Here is a quick, easy and enjoyable read about bravery in World War II. I recommend it due to its exposure of information not often found in other World War II books 

Twenty-Five Yards of War

If you enjoyed reading The Longest Day, then you will also like Death of a Nazi Army, which could almost be considered a sequel to that book.

Death of a Nazi Army, really two German armies, begins with the capture of St. Lo and, then moves on to the breakout at Avranches and Operation Cobra which allowed the breakout. The last 60 pages cover the Falaise Pocket, where the two German armies were destroyed. The link above goes to the book's page and my review.

If you read through some of my entries above, you will realize I am very interested in the code wars of World War II. I just finished Code Girls : The Untold Story of American Women Code Breakers of World War II and wish it had been written decades ago. God, the history it reveals. Over 70% of the thousands of code breakers on the American side were women, college graduates, elementary and highschool math teachers, and so many other occupations. What a wonderful story.

But of all the 'code girls" who served, in my opinion the hardest task probably went to those who worked on the codes of ships at sea on which their brothers, husbands and lovers were stationed. Their job was to monitor the traffic generated by the American military to ensure the fighting men practiced strict security. These women were often the first to know their loved ones' ships had been sunk.

When I began reading the book the paperback version was on the WL of 45 members, and the hardback version more. Now that I've finished the paperback version 40 members still have it WLed.

The OSS---Office of Strategic Services---was the percursor to the CIA. What the OSS accomplished in World War II was mind-boggling. Especially, when you consider it didn't exist prior to the war. Those OSS agents who served behind enemy lines for days, weeks, months and years, deserve our admiration and thanks. Many of them died in the line of duty, often after terrible hardships, if not torture.

There are many books written about the OSS and its commander. William Donovan was a World War I hero who received the Medal of Honor. He was also a WW II hero.  There are numerous books written about him. However, what I want to do here is recommend a book on the OSS you shouldn't read. Click on the book's title to read my review.  

This Grim and Savage Game

I love Walter Lord's WW2 books. They are nonfiction but the narrative reads grippingly like a novel. 
Highly recommend Miracle of Dunkirk and Lonely Vigil on the Coastwatchers. 

Wow!  It appears I haven't recommended a WWII history since last November. That doesn't mean I haven't been reading in that genre, just that I didn't consider them "Great Books on WW II." But here is one I really like. Click on the link to read my review. And, if you're still hesitant, read some of the very long reviews on Amazon.

Why The Allies Won by Richard Overy

I admit to having a fascination with the U.S. Submarine Service of WWII. As such, a first-person memoir from a submarine captain who received the Medal of Honor for his exploits, which includes time as a Japanese POW, ranks high with me. In Wahoo: The Patrols of America's Most Famous WWII Submarine, Richard O'Kane writes about his experiences on the USS Wahoo as its executive officer for five patrols.

Finished another WW II book I consider exceptional.  Corregidor: The Rock Force by E. M. Flanagan. It quickly covers the loss of Bataan and Corregidor early in the war, and then spends most of the book covering the planning of the assualt on Corregidor and the actual attack. One thing which helps make it exceptional is, as even the author mentions, the battle was a very significant event at that time, due to Bataan and Corregidor's importance as morale factors in WW II. However, since then very little is mentioned in the history books about it.

When we read books on World War II, we often read about artillery support, but almost never about the problems of the forward observers and the casualties they experienced. This book reveals the benefits, problems and logistics of artillery support when it was used on a grand scale during the Battle of Okinawa.

Big Guns Brave Men : Mobile Artillery Observers and the Battle for Okinawa

The Rescue : A True Story of Courage and Survival in World War II  by Steven Smith is a fascinating read on numerous levels. I am extremely impressed by how the author included so many aspects of the war in the Pacific into one book. Any reader will find numerous avenues of continued reading through this story.

Sons and Soldiers by Bruce Henderson is a fascinating book relating the experience of German-born Jewish boys whose familes got them out of Germany, so that at least one of their children would survive Hitler's Nazis. And the boys, realizing this, became American soldiers who helped defeat Germany. As the book states, much of the battlefield intelligence was gathered by these "Richie Boys" who were determined to repay their families' love and avenge them.

Here's another book, one which might just have some bias on my part as it is mostly about Marines. The Long and the Short and the Tall by Alvin Josephy. He was a Marine combat correspondent who served on Guam and Iwo Jima in the front lines. He survived the war and later became an editor of Time and the editor of American Heritage magazine.

