Europe Books

The book is engaging and unique. Tells about a personal story and also explains the historical background of this period which is invaluable part to understanding the chain of events, events which are often overlooked.

This book expertly combines historical revelations and insights with an against-all-odds survival story!

This is a extremely engaging and informative book about a long overlooked aspect of the Holocaust. And it's a real page-turner. Whiteman's background as a Holocaust survivor and psychologist shines through her astute observations. Whiteman also gives wonderful presentations on Holocaust-related issues.

Through the eyes of a boy battling history, Escape Via Siberia tells the long overlooked story of Eastern Europe during WW II. This willful and wile boy somehow manages to always give the slip to the Nazis and Stalin's forces, which both hunt him throughout Eastern Europe. This true story packs so much suspense and history that it should be made into a movie! It is a must-read for historians and lay audiences alike.

I bought this book after talking to Dorit Whiteman at her book signing at the Holocaust Museum and seeing her engrossing presentation at a library. She is an utterly charming and thoroughly knowledgeable individual! Her book expertly weaves together history with the true story of a how a resourceful, clever boy repeatedly gave the slip to German and Russian forces. I stayed up all night reading this book even though I already knew the end!

This is truly a most enjoyable book! Written with honesty and clarity of thought, it is an excellent window into the mind of an exceptional man in extraordinary circumstances.

It is a far cry from the all too common "hooray for me" war memoirs... the authors recount the exhilaration of victory, but along side it is the fear, the frustration, the loss.

It flows easily and logically and reads very well. It might not be the best WWII flying memoir I've ever read, but it isn't far below the mark. If you are interested in the era and its participants you WILL enjoy this book!

I found The First Hellcat Ace to be a thoroughly enjoyable chronicle of Hamilton McWhorter's experiences in World War II. The book reads well and the story is engaging, providing a balanced view of his personal and professional life as a Naval aviator. The deprivations of shipboard life, the risks of combat, and the pain of separation from loved ones provide a solid foundation for "One-Slug" McWhorter's story.

Professional writer Jay Stout and WWII air ace extraordinaire, CDR Hamilton McWhorter III (USN Ret) have captured a great piece of personal history in their non-fictional book, "The First Hellcat Ace." This is truly one of the all time greatest stories of U.S. Naval aviation history. The authors take us along as we follow a young Hamilton go through his training (During the time of Pearl Harbor) and off on his battles over North Africa against the Vichy French and in the Pacific against the Japanese.

This is not just a story of how one man becomes the first air ace in a Hellcat Fighter but it deals with accounts of other men from "Fighting Squadron 9." These were America's best young men who fought in the skies above the likes of Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and Tarawa Atoll among other places. They risked their lives daily in air to air combat and from hostile ground and ship fire.

There is much depth to the story telling as we get to look at McWhorter's experiences as he reflects back on those days during the war. It is told as if it had just recently happened. The writing style is easy to read and follow and creates great excitement. It also gives us a more personal view of the men and what their lives were like. This book is suitable for most all readers.

If you enjoy aviation, or naval war stories, history, or just like to read about heroes, then this is the book for you. This is an important book that needs to be discovered by young Americans looking for old fashioned heroes. Commander McWhorter is the real McCoy and it would be good to honor him and others like himself before the Greatest Generation becomes just a memory. But when they do, I hope that this book will still be there casting long shadows over future generations.

Given the MWSA's Highest Rating of Five Stars!

Well written, honest and easy to read - this is the kind of book that gets dusted off every year or so and re-read.

I found The First Hellcat Ace to be a thoroughly enjoyable chronicle of Hamilton McWhorter's experiences in World War II. The book reads well and the story is engaging, providing a balanced view of his personal and professional life as a Naval aviator. The deprivations of shipboard life, the risks of combat, and the pain of separation from loved ones provide a solid foundation for "One-Slug" McWhorter's story.

