WWII Books

(1986) A young half Jewish boy in WWII Berlin goes to work at the Kaiser Wilhem Institute for Neurophysiological Research, Berlin-Hagan.

Most of this book is about the B-17, its history, specifications and air battles.

This excellent Radio Theatre audio book by Focus on the Family is about the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran pastor and theologian who dared to defy the Nazis.

(1948) German prisoners of war are recruited to return to Germany as an agent to collect information on Germany military activities.

(1958) An Autobiography was written by Bernt Balchen in 1958. Balchen was many things but would probably have wanted to be remembered as a great explorer. He was.

The story of Eva Schloss, childhood friend of Anne Frank, who spent nearly a year in Auschwitz.

(2007) The biography of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the president who prepared us for and led us through World War II.

James Bradley writes about the Battle of Iwo Jima after discovering a box of papers left behind by his father, one of the flag raisers.

Favorite (2008) A fascinating account of the many women who loved Franklin Roosevelt and how each influenced his life.

(2003) The author describes not only the friendship between these two remarkable men but also the interrelated relationships of their families and closest associates.

Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II’s Greatest Rescue Mission. About the raid by allied forces on the POW camp at Cabanatuan in the Philippines.

Novel by J.C. Pollock. In 1992 a former SS officer hands off to his terrorist son a detailed list of the artwork stolen by Nazi Herman Georing.

(2009) The biography of Walter Schellenberg, one of Nazi Germany’s top leaders as the head of foreign intelligence.

Hunting Eichmann – How a Band of Survivors and a Young Spy Agency Chased Down the World’s Most Notorious Nazi

Jumpin’ Jimminy – a World War II Baseball Saga. American Flyboys and Japanese Submarines Battle it out in a Swedish World Series, written by Robert Skole

(1995) Author Philip Ziegler documents what was happening in the “greatest city in the world” during the wartime years.

“Making for Sweden, part 2 – The United States Army Air Force.” This is the #1 resource for information on the American airmen who landed in Sweden during World War II. Part 1 covers the RAF.

“Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany” by Miller, Donald L. This excellent resource is a remarkable history of the 8th Air Force.

Operatives, Spies, and Saboteurs: The Unknown Story of World War II’s OSS, by Patrick K. O’Donnell

(2005) Novel by Scott Turow about a son’s quest for the truth about his father’s World War II experiences.

(2008) An American journalist who lives in France becomes obsessed with a story she is writing about the 1942 Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup, when Jewish families in Paris and its suburbs were arrested and sent away.

The story of Bert Stiles, written by Bert Stiles, B-17 co-pilot with the 91st bomber group.

Shot at and Missed: Recollections of a World War II Bombardier

Favorite (2008) During the last months of World War II an aristocratic German family whose farm borders Poland leaves home and treks west in a desperate effort to escape the advancing Russians.

(1997) “Spies: A Narrative Encyclopedia of Dirty Tricks and Double Dealing from Biblical Times to Today” is like a Wiki for spies.

(2006) French author Irène Némirovsky writes about the Fall of France during the time that it happened.

Target Berlin: Mission 250: 6 March 1944. The first large-scale daylight raid on Berlin. By Jeffrey Ethell and Dr. Alfred Price.

(2011) Novel by Bobbie Ann Mason about a B-17 crew shot down over Nazi occupied Belgium. The pilot returns decades later to the scene of the crash in order to reconnect with the members of the French underground who helped him escape.

During the war, the Germans occupied Britain’s Channel Islands, one of which is Guernsey.

The War: An Intimate History, 1941-1945, by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns.

(2004) A German mother and her daughter struggle with their separate memories of surviving the years of Nazi Germany.

Favorite (2010) By Laura Hillenbrand is the amazing true story of Olympic runner Louis Zamperini, the B-24 bombardier who became a Pacific POW. That he survived his ordeals at all is the story.

This book by LIbby Cone describes the miserable occupation of the Channel Islands by the Germans during the war.