to be getting better and better all the time.

The Rising Tide (and others in the line) are not strictly about the soldiers but always have a couple to get that side of the story and generally half the book is from that perspective. It is by the son of Michael Shaara, so some like him and others don't.

One of the classics, "Company Commander" by Charles B. MacDonald.

Andy Johnson is a retired Guards Sergeant Major. He's written 3 books, Seelowe Nord is a different take on Operation Sealion, Thunder in May is about France 1940 and Crucible of Fate is about Normandy 1944. All have platoon/company level engagements that feel authentic.

Second "Cross Of Iron" and "Crack Of Doom". An Osprey Campaign Series titled "Kuban" related that the "Sergeant Steiner" in "Cross Of Iron" was a Knight's Cross winner Willi Heinrich served with. The man survived the war and lived to be a 104! Heinrich's description of battle is first class. The fight in the factory in "Cross Of Iron" is epic and it is a crying shame it was never filmed.

The Cauldron by Zeno (the author served in the 1st Airborne Division during WWII).

The Big Pick-Up by Elleston Trevor (filmed as Dunkirk, the John Mills version)

Eagles of the Reich & Brandenburg Division by Willi Berthold

The Black Jackals (1st in a series) by Iain Gale

Currahee! by Donald R Burgett (one of the Screaming Eagles, this is the 1st in a 5-series).

With the Jocks by Peter White is an excellent platoon level history by a guy who was a platoon commander from Walcheren through to,the end of the war.. Very readable and gives a really good feel of what iinfantry fighting in ww2 was like.

Forgotten Soldier.

Not sure if it's Company Commander, mentioned above, or Combat Commander.

Anyway, a good read, with an "all-arms" approach broken down into discrete chapters.

There's a Jagdpanther in the story, so what's not to love about that?

hocklermp5 – The factory battle was filmed.

YouTube link

mckrok – Yes, Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer is a great book.

Adding:
With the Old Breed Eugene Sledge – pacific
Blood Red Snow Gunter Korschorrek – eastern front

Partially Western Front:
Popski's Private Army covers special forces engagements in Libya and Italy.

On Infantry by English

On Killing by Grossman

Not Novels but certainly worthwhile reads on the topic … i.e. Infantry/Grunts …

x2 for Zeno's 'The Cauldron' and Macksey's 'BHattle'.

The Big Red One by Samuel Fuller (the book not the movie). Though if you have see The Big Red One The Reconstruction, you have the "seen" most of the novel.

The Gentle Infantryman by Bill Boyd.

Has been a while since I read either of them but I remember really enjoying them.