Wow. Possibly the most amazing book I've read. Elkins is furious and angry and this oozes from his writing. How then does it not come across as an emotional diatribe??? This was simply great writing and story telling. The events are interesting. The people are interesting. That the book is fact shocked and depressed me. How much have I already heard about the holocaust? I've seen Schindler's List. I've seen footage of the bodies on the History Channel. I'm reasonably well informed. But this book......this book not only seemed to make the known more real and vivid, it told an incredible and dramatic story I never heard before. I loaned my only copy to a friend and he is just as blown away. I think I'll buy another.

Though horrible and shocking, this book shows how the human spirit cannot be surpressed. In spite of an absolute impossibility of success, a small handfull of men kept the spirit of survival and revenge alive during the darkest period in history. While revenge may seem inappropriate in our concept of ideal society, at that time, no other emotion is conceivable! This book very clearly shows how revenge was a natural outgrowth of the horrors of the holocost.

Elkins keeps his work to the point. He does not hide the facts, but tells them as they really were. For a real close look at the holocaust, this book is a perfect read

A comprehensive chronology of Jewish resistence to the Nazis and their collaborators from the late 30's through the war. It also details complicity of the Central and Eastern Europeans with the Nazis, the apathy of the "Allies" during the war, and the shameful behavior of the world after the war with respect to refugees, Nazi criminals and Israel. This book will make you proud if your Jewish and angry if your human (Jewish or otherwise).

A very good book that makes you feel the pain that the Jews have felt. To try a turn this around and say look how horrible the Jews are is totally insane. The Jews should be commended on being able to keep a cool head after so long. Any other ethnic group of people who would have experienced this would have carried out equal horrible attrocities upon their oppressors. To whine and say what was mentioned in the book was cowardly is pothetic.

I have used this book as a reference work as part of the research into a presentation I was giving on "The Role of the Glider in WW II". The book is well written and covers the descripotion of the Fort itself and its defences, as well as the context of the disposition of the Belgian defenders and the German airborne tactical assault, and besides being well written, provides a large amount of historical material. In addition to these values, it is an excellent read for anyone interested in the details of WW II, that is better than fiction.

This book is interesting to students of military history and does not fulfil the novel reader. It does certainly show how the once wonderful defensive building fell victim to the fresh thoughts of its attackers.

The author does a fine job covering the Eben Emael and its design and the German operation that took it. Some other books in this series, like American World War II defenses, the Maginot Line, and the Western Front in World War I do not do just as good a job because their topics cover a greater subject. The book is well illustrated and the commentary is excellent.

This book was a pleasant surprise. The German assault on Eben Emael tends to be covered very briefly in general histories of the Second World War, because it was over in a flash, and was quickly followed by even more dramatic events. On the other hand, it is not exactly forgotten, because it was very novel. Even though the wrong side won, it was still an impressive feat of cleverness. The Germans realised that the fort would be a difficult target for their tanks and infantry, so they landed gliders on the roof. It shouldn't have worked, because the fort had plenty of weapons that could beat off gliders and close-range attacks, but it did work, because it was carried out with skill and daring.

This book does a super job of describing the battle, in such a way that it would be entertaining even if you didn't care about the topic. I have flicked through Osprey books that have made major battles seem dull, and it's ironic that this book makes such a small action seem intensely epic. I imagine the German paratroopers must have felt they were participating in the most incredible Boy's Own adventure, and afterwards I bet they walked tall, and got free drinks in pubs, or bierkellers, or any place in Germany in 1939 that sold drinks.

The book starts off by covering the strategic reasons for the fort, which had been under construction since the 19th Century. The fort was was supposed to be a kind of self-sufficient underground town, a contemporary nuclear submarine, except that it was a static nuclear submarine that could not attack. The book covers the political situation leading up to the Second World War, and the German preparations for the attack. It explains why the Germans didn't simply go past the fort. The glider assault plan was complex, and might not have worked if Eben Emael had been running at peak efficiency, staffed with crack troops led by top officers, but the book makes clear that the fort was going through a bad patch. The officers in charge come across particularly poorly. The book is so finely-detailed that the individual Belgian casualties are named, and I hope the men who led them so poorly feel humble.

