Dr Adrian Goldsworthy - Hill 112 - World War II finction.

There is a brief section on suggested reading in the Historical note at the end of the novel. This is a fuller list, largely compiled by going along my book shelves and noting down everything I remember reading while I was working on the novel. Some books are specifically about Normandy and the actions that feature in the book. Others give background to make sense of the wider events going on during the story. Others were useful in trying to capture the rhythm and pattern of dialogue to make the characters as convincing as possible. It is harder to remember all the works – and conversations, radio and television documentaries and the like – which have helped in writing the story. I have only included a few works which do not cover Normandy, but help to give an idea of how soldiers at the time spoke, acted and went about their tasks. What follows should at least give an idea of the material I have used.

Campaign Histories and analysis of the Battle of Normandy

R. Atkinson, The Guns at Last Light
A. Beevor, D-Day. The Battle for Normandy
C. D'Este, Decision in Normandy
P. Hart, Clash of Arms. How the Allies won the war in Normandy
M. Hastings, Overlord
J. Holland, Normandy' 44
A. McKee, Caen. Anvil of Victory
R. Neillands, The Battle for Normandy

D-Day Itself

S. Ambrose, D-Day
M. Arthur, The Silent Day. A landmark oral history of D-Day on the Home Front
P. Caddick-Adams, Sand and Steel. A New History of D-Day
Haynes Guide, D-Day. 'Neptune', 'Overlord' and the Battle of Normandy
G. Milton, D-Day
W. Ramsey (ed.), D-Day Then and Now. 2 Vols.
A. Richards, D-Day and Normandy. A visual history
C. Ryan, The Longest Day
C. Symonds, Operation Neptune

Specific battles and operations figuring in the story

K. Baverstock, Breaking the Panzers. The Bloody Battle for Rauray, Normandy, 1^st July 1944.
G. Bernage, Battle of the Odon
G. Bernage, Hell on Hill 112
I. Dalglish, Over the Battlefield. Operation Epsom
J How, Hill 112
M. Milner, Stopping the Panzers: the untold story of D-Day
T. Saunders, Battle for the Bocage. Normandy 1944
T. Saunders, Hill 112. The key to defeating Hitler in Normandy
K. Tout, The Bloody Battle for Tilly. Normandy 1944
M. Zuehlke, Holding Juno

Other studies of Normandy Battles with useful material

S. Bull, Second World War Infantry Tactics. The European Theatre
A. Carravaggio, 21 Days in Normandy. Maj. Gen. George Kitching and the 4th Canadian Armoured Division
A. Gullachsen, Bloody Verrieres. 2 Vols.
D. O’Keefe, Seven Days in hell. Canada's Battle for Normandy and the rise of the Black Watch snipers
A. Pisani, Normandy 1944. The first crucial days
B. Reid, No Holding Back. Operation Totalize, Normandy, August 1944
D. Taylor, Villers-Bocage. Operation 'Perch': the complete account

The British and Canadian Armies in Normandy and in general

A. Allport, Browned off and Bloody-Minded. The British Soldier goes to war 1939-1945
D. Buckley, Monty's men. The British Army and the liberation of Europe
T. Copp, Fields of Fire. The Canadians in Normandy
L. Devine, The British Way of War in Northwest Europe, 1944-5. A study of Two Infantry Divisions
D. French, Raising Churchill's Army: the British and the war against Germany 1919-1945
Haynes Guide, British Infantryman 1939-1945 (all models)
B. Kite, Stout Hearts. The British and Canadians in Normandy 1944

The CANLOAN Scheme

R. Fendick, A CANLOAN Officer. The memoir of a Canadian junior infantry officer on loan to the British army for the liberation of Europe, 1944-45
W. Smith, Codeword CANLOAN

Memoirs and unit histories (Tanks)

