Military History from the enemies perspective

[Chantry]

It's often interesting to read about military history from the perspective of the enemy.  For those of you interested in WWII history, two good ones are "Japanese Destroyer Captain" by Capt Tameichi Hara, who saw combat mostly in destroyers from Pearl Harbor to the sinking of the IJN Yamato, where he commanded the light cruiser IJN Yahagi.

 

The second is 'Japan's Pacific War: Personal Accounts of the Emperor's Warriors by Peter Williams, an Australian author.  While this book does contain some stories by pilots and sailors, most of the accounts are from junior officers and junior enlisted men who fought in New Guinea and some of the surrounding islands.

[Michigan Slim]

I used to have a couple books like this. One was a zero pilot who made it through the war. The other was a Stuka pilot on the Russian Front. Bothers me that I can't remember their names. Many years ago since I read them.

[Chantry]

42 minutes ago, Michigan Slim said:

I used to have a couple books like this. One was a zero pilot who made it through the war. The other was a Stuka pilot on the Russian Front. Bothers me that I can't remember their names. Many years ago since I read them.

 The Japanese Zero pilot is almost certainly the book "Samurai" which  is about Saburo Sakai and was co-written by Martin Caidin.  Apparently, in an effort to increase sales, much of the book was exaggerated.  That's unfortunate, because other books I've read  that mention Saburo Sakai, an honest book would have been more interesting.  Sakai reportedly ran across a Dutch DC-3 loaded with refugees that was fleeing Indonesia and choose not to attack it, letting the plane and passengers escape.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saburō_Sakai

 

The other was "Stuka Pilot" by Hans-Ulrich Rudel (I remembered the book, but not the pilot's name)  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans-Ulrich_Rudel

[Michigan Slim]

55 minutes ago, Chantry said:

 The Japanese Zero pilot is almost certainly the book "Samurai" which  is about Saburo Sakai and was co-written by Martin Caidin.  Apparently, in an effort to increase sales, much of the book was exaggerated.  That's unfortunate, because other books I've read  that mention Saburo Sakai, an honest book would have been more interesting.  Sakai reportedly ran across a Dutch DC-3 loaded with refugees that was fleeing Indonesia and choose not to attack it, letting the plane and passengers escape.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saburō_Sakai

 

The other was "Stuka Pilot" by Hans-Ulrich Rudel (I remembered the book, but not the pilot's name)  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans-Ulrich_Rudel

Thank you! Correct on both counts!!

[watab kid]

ive read a lot of these , particularly as related to the pacific campaign , its not easy to know that the soldiers were feeling the same and thinking the same but following the other side , but ive read that of a lot of wars - the civil war in particular as we were all americans in that save those foreign entities trying to influence the outcome by rendering aid like france germany and england , 

but also our indian wars - i read a very interesting version of the battle of the little big horn from the indians point of view often we forget or just never heard the other side of arguments , sometimes it matters and sometimes its just educational , 

 

i think its always worth the listen or read to hear the other side of the story - agree or not , its worth hearing and considering , even if you reject it in the end ,