The assault took only a few minutes, and the book does a lot of cross-cutting, but it still makes sense. In theory the fort could have peppered the German gliders with anti-aircraft machineguns, and blasted the German paratroopers with canister rounds shot from its howitzers, but it was embroiled in administrative chaos. The Germans had their fair share of technical problems - a couple of the gliders fell short, several of the anti-bunker explosives had no effect, the troops attacked dummy bunkers - but overall the Germans made very few mistakes, and successfully improvised solutions to the problems they faced. The Belgians made lots of mistakes, big and small mistakes, institutional mistakes, and they did not deal with them, and they lost.

Overall this is a great read. The assault feels like an action film, a very short action film, one in which the Germans win. The level of detail is sufficient for picky people, and it does a good job of explaining that the victory wasn't a simple matter of flying some planes onto the fort and then jumping out, throwing grenades. By the end you'll find yourself cheering on the brave Germans, and then having to wash yourself to get rid of the nasty guity feeling.

A wrestling coach of old was said to tell his wrestlers that there was no escape-proof lock, hold, or other technique in his sport. The same is true of military operations. Eban Emael was said to be impregnable--I forgot; was it politicians or newspapermen who made that claim? Germany exploited new techniques of war to conquer this Belgian fortress, and the Belgian Army appears to have provided less than adequate means to shore up this keystone of the Belgian defenses.

Most modern armchair generals claim that fortifications are holes in the ground that armies pour men and material into for no gain. Permanent fortifications are universally condemned, and even field fortifications are said to sap the offensive strength and morale of the defending armies. It was for this reason that the World War One French Army instituted the spirit of the assault--and suffered massive losses against German barb wire and German Spandau machine guns in 1914 and 1915. Simon Dustan establishes the rational for putting this hole in the ground in the first part of his book. Attempting to understand World War Two in isolation, without considering the bloodbath of 20 years prior, is to ignore reality. The first pages of Fort Eban Emael lay this out quite well, placing the concrete-lined hole-in-the-ground in context of the political and economic climate in Belgium. Note that Dunstan doesn't explore the alternatives to Fort Eben Emael--this is a book about what was, not what could have been.

Hugh Johnson's illustrations clarify how the fort was laid out. Battle is "organized chaos," with the emphasis on "chaos;" the neat diagram of the glider assault on page 50 clarifies how the Germans took the fort, and the text hints at the confusion among the Belgian defenders. Germany developed several new weapons that were first used in this attack: shaped charge demolitions, gliders capable of carrying the heavy equipment needed for reducing gun positions, glider infantry teams task-organized for this mission, and most importantly, the operation was integrated into the campaign. Simply completing a brilliant mission is not enough when that single mission does nothing else. On pages 42 and 43, Johnson's artwork shows how the Luftwaffe circumvented the Belgian wartime blackout (an air raid precaution) to land the glider troops under cover of darkness, and Dunstan's text explains the coordination so that maximum surprise was achieved by the glider assault and the necessary follow-up actions by the ground forces.

Just because the Germans found a countermeasure didn't invalidate the defensive capabilities of Eben Emael. Could the same number of half-trained troops, WITHOUT Eben Emael's powerful fixed artillery batteries, have withstood a German combined arms assault? Resources include men and material--the aircraft and tanks and field artillery used by the allies in 1940 were inferior to the German equipment, and the leadership and common soldier was less experienced and skilled than the German counterparts. I think Belgium was doomed from the moment that Hitler decided to use that small nation as a highway because Belgium couldn't muster resources enough to fight the entire German war machine, and the nation is small! Modern manuever warfare must have manuever room. Belgium tried to remain neutral--couldn't. It takes only one side to start a war. The only chance that Belgium had to remain uninvaded would have been to invade Germany during September of 1939, while most of the German war machine was mobilized for the Polish Campaign--a political impossibility. Besides, Belgium didn't have the mobile, "offensive army" this operation would have required--even if France and Britain would have had the political will and military might to seize the western parts of Germany.

