12 World War II Books to Add to Your Collection

The Osprey Sale is running until the end of February, so it's the perfect opportunity to get great deals on a wide range of our books, e-books and games. On the blog today, we're looking at some fantastic World War II books you can add to your collection!

Armour:

British Battle Tanks: American-made World War II Tanks by David Fletcher and Steven J. Zaloga

The idea of British soldiers using American tanks was not viewed with a great deal of enthusiasm by the British Army. However, once British crews got used to them and learned to cope with some of their difficulties, they started to see them in a far more positive light.

This book concentrates on World War II and studies American tanks in British service, some of which were modified in ways peculiar to the British.

The History of the Panzerwaffe: Volume 1: 1939–42 by Thomas Anderson

The Germans transformed armoured warfare from a lumbering and ponderous experiment in World War I into something that could decide the outcome of conflicts. This technical and operational history is the definitive guide to the legendary Panzerwaffe, from its very infancy to the days when it made Europe its garden path at the height of Nazi German power. With rare and revealing combat reports, along with photographs sourced from previously unseen private and archival collections, it uncovers the technical and operational stories of the formidable armoured beasts that formed the backbone of the German war machine.

Atlases:

Atlas of the Blitzkrieg: 1939–41 by Robert Kirchubel

In September 1939, Nazi Germany launched its infamous Blitzkrieg invasion of Poland, bringing about the outbreak of World War II. Faced with highly tactical and accelerated attacks aimed at disrupting the line of defence and encircling vulnerable troops, Allied forces broke under pressure. Featuring 98 detailed maps, this impressive atlas shows, in intricate detail, the fighting and physical challenges faced by the German attackers and Allied defenders.

Atlas of the European Campaign: 1944–45 by Steven J. Zaloga

From the beaches of D-Day through to the final battles in war-ravaged Germany, the war across the breadth and depth of Western Europe is brought to life through scores of carefully researched and intricately detailed maps.

Atlas of the Eastern Front: 1941–45 by Robert Kirchubel

The 128 detailed pieces of cartography in this impressive atlas help to explain the fighting and physical challenges faced by Axis and Soviet forces on the Eastern Front. The complex combat and movement, thrust and parry, brilliance and folly are all explained by these maps and their accompanying text, providing a clear historical and geographical understanding of the brutal and titanic conflict.

Aviation:

Air Combat: Dogfights of World War II by Dmitriy Khazanov, Aleksander Medved, Edward M. Young, Tony Holmes

The battle for the skies in World War II fuelled a race between rival air forces to develop ever faster and more capable fighter aircraft - and the struggle for air superiority was never over until the war itself ended. Air Combat explores clashes of some of the finest planes and pilots, in key theatres of the war.

Desperate Sunset: Japan’s kamikazes against Allied ships, 1944–45 by Mike Yeo

By the middle of 1944, Imperial Japan's armed forces were in an increasingly desperate situation. The Japanese High Command decided that the way to inflict maximum damage on the superior enemy forces was to get the poorly trained Japanese pilots to crash their explosive-laden aircraft onto their target, essentially turning themselves into a guided missile.

Fully illustrated throughout, Desperate Sunset examines the development and evolution of the kamikaze using first-hand accounts, combat reports and archived histories.

Storm of Eagles: The Greatest Aviation Photographs of World War II by John Dibbs, Kent Ramsey, Robert "Cricket" Renner

This remarkable volume is a must-have for anyone interested in World War II aviation, combining classic photographs with never-before-seen wartime images.

Shadow over the Atlantic: The Luftwaffe and the U-boats: 1943–45 by Robert Forsyth

Drawing on historical records not previously published, this book tells for the first time the fascinating story of the formation and operations of FAGr 5 'Atlantik', the Luftwaffe's only long-range maritime reconnaissance and U-boat cooperation unit, which sought to direct the German submarines at the Allied convoys vital to prosecuting the war in Europe.

Naval

Hunt the Bismarck by Angus Konstam

In May 1941, the German battleship Bismarck destroyed HMS Hood in the legendary battle of the Denmark Strait. Bismarck was now loose in the North Atlantic. However, damage sustained in the battle limited her ability to roam at will, while the Royal Navy deployed the Home Fleet to revenge the Hood. The stage was set for the greatest chase story in the history of naval warfare.

Drawing on a wealth of first-hand accounts, and intertwining extensive research into a fast-paced narrative, Hunt the Bismarck is the story of Operation Rheinübung, the Atlantic sortie of the Nazi Germany's largest battleship in May 1941.

German Submarine U-1105 'Black Panther' by Aaron Stephan Hamilton

Now in its final resting place at the bottom of the Potomac River in Maryland, the U-boat U-1105 is unique among German World War II submarines. Technologically innovative, it was the only U-boat to conduct a wartime patrol while equipped with the snorkel, GHG Balkon passive sonar and a rubberized coating known as Alberich designed to reduce its acoustic signature and hide from Allied sonar.

This highly illustrated book uses many new and previously unpublished images to tell the full story of this remarkable U-boat, evaluating the effectiveness of its late-war technologies, documenting its extensive postwar testing and detailing all the features still present on the wreck site today.

Pacific Thunder by Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

This is the fascinating account of the Central Pacific campaign, one of the most stunning comebacks in naval history as in 14 months the US Navy went from the jaws of defeat to the brink of victory in the Pacific.