War Movies or Books...

[Stephen Colly]

What are your favourite World War Two movies or books?

Films -

Atonement
Saving Private Ryan

Books -

Atonement

I LOVE ATONEMENT!

[∬: Rafael Z. Wolfram]

Moves:

Saving Private Ryan
(Has the most epic battle scenes, so realistic)

The Pianist
(A little exaggerated at parts, but a nice account of the Ghetto and Nazi Regime over Germany)

Downfall
(Although not entirely battle orientated, more political at sections, it has taught me a lot about Hitler and his dying days with a Nazi Germany - hence the downfall)

Band of Brothers
(I'm not a great fan of American History during the war, as they were only around for a couple of years at max, but they played one of the biggest parts during the war and the Band of Brothers series truly dictates their efforts, following Easy Company of an Airborne Regiment)

Stalingrad
(This movie clearly showed the hatred between the Ruskys and Nazis, it also displayed the fear of the soldiers being sent to the Eastern Front. So much so, that going to the Eastern Front against the Russians, was actually for penal regiments and punishments for soldiers. A brutal war in the cold...)


Books:

I love the Sven Hassel books.
Again, somewhat exaggerated in parts, but forever changing and a basis account on a German Soldier that went through so much, from Normandy, Penal Regiments and the Eastern Front.

- Raf

[devros1]

Films?

Saving private Ryan

Books- ?

[S.SGT David Bevan]

Film = A Bridge too far!!!

Book = I haven't read any novels about world war two but I read a good history book names the D-Day experience. It was very short though!

[☤Theodorijk Wijzemens]

Aug 31, 2008 18:11:09 GMT ∬: Rafael Z. Wolfram said:

Moves:

Saving Private Ryan
(Has the most epic battle scenes, so realistic)

The Pianist
(A little exaggerated at parts, but a nice account of the Ghetto and Nazi Regime over Germany)

Downfall
(Although not entirely battle orientated, more political at sections, it has taught me a lot about Hitler and his dying days with a Nazi Germany - hence the downfall)

Band of Brothers
(I'm not a great fan of American History during the war, as they were only around for a couple of years at max, but they played one of the biggest parts during the war and the Band of Brothers series truly dictates their efforts, following Easy Company of an Airborne Regiment)

- Raf

Damn, Wolfie. you've caught my favourites as well. However, I have two more:
Das Boot; accurately depicts the horrors of submarine warfare and the extent to which the Wehrmacht had little loyalty to Hitler. It also has amazing battle scenes and explains the hardships for those at sea. As well as the 8 u-boats that patrolled the entire Atlantic Ocean.

Napoli; perhaps the most vivid movie I've seen that explains how the Nazi regime brainwashed young men in their HJ (Hitler Jugend) schools referred to as Napoli. It very interesting and very frightening at the same time.

Both of the movies above are in German, so beware. (They do have English subtitles, but what fun is there in that?)

~Doc

[∬: Rafael Z. Wolfram]

Damn, Wolfie. you've caught my favourites as well. However, I have two more:
Das Boot; accurately depicts the horrors of submarine warfare and the extent to which the Wehrmacht had little loyalty to Hitler. It also has amazing battle scenes and explains the hardships for those at sea. As well as the 8 u-boats that patrolled the entire Atlantic Ocean.

Napoli; perhaps the most vivid movie I've seen that explains how the Nazi regime brainwashed young men in their HJ (Hitler Jugend) schools referred to as Napoli. It very interesting and very frightening at the same time.

Both of the movies above are in German, so beware. (They do have English subtitles, but what fun is there in that?)

~Doc

Oh yes, how could I forgot Das Boot!
That movie was excellent, I have not seen Napoli however - I shall keep an eye out for that.

I do favor German depicted accounts of the second world war, rather than Allied. May sound bad, but I feel that I've seen so many Allied stories of the second world war, you get completely side tracked and don't even realise the German side of things. I've only ever attempted to watch a German movie without subtitles once, maybe twice, but I'm not fluent and there's still plenty of words that has me a little dumb founded at times. Particularly slang or abbreviations used in German, that confuses me a little at times.

