ARmy Rumour SErvice

Armageddon by Max Hastings

The Longest Day and A Bridge To Far both by Cornelius Ryan (both films based on the books)

The Road to the Somme By Philip Orr (about the 36th (Ulster) Div)

Originally Posted by baboon6

Originally Posted by LankyPullThrough

Re. the suggestion of "Full Metal Jacket', I think the movie came from two books. Isn't the training bit ('Get off my obstacle!') from 'The Short Timers' by Gustav somebody (?). I know the in-country bit is largely based on Michael Herr's 'Dispatches', not least because he wrote the screenplay. 'Dispatches' is the only book I have read that has made my feet start sweating with the tension. Once read, never forgotten.

No it's all based on The Short timers by Gustav Hasford (US Marine Combat Correspondent in Vietnam). Though the in-country bit is changed quite a lot.

Have to admit I haven't actually read The Short Timers but a read of Dispatches and a view of Full Metal Jacket, plus the knowledge that both were written by the same guy, tells me they are linked plus Michael Herr's introduction to my edition of the book, when he says so. For instance, the famous door gunner scene ("if they run... VC; if they stand still, disciplined VC!' or psychotic rantings to that effect) is in both.

I'm still reading Bravo two Zero! I got it for 50p.. Well my mum got it for me for 50p, I should have said!

King Rat by James Clavell

Originally Posted by baboon6

Originally Posted by kidneywiper

Ive read quite alot and the best is "DEVILS GUARD" a must read if you can get hold of it.......
its a true story about the adventures of a battalion of ex ss guys whom are recruited to fight for the french in indochina (vietnam) very gory 10/10

It's not a true story. No "German battalion" ever existed and while there were many ex-Wehrmacht and a few ex-SS men in the Foreign Legion in Indochina, everything I've read indicates no former SS officers served. No history of the Foreign Legion or of the Indochina war I've read (Porch, Fall, Windrow etc.) mentions such a unit or people. Even the way it's written seems more like Sven Hassel-esque war porn to me than anything else. Just look at the beginning- what would such a well-equipped SS unit be doing guarding some mountain pass in the middle of nowhere at that stage in the war, when everyone who could carry a rifle was fighting desperately against the Russians or Western allies? An anti-partisan unit with all those 88s? Laughable.

I knew a guy in Bangkok about 10 years ago called K**t Roh****. He ran a spice trading company and despite being about 70 was definitely not someone to mess with. In his office was a picture frame with an Iron Cross and some German which from memory was something like "All front line soldiers are my brothers". Over a number meetings with liquid refreshment some of his story gradually came out especially when another friend who had been with the Australians in Vietnam was around.

Turned out he had been in the SS, Das Reich at 17. His baptism of fire was Kursk where he was lucky in tht hsi tank was crippled early. He was in the advance to Normandy (careful avoidanc of questions around well known atrocities) and then the fighting through France. At the end of the war he was captured and given an option of the the Foreign legion or standing gainst a nearby wall.

He ended up in Vietnam. He said there were a number of other Germans including SS in the Legion but not any special ex SS unit. So supports what is said above. He ended up at Dien Bien Phu and survived when it was taken. Got all the way across Laos to Thailnd and has been there ever since.

Obviously I can't be sure everything he said was truthfully told or accurately remembered but I am pretty sure he was the real thing.

Sure. As I wrote, there were plenty of Germans in the Legion post Ww2, but 1) few were ex-SS and 2) they were split between the various units just like everyone else. Also, by the time of Dien Bien Phu (1954), the majority of the WW2 veterans would have either been killed or finished their contracts and gone home. Of course some would have remained.

'The Password is Courage' John Castle, about Sergeant Major Charles Coward - helped Jews escape from Birkenau when on the way to Auschwitz.

'Ill Met by Moonlight' William Stanley Moss.

'The Wooden Horse' Eric Woodman (?)

'All quiet on the Western Front' Eric Maria Remarque.

'Crete: the battle and the resistance' Antony Beevor.

A soldiers song, followed by the next book in the pair marujana times, both by Ken Luko-somethin-or-other, ex 2 para falklands orientated

Dont cry for me sergeant major, robert mcgowan and jeremy hands, falklands orientated again but a fantastic read