He takes you right in the landing craft with him as they approach the beaches, into the fox holes where men are dying and others are trying to understand why they are still alive, and into the rear areas where they joke, train and wait for the next assault, where many of them will be wounded or die.

Ever hear of the 7th Air Force? Neither had I, until I read One Damned Island After Another.  This was an Army Air Forces unit which heavily supported the Central Pacific theater thrust controlled by the Navy. As a result, it was seldom mentioned in Navy press releases. In fact, the men's families often wrote to ask them where they were and what they were doing to help win the war. It's a good read for WWII buffs.

The 7th still exists and is stationed in Korea. There is a Wikipedia page on it.

Most history authors write about WHAT happened. Alan Levine in From Axis Victories to the Turn of the Tide : World War II, 1939-1943 tells you WHY it happened. As a result, I found it a fascinating read. And even though it is about higher level strategy, it was an easy  read.

His major premise is the Axis never really had a good chance of winning World War II. If things hadn't happened the way they did, the war might have gone on for years longer, but in the end the Allies would have won.

What if General Omar Bradley hadn't been so dismissive of the British "funny" tanks? Would the assault on Omaha Beach gone a lot easier? We'll never know. And who thought of making wing tanks to extend the range of Allied fighter planes into German? This not only provided more protection for the bombers, but also helped cripple the German air force before the invasion of Europe. And why weren't those wing tanks made of aluminum?

You can have plenty of resources, which the Allies had, but if you don't have the "mechanics" who figure out how to use those resources correctly, you're still going to lose.

Engineers of Victory : The Problem Solvers who Turned the Tide in the Second World War is an outstanding book. Published in 2013, I wish I had read it when it came out. Well, better late than never.

The Blitzkrieg Myth by John Mosier is a fascinating, revisionist history of World War II that does it best to destroy the myths surrounding that conflict.

Here's another book on a subject often mentioned in WW II histories, but never discussed in detail. It is about the vital role the island of Malta played in the war in North Africa and the Mediterranean Sea. 

Siege : Malta 1940-1943

As I wrote in my review on the book's page, I lost count of the number of times I said "Holy s--t," to myself while reading it.

The Battle of Midway in the Pacific reversed the tide of the war in that theater. But that victory came at a cost. To better understand the price paid, read

Pacific Payback : The Carrier Aviators Who Avenged Pearl Harbor at the Battle of Midway.

I'n usually not in the habit of recommending "popular history" books on World War II, or any other area I read in. But in this case I'll make an exception. Please see the book's page for my review.

Sealing Their Fate : The Twenty-two Days That Decided World War II

I believe I've mentioned---more than once---my intense interest in books about the secret code wars of World War II. Here's another one I really enjoyed. What made this one even better is it was written by an insider, who worked in the U.S. Navy de-coding building in Hawaii. He was part of this group from June 1941, until the end of the war.

Double-Edged Secrets : U.S. Naval Intelligence Operations in the Pacific During World War II

If you read about the Battle of the Atlantic, you know that 40-50 ships in a convoy would typically be guarded by five or six warships. What does it tell you when a convoy of fourteen transports, including one huge tanker, is protected by 45 warships?  This convoy saved the Island of Malta and may have determined which side would win the war in Europe. See my review at:

At All Costs : How a Crippled Ship and Two American Merchant Mariners Turned the Tide of World War II

"What the hell is the Navy doing here?" 

Hundreds of sailors and Marines were asked that while stationed in China, often hundreds of miles from the ocean. They were part of a secret operation in cooperation with the Chinese government. Initially, they were to monitor the weather so the Navy at sea knew what to expect. Then they began training Chinese soldiers to do that job also and to engage in guerrilla warfare against the Japanes and their puppet troops. They did a fantastic job. But somehow their story was "erased" from the official history of the war.

The Rice Paddy Navy : U.S. Sailors Undercover in China

In Closing with the Enemy, Michael Doubler proves the American soldier in World War II was very adept at learning from his mistakes and quickly enacted modified or new tactics against his enemy. Doubler's book focuses on the American Army in Europe after the invasion in June 1944. In it he shows how American "know-how," starting often with the lowliest private, figured out how to defeat, in most cases, the powerful and experienced German army.  This is yet another book which refutes the belief, held after World War II, that the German soldier was superior to the American soldier.