Anon., The Story of the 23rd Hussars
R. Boscowan, Armoured Guardsmen. A war diary, June 1944 – April 1945
B. Close, Tank Commander. From the Fall of France to the defeat of Germany. The memoirs of Bill Close
P. Delaforce, Monty's Maruaders. The 4^th & 8^th Armoured Brigades in the Second World War
P. Delaforce, Taming the Panzers. Monty's Tank Battalions. 3^rd RTR at War
S. Dyson, Tank Twins
P. Greenwood, D-Day to Victory. The diaries of a British Tank Troop Commander
P. Hart, Burning Steel
S. Hill, By Tank into Normandy
J. Holland, Brothers in Arms. One Tank regiment's bloody war from D-Day to VE-Day
J. Holland, An Englishman at War. The Wartime diaries of Stanley Christopherson, DSO, MC, TD 1939-45
D. Renner & S. Tootal, Tank Action. An Armoured Troop Commander's War 1944-45
K. Tout, TANK
K. Tout, Tanks, Advance
K. Tout, By Tank: D-Day to VE Day

Memoirs and unit histories (Infantry and others)

R. Bailey, Forgotten voices of D-Day: a new history of the Normandy landings
J. Clark, John's War. The diary and letters of a subaltern, mortar platoon 1/7 Middlesex Regiment in Normandy
P. Delaforce, Monty's Highlanders. 51^st Highland Division in the Second World War
H. Essame, The 43^rd Wessex Division at War 1944-1945
D. Foreman, To Reason Why
M. Forsdike, Fighting through to Hitler's Germany. Personal accounts of the men of 1 Suffolk 1944-45
S. Jary, 18 Platoon
G. Picot, Accidental Warrior
V. Scannell, Argument of Kings
N. Scarfe, Assault Division
R. Woolcombe, Lion Rampant. The memoris of an infantry officer from D-Day to the Rhineland
R, Wingfield, The only way out

Battleground Normandy and Europe Series of Travel Guides

C. Dumphie & G. Johnson, Gold Beach
I. Dalgleish, Operation Bluecoat
E. Hunt, Mont Pincon
P. Reed, Walking D-Day
T. Saunders, Operation Epsom
T. Saunders, Hill 112
T. Saunders, Operation Totalize

The Other Side of the Hill – German accounts and studies

S. Cazenave, SS-Panzer Regiment 12 in the Normandy Campaign
H. Holler, D-Day Tank Hunter
A. Mansolad, The Reaper's Harvesting Summer. 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend in Normandy
H. Meyer, The 12^th SS. The History of the Hitler Youth Panzer Div. 2 vols.
T. Saunders & R. Hone, 12^th Hitlerjugend SS Panzer Division in Normandy
R. Frieher von Rosen, Panzer Ace. The memoris of an Iron Cross Panzer Commander from Barbarossa to Normandy
N. Zetterling, Normandy 1944. German military organization, combat power and organizational effectiveness

Hardware

Haynes Guide, The Sherman Tank. 1941 onwards (all M4 variants)
S. Zaloga, Allied Tanks in Normandy 1944
S. Zaloga, German Tanks in Normandy 1944
S. Zaloga, Panzer IV versus Sherman
S. Hart, Sherman Firefly versus Tiger

The last four are all from the various Osprey Series. Quite a few of these are useful for details of equipment and uniform.

Other Aspects of the Battle for Normandy/Second World War

A. Bollard, Sinews of War. The logistical battle to keep the 53^rd Welsh Division on the move during Operation Overlord
D. Boyd, Normandy's Nightmare. The French experience of Nazi occupation and Allied bombing 1940-45
L. Cooper, The Little Men (which is about Burma, but wonderfully evokes the way soldiers speak. The same is true of George MacDonald Fraser's Quartered Safe Out Here and his three collections of McAuslan short stories.
C. Harris, D-Day Diaries. Life on the Home Front in the Second World War
P. Kaplan, Hitler's D-Day Defences
A. Makos, Spearhead. A tank gunner, his enemy, and a collision of lives in World War II

FICTION

A. Baron, From the City, from the Plough
A. Baron, The Victors
G. Wagner, Sands of Valour
C. Joly, Take these men
J. Foley, Mailed Fist
P. Elstob, Warriors for the working day
F. Majdalany, Patrol
D. Piper, Trial by Battle

Again, written by men who were there. Some are about Normandy and some not, but they are great for the feel of dialogue and attitudes.

Released in Hardback and e-book on 23^rd May 2024 and Paperback on 5^th December 2024.

Hill112 spread

Published by Head of Zeus (23 May 2024).

READING LIST