World War II began on September 1st, 1939 when Germany's evil Nazis invaded Poland.  Although the Nazi Germans were strong enough to invade on their own, they divied it up with Russia.  England and France promised to help, but sat on their bums.  Anyway, Nazi Germany invaded France and then they fought Britain.  The Brits fought back with everything they could, but at least they held the line.  Then Nazi Germany invaded North Africa and then Russia.  Then Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and America was brought into the war.  America decided to put an end to this whole game and liberated France when they struck at Omaha Beach (which happens to be on Normandy Beach).  Oh yeah, Britain and Canada were in there too.  There were lots and lots of Germans, and Hitler sent his best units, but America emerged victorious because they fought with camaraderie.  Paris rejoiced when American troops marched into Paris.  Then America struck at the heart of Nazi Germany, but Hitler shot himself just before American troops entered Berlin.  The world rejoiced since the war was over!  The was something in the Pacific too, but then America nuked Hiroshima!  What's up with that?




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Is it just me, or is this widely accepted view of World War II becoming ever more frustrating?  Every time I look for anything (book, movie, game, whatever) it's America fighting Germany.  There's almost no mention of other Allies, and much less of other Axis.  This is half of my justification for visting Japan next year; maybe I can get a different viewpoint (but I will have to find a good friend/translator ).  I sure hope Europe gets a better perspective of things, but I have to admit, the last place I'd want to be to learn about World War II is Germany.

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Sshh!  That never happened! And Japan never invaded China and Korea, America never imposed tariffs...

What I'm mostly after here is books.  I was looking around in my local library (though I've always said it was bad) and  Half Price Books, and lo and behold, all that could be found was Holocaust, Nazis and America.  The only book that looked worth buying was a book actually written by a U-Boat commander, but I was strapped for cash that day.  Personally, I'm looking for info on the Pacific, but it became apparent to me just how bad the distortion is between the French battlegrounds, the rest of Europe and the rest of the world.  I even resorted to Barnes and Nobles!

I understand the films, but I figured perhaps in other countries there would be films on wars besides World War II (where the only participants are Germany and America).  You can't blame it all on Hollywood, because as I remember, the Thin Red Line didn't sell that well, neither did Windtalkers.  But Windtalkers was poor movie.

As for Games, the only titles that come to mind are Medal of Honor: Allied Assault and  Call of Duty (which surprisingly casts Russians).  Then again, I don't play that many games.

It really depends what aspect of the war you wish to look into. Amazon has lots of good second hand books that are out of publication as does eBay....

Is there anyone that actually believes the Americans took Berlin?  That's pretty ignorant.

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 Actually Barnes and Nobles has a good selection of books concerning World War Two in the Pacific.  Look for "Rape of Nanking", "Samurai" and "Genda's Blade: Japan's Squadron of Aces" (my favorite).

 As for films, I think the Allied effort has been well repersented, atleast those on the Western side of the war.  Here's some films to check out:
 The Longest Day
 Is Paris Burning?
 A Bridge Too Far
 Devil's Brigade

 As for the Russian side of the war, not too long ago there was a film about snipers in Leningrad.  Can't remember the name of the flick, but it stared Jude Law.

 As for the Japanese side of the war, look for a Japanese made film titled "Zero".

 I can even remember an Italian made film about the war from the point of view from the Italians.  Can't remember the name but it stared Peter Falk.  Just remembered the name of this flick, it was called "Attack and Retreat".

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 Thanks for the update, Steve-O.  I knew there was someone out there who would set me straight.

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I could be wrong, but once again all those films are about the European Allies.  It'd be nice if Hollywood made something from the Axis viewpoint.  Modern culture seems to have some sort of sick, abnormal fascination with Nazis or anything with a Swastika, so I'd imagine such a film would sell well.  As far as I've seen, that's about the only kind of war film that does well here.  It more of a problem with society than with Hollywood.

I actually thought Enemy at the Gates was a rather bad film.  Besides getting you interested in the story, its a bit too dramatic.  Movies like that just don't sync well with what veterans have to say about war.  Glory vs despair.

Hagar, you must be some sort of genious with the Google engine, because most of my search results aren't that great.  Perhaps I'm trying too hard?  The book listed in your first link interests me most, as most books list the Japanese conflict as 1941-1945, rather than 1931.  Again going with the whole World War II according to America in lieu of just World War II.

There's a lot of meat here in these replies, and that's just what I was looking for.  It's kind of frustrating when you can get individual troop movements for the Battle of Normandy, and you can't get more than a synopsis for anything else.  Kind of inhibitive when you're trying to learn about World War II in a balanced manner!

I'd still like to know if it's kind of the same story in Europe.

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No genius but I am an expereinced 'surfer'. I can find information on most subjects in a few minutes. It's a matter of choosing appropriate key words. This will usually bring up literally thousands of web pages to start with, many of which will be useless. Narrow the search down by adding specific words until you find what you're looking for. Glad my link was the kind of thing you're after.

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I like to think we're a little more aware of the overall picture here. Not only with British books & films but those from all over the world including Europe. One of the best WWII books I have ever read is Das Boot, about the German submarine service. There was also an excellent mini-series made for German TV. I believe the original version lasted 6 hours or more & was subtitled. It was shown here in two parts on consecutive evenings & I couldn't tear myself away from it. Very powerful television.

Us Brits tend to think that the average American knows very little of WWII history before Pearl Harbor. The first US forces in England were the USAAF bomber crews of the Eighth Air Force in 1942. I think this was the start of Britain's reputation for being cold & wet as it rained heavily all that summer & many of them were living under canvas. The old complaint was 'Overpaid, Oversexed & Over Here". GIs based in Britain were better paid, better fed, had smarter uniforms & obviously had their pick of the girls while our chaps were serving overseas, sometimes for years on end. This naturally caused some resentment but on the whole the American airmen won people over with their charm & generosity, not to mention their bravery. During 1944 in the build-up to the Normandy Invasion the number of US troops based mainly in Southern England rose to a staggering 1,537,000. http://www.olive-drab.com/od_history_ww2_ops_battles_1944normandy.php

I was brought up on the old British-made films on WWII. Many were in black & white but I think these were generally more historically accurate than their Hollywood equivalents. They are worth watching even today as they will give you good idea of what life was like in Britain & how the people dressed, behaved & even talked although most of the actors used "upper-class" accents. One small criticism is that many of these stories are told from the officers point of view rather than the ordinary troops.

There are decent films if you look round for them. Das Boot is excellent & available on DVD. I always thought 'Tora, Tora, Tora' was one of the better Hollywood efforts & gave a fair account of the attack on Pearl Harbor.