On a better note, have you seen Counterfeiters Vlakte? Quite interesting, not your average war movie and I always did hear rumors of the Nazis making the perfect British Pound Sterling notes, that would crash the British economy and U.S for that matter. Well it follows a small group of Jewish prisoners, specialists in the printing and so forth; True account.

They were forced to forge the pound note and U.S dollar, before plummeting the forged notes into both of their economies to crash the markets.

Not the greatest movie, but worth seeing.

Oh - You have to love "All Quiet on the Western Front" also. Original of course.
- Raf

[Nathan Whyte]

I'm both shocked, and ashamed to know you all!

How can none of you mention The Dambusters and The Great Escape? Classics, my friends, classics.

[johnson]

My books are
D-Day by Stephen Ambrose
D-Day With the Screaming Eagles by George Koskimaki
Hell's Highway by George Koskimaki
A Bridge Too Far by Cornelius Ryan
The Battered Bastards of Bastogne by George Koskimaki
Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose
Pegasus Bridge by Stephen Ambrose
Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man by (I forgot his name)
Ghost Soldiers by (I forgot his name)
The Ghost Mountain Boys by (I forgot his name)

Movies

Band of Brothers
Saving Private Ryan
Saints and Soldiers
Das Boot
Downfall
Kelly's Heroes
Enemy at the Gates
The Great Raid

[lisawieserman1941]

Movies: Kelly's Heroes : Saving Private Ryan

Book: The Forgotten Soldier

The classic WWII Auto-Biography by Guy Sajer

Very gripping and graphic. Tells the reader of what it was like to be a German soldier on the Russian front. Let me tell you, some of his stories were so graphic, like how he exposed the barbaric Russians as an example, of what some did to German KIAs to try and scare off the incoming Germans, one would have to stand back and wonder how he kept his sanity. It also portrayed the bravery and commitment of Germans against the tide of the war, fighting 2 fronts, the elements of nature as well as the Russians. Not a book for the weak of digestion.

[Mac Bargett]

Movie: The Big Red One: The Reconstruction

Book: The Big Red One

[Moritz Erichsen]

All the aforementioned books and movies are marvellous.

I would like to add a book. It is called Life and Fate, by Vasily Grossman. He reported on the defence of Stalingrad and the fall of Berlin to the army newspaper ‘Red Star’, an eyewitness to the consequences of the Holocaust. He also published the first journalist’s account of a German deathcamp in any language. In 1961, a year after the book was submitted to an official literary journal, KGB officers arrived at Grossman’s home with orders to confiscate the manuscript and the sheets of used carbon paper and typewriter ribbons. They told Grossman that there was no question of the novel being published for another 200 years. Eventually, with the help of Andrey Sakharov, a copy of the manuscript was microfilmed, smuggled out to the West by writer Vladimir Voinovich. It was published in 1980, much to the KGB’s shock and rage, I am sure. ;D

The book gives a panoramic view of Soviet society during the Battle of Stalingrad.

Another WII-related book I adore is Erich Maria Remarque's Sparks of Life.

[Sgt. Howard Jefferson]

I'm just going to save myself the trouble of making a very long list and say this...

Pretty much everything that's been listed before me, I like.

[Sgt. Nick Staffing]

Even though it isn't a WW2 movie...

All Quiet on the Western Front - Perhaps my favorite movie of all time. Slow to get into, impossible to let go until the end. Deals with the trench warfare in WW1, from a German (yes, shocking!) perspective.

Band of Brothers - Found it. Loved it. Had a few historical inaccuracies, but for the most part, it was great.

Saving Private Ryan - Excellent movie by an excellent director.

Defiance - Meh. A craptacular showing of what should have been a good movie, as it was based on real events.

Letters from Iwo Jima - Yes, but no. Again, too 'Hollywoodized' for my taste, but still a good movie.

Valkyrie - I hate Tom Cruise, I'll leave it at that.

Der Untergang - Classic, classic. You get a real sense of Hitler's last moments...

Could go on, but to lazy...