Doing alternate histories well requires a detailed knowledge of real history. If my scenarios are at all realistic, it is because of the work of real historians. This page contains a series of paragraph-long reviews of books on World War II which I found useful in doing my scenarios. I'll add to it as I discover good new stuff.
1) The Polish Campaign 1939, By: Steven Zaloga and Victor Madej
I found this book indispensable in writing my "Poland Holds Out in 1939" scenario. It does an extremely good job of explaining how Poland found itself in the position it did, and how the campaign was fought.
2) Nomonhan: Japan Against Russia, 1939, By: Alvin D. Coox
This is an extremely detailed account of Soviet/Japanese diplomatic and military skirmishes on the border between Japanese held Manchuria and Soviet territory. This is not an easy book to read, or one to read if you just want to get an overview of what happened. You need a fairly good understanding of what went on in order to understand this book, and a fair amount of patience in order to mine the interesting nuggets of fact that are buried among the other details. It did give me most of the background for the "Soviet/Japanese war in the early 1930's" scenario.
3) When Titans Clashed: How The Red Army Stopped Hitler, By: David M. Glantz & Jonathan House
Useful primarily for a series of very informative charts on Soviet casualties, production, and army size at various times during World War II. The Germans were very good at killing Russians. I looked at those charts and thought in terms of "Vietnam equivalents per 3 months." The Soviets rarely lost less than five times the US killed in action for the entire Vietnam war in a given three month period during the war. Pretty amazing that an army could hold together with those kinds of casualties.
4) Hitler's Panzers East: World War II Reinterpreted, By R.H.S. Stolfi
The author claims that Germany could have won World War II in the summer of 1941 except for a couple of stupid decisions on the eastern front. He makes a pretty convincing case, at least superficially. He points to at least two costly mistakes. In the north, German armor seized a key bridgehead across one of the river defense lines on the way to Leningrad, then sat there for ten days while additional panzer divisions meandered around trying to find a way to support them. Then, the Germans frittered away August and September of 1941, first in trying to figure out whether to go for Moscow or the Ukraine, then in going after the Ukraine instead of Moscow. The author makes a very interesting comparison between the eastern front and the French campaign of 1940. He says that what the Germans did on the eastern front that summer was the equivalent of:
- Crossing the Meuse in May 1940, then sitting in a beachhead for 10 days instead of heading for the coast to cut off the French and British in Belgium.
- Then reaching the coast and sitting on the French border for two months while the French and British rearmed and reformed their routed divisions, built up defenses and called upon the resources of their empires to make the march on Paris more difficult.
The author claims that the first mistake prevented the Germans from taking Leningrad early in the war, and that the second one prevented them from knocking the Soviets out of the war in August or September of 1941. He claims that the Ukraine would have fallen almost automatically if Moscow fell, and that with both of those territories in German hands, the Soviets would not have had the resources to be a major threat, even if they could maintain power in their remaining territories. His map of the population density of the western Soviet Union is very useful. This is an interesting view of the war. I'm going to do some more research on his theme, then possibly do a scenario based on it.
5) Citizen Soldiers - By: Steven E. Ambrose
The author does a good job of giving you a view of World War II in northern Europe from the perspective of the soldiers who did the fighting. I did find some technical errors: The Panther tank had a high-velocity 75 mm gun, not an 88 mm gun. Overall, I found this book useful though.
1) Combat Aircraft of the World - By: John W.R. Taylor
Covers essentially every major combat aircraft from every major and minor country from World War I through the late 1960's. I found it very useful in figuring out which planes would have probably been available if World War II in Europe had continued through 1945 and into 1946. It also helped with my inter-war scenarios.
2) The German Jets In Combat - By: Jeffrey Ethell & Alfred Price
Covers the ME-262, Arado 234, and the ME-163 rocket fighter. A good, balanced account of the development, potential, and problems of the German jets.
3) Secret Messerschmitt Projects - By: Willy Radinger & Walter Schick
This book has the potential to be a very good source on the German jets which were intended to come after the Me-262 and Ar-234. It has a lot of information on the P1000-series of jet fighter design studies and prototypes. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to read.. I'm guessing that it was translated from German by some sort of computer translator or by a German-speaker with limited knowledge of English. The result is sometimes tantalizing--there is almost certainly information in there which would be useful if I could understand the writing. The result is sometimes unintentionally funny--things that no native English-speaker would dream of writing. In a decent translation this could be a very good book. Right now I would recommend it only if you are very heavily into World War II aircraft.
4) ME 262: Storm Bird Rising - By: Hugh Morgan
This has some interesting information about some of the structures the Germans were building for jet production toward the end of the war--enormous self-contained underground factories to be operated by up to 90,000 people, with an underground runway for the completed jets to take off from. It also has some good information on German counter-counter-measures to keep the jets from being shot down during takeoff and landing--swarms of conventional fighters which went up first to engage US fighters, and long flack belts covering up to 7 miles of the approach to a jet fighter airfield.
5) Me 262 Sturmvogel - By: Dennis R. Jenkins
Has good information on experimental variants of the Me 262 which were being developed at the end of the war. Also talks about post-war Czech-built Me 262's, the Japanese version of the Me 262, and several replica Me 262's built by an American company starting in 1993.
6) Messerschmitt Me 262: Arrow To The Future By: Walter J. Boyne
This book has a very good chapter titled "Contemporary Allied and Axis Jets", which compares the ME-262 with the US P80 and the early British Meteor, and also talks about some of the German Jet projects such as the Gotha Go 229 flying wing, the Heinkel He 162 Volksjager, and the Messerschmitt P1101, a project which might have led to a swing wing jet fighter.
1) German & Allied Secret Weapons of World War II - By: Ian V. Hogg and J.B. King
Good, balanced look at the weapons which revolutionized warfare during World War II, the ones which didn't, and the ones which might have if the war had continued. It gives a good sense of the way in which the two sides each used technology advances to gain the edge in World War II.
2) Tanks of the World 1915-1945 - By: Peter Chamberlain & Chris Ellis
Very broad coverage of the production and prototype tanks of every country during the time period covered. This helped with the inter-war scenarios and the Vichy French stuff in my Moscow 1942 scenario.
3) Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World War Two - By: Peter Chamberlain, Hillary Doyle, and Thomas L. Jentz
Good coverage of every production and prototype German tank and variant of the World War II period. It also covers captured French, Czech, and Italian tanks in German service, and some of the odd variants that the Germans created based on those vehicles.
4) Sherman: A History of the American Medium Tank - By: R.P Hunnicutt
This book tells you more than you could ever possibly want to know about the Sherman tank--production numbers, odd-ball variants and prototypes, postwar use and modifications in over 570 pages..
5) Pershing: A History of the Medium Tank T20 Series - By: R. P. Hunnicutt
Excellent book on the development of the Pershing, a good US tank which made it into the tail-end of World War II in Europe. It also covers the T-2X-series prototypes that led to the Pershing. The T23 and T25 were especially interesting vehicles.
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Copyright 1998 By Dale R. Cozort