I enjoyed this book because of the details of the fort's layout and construction. The text covered the German countermeasures to the fort's defensive strengths. Eben Emael's communications failed on May 10, 1940, and so the German Luftwaffe glider troops seemed to have had a cakewalk--but Dunstan's text shows that wasn't the case. The issue was in doubt until motorized pioneers arrived to help "mop up" the defenses. It wasn't an easy victory for the Germans.

I love WWII History items. This is a great book to read about the 82nd Airborne and the accomplishements of the great men who made up the 505th PIR. At times the read can be a little slow, but still a great buy.

By the time the troops of the 101st Airborne of "Band of Brothers" fame jumped into Normandy on D-Day, the men of the 82nd Airborne Division had already made two combat jumps -- leading the invasion of Sicily and saving the beachhead at Salerno, Italy. Arguably the finest and fiercest regiment of the 82nd was the 505th and Phil Nordyke has compiled an excellent profile of this group of remarkable warriors whose exploits on the field of battle are second to none but who have not received nearly the attention they deserve. Nordyke's work goes a long way toward correcting that. The author does a wonderful job of setting the stage in each chapter as he tracks the regiment from its formation and training in the states, through its deployment to North Africa, and then on to the battlegrounds in Sicily, Italy, Normandy, Holland, the Bulge, on into Germany, and then home. But after getting you onto the scene, he deftly hands the story of each action over to the veterans who tell the real story, in their own words, of what they experienced and what they accomplished. As a relative of one of the heroes of the 505, I too salute Phil Nordyke for this excellent book and recommend it highly to any serious student of the history of WWII. A word of warning, however: come prepared to spend time with this book. The stories told by the hundreds of veterans mentioned in this book are far too rich and compelling to be scanned. They deserve to be savored, and honored.

Great book. Very in-depth and a full factual account of the greatest parachute regiment in the history of the US military. Mr. Nordyke took the time to go thru millions of pages of archival documents and photos from both the 82nd AB Museum at Fort Bragg and the Cornelious Ryan Archives at Ohio University and it shows. It tells the story of the only regiment in the US Army to have 4 combat jumps in WWII in a gripping and easy to read way. The most fascinating thing about this book is that all the stories are true, no Hollywood exaggeration needed to tell the tales of these great and heroic men.
A must have, not only for history buffs, but the regular reader alike.

My eyes about popped out when I first saw this book. The 82nd Airborne had always been my favorite airborne unit of WWII, and the 505th Regiment the premier regiment for personal reasons. What luck finding a book that the 505th didn't have to share with other regiments! This is a whopper of a book. No skinny little rip off. You'll get our money's worth for sure,i.e., text, maps, photographs, all in ample amounts. For some, it may be more information than you want, for others, it will have everything and then some you want to know. In any event, that's why they invented skipping around, isn't it? I've enjoyed it and frequently find myself referring back to it. It is a worthy addition to your library.

......And this is it. Fills a much needed research hole in the scholarship and helps focus attention on the deeds and accomplishments of a famed WWII outfit. Exhaustedly researched, liberal in utilizing the extensive records of veteran first person accounts, well written, and coherent, this book really helps you understand the movements and the men behind some of the greatest battles in WWII history, perhaps in all history!

Wonderful gripping book! I couldn't put it down! So much history and so much strength in the Masin brothers and their group! I am proud to be a Masin (no close relation known). great job on the book!
DeAnn Masin

Despite her personal connection to the protagonists of the history, the author provides what seems to be a fairly unbiased accounting of events. Her closing notes regarding the impact in the politics and society of today's Czech Republic I found especially interesting. The book should be of interest to anyone looking at the particular events themselves or even more generally in the impact of the communist period on today's Republic.

