Bookcase for legendary war books

Summa is one of the most famous battle grounds of Winter War. In Winter War Soviet Union tried to invade Finland as they did for all Baltic states. War was fought 1939-1940 as part of the WW2, it was 105 days of fierce fighting in freezing cold. And against all odds Finnish army held, peace agreement ended this savage Winter War. Soviet Union achieved Pyrrhic victory in this war. About 25000 Finnish and 250000 Russian soldiers died in this war. Finnish army did do one the most outstanding performances in the world military history. And for Red army it was total fiasco. One of the main reasons, why Hitler decided to invade  Russia asap. This book tells a story about frontline men's of Summa. How they saw battles in frontline trenches, when they were totally outgunned and outmanned by Red army. They were fighting against all odds. Red army did have everything, endless amount of artillery, tanks, fighters and manpower. Finnish army did lack everything else except bravery. Finn...

If you check WW2 flying aces list. It is so dominated by German Luftwaffe aces. Top 120 are Luftwaffe aces and in place 121 Finnish ace Ilmari Juutilainen. Rudel was not fighter ace, he was ground attack pilot. But for sure he is most successful pilot in war history. Rudel flew over 2500 missions, mostly with Junkers JU 87 dive bomber aka Stuka. He destroyed 519 tanks, sink 1 battleship, 1 cruiser, 1 destroyer and over 70 landing crafts. He destroyed over 800 land vehicles, over 150 artillery-, antiaircraft-, anti-tank positions, 4 armored trains, several bridges and etc.. He also achieved 9 air victories. Rescued 6 crews from enemy territory. When doing this, he was shot down 32 times, wounded 5 times, loose part of his leg. He was unyielding, in extreme good fit and of course excellent pilot. Every time when he was shot down or wounded, he came back to fly asap.  And to survive through this all, he also needed some luck. So one the most amazing WW2 hero story, this you have...

This is one of most amazing stories, that I have read. He for sure earns title “1 of the greatest war time heroes”. Witold Pilecki was volunteer to infiltrate to Auschwitz death camp. Task was to gather intelligence and report to Polish home army. He fixed things so he was arrested by SS. While being imprisoned in Auschwitz he organized resistance movement. And also sent reports to western allies about of Nazi Germany's Auschwitz atrocities. After almost 3 years of imprisonment he escaped from Auschwitz, and wrote comprehensive report about death camp. And as it would not be enough, after escape. He joined Polish resistance forces, and fought in Warsaw uprising. He was one the leading soldiers. Perfect story but it has sad ending. After war Polish communist regime charged him as traitor. And convicted to death. He was executed and body was never found. That was miscarriage of justice made by Polish communist leaders prefer Stalin. Unbelievable story of amazing man...

Kurt Meyer, Waffen SS General, Panzer leader, war criminal, one of the most batlle hardened and highly decorated SS officers. When Waffen SS is most effective army ever, and was known for swift battle tactics. Kurt Meyer tactics were really bold and aggressive even with the Waffen SS benchmark. This quote tells all about book and Kurt boldness: ”We hid behind the rocks not daring to move. Nausea almost choked me. I yelled at Emil Wawrzinek to press the attack. But good old Emil looked at me as if he doubted my sanity. Machine-gun fire splashed against rocks in front of us; our lead element was only about 10 men strong. Damn it! We certainly couldn't remain there, while craters were being blown in the road and machine-gun fire was pinning us down in the rubble. But i too was crouching in full cover and fearing for my life. How was i to order Wawrzinek to move first? In my distress, i felt the smooth roundness of an egg grenade in my hand. I yelled at the group. They all lo...

I was wondering what should be the first book to be presented. There are so many good books and incredible stories. But then after all choice was pretty easy. White death / Belaja smert – Talvisodan tarkka-ampuja Simo Häyhän tarina Then man and the myth and the legend. This man is undisputed king of the snipers. Number 1 in every sniper kill count lists. With K/D 542:0, think about that all FPS fans. Except this guy was playing for real. This was done in couple of months in freezing cold with iron sights. He made Rambo look like boy scout. Book is written by Petri Sarjanen Finnish teacher and historian. Original version released in 1998 and renewed version in 2007. Sarjanen has done quite good job with source and reference literatures. Source literature does include interview of Simo Häyhä, II/JR34 war diary 1939-40, Red army Karelian front HQ report, several books and articles covering Kollaa front. As attachment Snipercentral statistics. Book also includes few common ...

1 st blog: Background As i wrote in introduction. I have been reading WW2 related history and other war books for almost 40 years. Reading from war time history and politics to biographies and mercenary stories. It has increased my knowledge about history and how things are not black and white. Like general public has only seen allies and Hollywood side of things. When all axis were bad and all allies were good. But all historians know that Stalin was at least as bad criminal than Hitler and war crimes were done in both sides. Reading strategies and understanding how effective different countries and their armies were. Checking statistics and some times finding out some odd things. Reading biographies of extraordinary people and unbelievable stories. My favorites have been biographies and true stories about extraordinary people in unbelievable situations. Why to read some fiction, when real life stories beat them 10 – 0. Good book can be: Unbelievable true...