The forbidden diary
John L. Stewart
"A nineteen-year-old navigator with the illustrious 8th Air Force during World War II ... kept a private journal of each of his 31 missions, along with maps he routinely gathered in briefings."--Jacket.
Read Time: ~4 hr
Green Cognac
by William Lowell Putnam (1991)
About this book
In early 1943, William Lowell Putnam joined what was to become the 10th Mountain Division, the mountain warfare unit of the U.S. Army. Green Cognac: The Education of a Mountain Fighter is a superb account of the mountain and ski troops as seen from Putnams's often wary perspective. What transpired during the brief, eventful years of war is the story of Green Cognac, as told by one who was well acquainted with the mountains and mountaineering before he became a mountain fighter. Putnam applied his knowledge while serving in the infantry regiments of the 10th Mountain Division. The elite Mountain Troops were sent to break the German Gothic Line in the Apennine Mountains of Italy. Brilliantly led, they fought their way northward with magnificent dash, seizing control of ten mountain crests. Their determined drive broke the German resistance and brought on the first large-scale enemy surrender of World War II. Much celebrated and studied after the war for their striking success and spirit in the field, the Mountain Troops presented an awe-inspiring picture of camaraderie and courage. From the bold ski-trooper concept, first suggested in 1940, to the final days of demobilization at the end of 1945, this is their story.
Setting / LocationGlobal
Story EraWWII Era
Protagonist / CoreGreen Cognac Lead Character
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"One of the untold stories of World War II is the guarding of Greenland and its coastal waters, where the first U.S. capture of an enemy ship took place. For six months in 1942 and against standing orders of the time, Thaddeus Nowakowski (now Novak) kept a personal diary of his service on patrol in the North Atlantic. Supplemented by photos from his last surviving shipmates, Novak's diary fills a void in the story of American sailors at war in the North Atlantic. It is the only known diary of an enlisted Coast Guard sailor to emerge from WWII." "Though the Greenland coast was of vital importance to Allied forces, U.S. Coast Guard crews serving there were relegated to converted fishing vessels known as "wooden shoes." Hastily commissioned in Boston to serve as escorts for supply routes to new air bases in Greenland, ten Arctic trawlers were transformed into the basis of the Greenland Patrol, transporting young men who had never been away from home into a realm of mountainous icebergs, lurking U-boats, and the alien culture of native Greenland Eskimos. This story of the Nanok's 1942 patrol is a remarkable account of a sailor thrown into a global war in a remote area full of environmental hardships that few endured in World War II. Between the sudden excitements and mind-numbing boredom of military life, Novak records the routine details of day-to-day patrol, contacts with the native Greenlanders and their impenetrable way of life, and actions such as the loss of the cutter Natsek and its entire crew on the night of December 17, 1942. Not an account of grand strategy or hand-to-hand combat, this story of a twenty-year-old petty officer on duty in the Arctic is rather the life of an ordinary individual at war, coping with rigorous hardships during a time of great crisis.". "Novak's account will be of significant value to students of the U.S. Coast Guard and of naval service in wartime. His illumination of the small details of a sailor's life and perceptive observation of the Arctic region and its little-known people will appeal to anyone interested in maritime history."--BOOK JACKET.
Eyewitness to World War II
[edited by] Neil Kagan, Stephen G. Hyslop
Personal writings and recollections of Roosevelt, Hitler, and Patton, as well as letters composed by soldiers at battle and diaries of women serving in the military at home, present an absorbing narrative that tells the entire history of the war from several perspectives.
Enemies
John Christgau
"They were called aliens and enemies. But the World War II internees John Christgau writes about are shown to be ordinary people victimized by the politics of a global war. The Enemy Alien Internment Program in America was born with the United States' declaration of war on Japan, Germany, and Italy, and lasted until 1946. In all, 31,275 enemy aliens were imprisoned in camps like the one described in this book--Ft. Lincoln, just south of Bismarck, North Dakota. In animated and suspenseful prose, Christgau tells the stories of several individuals who were representative of the internee experience at Ft. Lincoln. The subjects' lives before and after capture--presented in case studies-- tell of encroaching bitterness and sorrow"--Book jacket.