Gauntlet brings to life a moment in history that seems to be forgotten, or never known, among today's youth. So few high school students know that Germany at one time was divided into East and West, that Czeckoslovakia was a unified country, and that the Cold War was an all too intrusive part of many people's lives. This book rectifies that. It is also a thriller impossible to put down.

Gauntlet is the true story of five dedicated anti-Communist young men whose epic journey and struggle in the 1950's could have altered the course of the Cold War in Europe. Though grounded heavily in historical testimony and evidence, Gauntlet reads like a novel, as it follows the group's fugitive attempt to deliver a message from a Czechoslovak general to U.S. authorities. An inspirational tale of courage, daring, and absolute commitment to ideals of freedom.

I could hardly put this book down. A loyal Czech father with a secret message throws down the gauntlet to his sons and they react with breathtaking action. This is a true story of incredibly daring young men who wre chased by the Communist Russian and East German Armies across East Germany. This book is based on five years of research by the daughter of one of the living survivors.

A "must have" for anyone interested in the German sniper development, the information present in the book is accurate and complemented by extraordinary photos. Equipments and sniping techniques from that era are described with great level of details, different kinds of ammo, scopes, rifles, and even real accounts based on fights in the eastern front can be found on it. Also, it's a great source for information about the evolution of the Mauser military rifles, truly a masterpiece.

The book had a great deal of information about the different models, production and specifics. A great reference or just general knowledge.

Outstanding book with very good detail about the history of German snipers in WWI and WWII. Covers the rifles, scopes and equipment like never before. A must for collectors or anyone with an interest in snipers.

If anyone in this world knows about Sniping, whether it be a US or german sniper, this writer does. He is highly intelligent and uses the best terminology of any one in his field. I highly recommend this book as well as his others to anyone who is interested in it!!

After owning this book for some time and only glancing through it, I took it upon myself to go through it in detail. Like all of the other books by Mr. Senich, the attention to detail and focus on the technical side of the German weapon systems (and supporting equipment) is second to none. The photography is splendid, the focus on equipment (including serial numbers) is accurate and sharp, and the archival work that must have gone into putting this together (both text and photos) is truly fantastic.

My only critique would be that in a book of this magnitude, a more precise listing of all references and sources be provided so that future historians can use it as a reference or "jump-off" point in their study of german snipers.

That being said, I have looked and found no better book on German sniping. One can only hope that Mr. Senich keeps on publishing.

This book may be a little out dated here and there (thats why only 4 star) but it still serves the purpose nonetheless. I studied abroad in Germany for 6 months and this gave me an amazing insight into the culture of Germany. Put it on as your #1 on your reading list while in Germany or before going. It will help you cope very well. My other study abroad friends also found it very insightful.

It is also a nice quick well thought out book.

The author achieved his purpose of providing an objective and unbiased account of the cultural differences between Germans and Americans. This is a definite must read, and a real page-turner. The only critique point I have concerns a couple of paragraphs on the European Union. The majority of the German people did not want the EU, period. They were not allowed to vote on it like France, for example. Germans still would much prefer their German Mark over the Euro. In fact, there are still vast sums of German Marks still in circulation. Many Germans are keeping them as they are not convinced the EU will hold together.

As an American living in Germany, I've become accustomed to asking "why?", this book has given me many of the answers. Now I understand the German social market economy, German communication styles, the importance of formality and work/non-work divisions, the importance that Germans give to "doing something right the first time", etc.

I couldn't stop reading this book. It is done in an academic style much like a college text but I was still captivated over the detailed explanations of the cultural and behavioral differences. Keep an open mind when reading how others might perceive American culture. Enjoyable and informative!

The book overall is quite good. Also, as a German, I can speak to its incredible accuracy in terms of our custums/traditions and how they differ from those in America. I enjoyed chapter 4 the most and as I was reading it only for enjoyment purposes did not really benefit from the discussion of the differing business practices. However, if you are an American unfamiliar with us and will be doing business in Germany or with Germans it is a definite must read. It is well worth the price of the book.

I picked this book up from a friend's bookshelf intending to flip through the pages. I ended up taking it home with me and reading it from cover to cover. It's well written and filled with a great deal of fascinating history. Not having ever been to the cities mentioned in the book, I can't comment on the accuracy of the tourist information. But this book would be of interest to anyone who has a curiosity about the history of Jewish life in eastern Europe. If it's ever reprinted, photographs would make it even better.

I was lucky to find this book in the library and used it extensively while in Warsaw, Cracow and Prauge. The detail is incredible, the writing style excellent with a lilt of humor. This book -made- my trip so I'm buying my own copy. If you take this book to Europe with you don't bother hiring a guide or taking a tour. It has more than any individual could offer.

For anyone interested in the Jewish history of Eastern Europe, this book is compulsory. It also presents conceptual and detailed history of over a thousand years and up-to-date descriptions of what the traveller will find now. Don't leave it behind despite its heft.

Having known Eli many years ago at University, I couldn't wait to read this book to re-establish spiritual contact. What I wasn't prepared for was the depthand passion that Eli had written on the subject. This is a masterpiece that once you have picked up you will not put down until you have seen the cities and experienced the tours first hand. My only regret is that the vast majority of those reading this book may never actually visit Prague.

This book is a gem! I pick it up and settle down in my chair and am transported in time and place to Eastern Europe. I was in Prague before I read the book (it had not been published yet) and now when I read the Prague sections everything comes to life. Mr. Valley has a way with words. He supples the reader with his dense knowledge of his subject in an easy to read, matter of fact style. I would recommend this book to anyone whether or not they are planning to travel to the cities described. I am eagerly awaiting his next book.

If you're looking for the nuts and bolts of what made the WW2 German army, this is the book. A very nice overview of the entire military machine. As a historian and WW2 German reenactor I liked the coverage of military tactics from army to platoon, as well as the coverage from tanks and airplanes to individual field gear. Weapons, boots, bread bags, radios and all the field gear are covered along with lesser known machines like field kitchens and bread makers! Highly recommended.

Totally comprehensive review of everything about the Wehrmacht from their biggest guns down to their canteens. Massive review of the organizational structure of all elements from the leadership down to breakdowns of divisions, tactics, etc...The claim on the back that Marshall might have known more about the Wehrmacht than Hitler seems plausible. This is a real gem.

An absolute must have for anyone interested in the German military of World War II. A very technical guide that does not waste time with flowery documentation.

This is the ultimate guide to German forces in the Second World War. Although produced late in the war, it covers the old type of infantry division. I thought that was a nice touch. This book teaches us not only about Germans, but what their contemporary counterparts were thinking. Want to crawl around indide the heads of American Intelligence Officers from another era? This is the book.

This an outstanding book of facts and data whose main scope is the German Army. Although the name of the book refers to the whole German armed forces in reality the coverage is wide for the Army, light for the Air Force and almost non-existent for the Navy. The information it contains is extremely detailed (in particular in tables of organization and equipment of many divisions) and on the whole very accurate (although not without the ocassional flaw: a schwärme is referred as a tactical unit of 5 airplanes but in reality was a 4 airplane unit).
Although it provides information from 1939 to 1945 the information relating to the tables of organization, tactics, equipment and uniforms refers mainly to the period 1944-45.
For example, you can find the TO&E of an army and SS panzerdivision in 1944 but not in 1939 or 1940.
Also, it is important to note that due to the nature of the book it is mainly a WHAT and HOW book (provides data and factual information )but is not a WHY book. That is, you will notice that a motorized infantry battalion differs organizationaly from a regular infantry battalion but it is not explained WHY. Other books give the explanation. This is not a problem with the book, it is just its scope. Overall it is a highly recommended book for anyone interested in the details that are not covered in most WW2 books.