We read a lot this year! The only criteria for this list are that a) one of us read the book in 2025 and b) it's about WWII. Here are the books from this year that we recommend most highly, in no particular order.
A Bridge Too Far - Cornelius Ryan
This is the book about Operation Market Garden for a reason. It's 600 pages that doesn't remotely feel like 600 pages, and it makes everything make sense. Our episode is here.
2. Their Finest - Lissa Evans
A fun read that nevertheless doesn't shy away from the realities of being human in the keep-calm-and-carry-on era. Our episode is here.
3. Agent Zo: The Untold Story of Fearless WW2 Resistance Fighter Elżbieta Zawacka - Clare Mulley
Against the backdrop of Poland's struggle against two occupiers, one formidable woman did extraordinary things for her country. Our episode is here.
4. The Big Show / Le Grand Cirque - Pierre Clostermann
A funny, poignant war memoir by one of France's most famous fighter pilots. It'll remind you how young these guys were, and how aware they were of how short their lives might be. Our episode is here.
5. Sonny Boy / The Boy Between Worlds - Annejet van der Zijl
You rarely come across a biography that reads like a novel, or like a love letter to someone who wasn't famous - who lived one of millions of ordinary and simultaneously extraordinary lives during WWII. Our episode is here.
6. Munich - Robert Harris
A novel that makes the halls and meeting rooms of the Munich conference of 1938 feel like there's still time to avert the calamity that's coming. Our episode is here.
7. A Wing and a Prayer - Harry Crosby
A top five war memoir for both of us, Crosby is self-effacing, funny, and articulate about what it was like to be a Group Navigator in the Bloody 100th. We talked about Masters of the Air here.
8. Angel of Arnhem: Memories of Sept. '44 - Kate ter Horst
An incredible story about how everyday people sometimes step up and make all the difference. Kate took wounded Allied paratroopers into her home at great personal risk during Operation Market Garden. We talk about her story here.
9. The Longest Day - Cornelius Ryan
If you're like, "why does Cornelius Ryan appear twice on this list?" it's because he's the GOAT. A breathless but thorough account of June 6th, 1944. We don't have an episode yet, but it's coming.
10. And No Birds Sang - Farley Mowat
Canadian novelist Farley Mowat landed on Sicily during Operation Husky and fought through the Italian campaign. This is the work of a gifted writer who is not afraid to be honest about fear. We don't have an episode about this, but maybe one day we'll hit our top war memoirs, or Hollywood will make the movie.
Pierre Clostermann, as de l’aviation française aux 33 victoires aériennes homologuées, dans le cockpit de son Hawker Tempest Mk.V « Le grand Charles » - mai 1945
Tableau de chasse de Pierre Clostermann :
plus de 2 000 heures de vol
600 vols de guerre
33 victoires aériennes homologuées et 5 probables
Plus de 24 avions au sol
225 camions
72 locomotives
5 tanks
2 vedettes lance-torpilles et une quantité considérable de matériel ennemi.
Ep 56 – Le Grand Cirque – A Sortie into France’s Forgotten Fighter Ace Pierre Clostermann
So, we watched a 1950 French war film with no subtitles, three indistinguishable flyboys, and a romance subplot that came out of nowhere like a surprise Luftwaffe raid. And guess what? We still learned a ton, laughed a lot, and fell totally in love with France’s most chaotic ace pilot: Pierre Clostermann.
Listen here or let the trailer convince you first:
📚 The memoir it’s based on? Le Grand Cirque? Absolute banger. Emotional gut-punches, shenanigans, dogfights.
🎬 The film? Let’s just say... it tried.
💬 Reblog and tell us: if you were a WWII fighter pilot, what would your call sign be? Bonus points for chaos.
“Il y a la guerre des soldats, avec ses drames, ses harnachements de fer, ses mécaniques à tuer, monstrueuses - il y a aussi celles des innocents, avec ses ignobles massacres ... d’Oradour à Hambourg, de Buchenwald à la bombe atomique d’Hiroshima”
Préface de Pierre Clostermann ( Grand-Croix de la Légion d'honneur, Compagnon de la Libération, Croix de guerre 1939-1945 (27 citations), DFC and bar, Chevalier de l'ordre du Saint-Sépulcre de Jérusalem) aux mémoires de Hans-Ulrich Rüdel.
On notera non sans satisfaction qu’il place aux rangs des victimes Oradour et Hambourg, Buchenwald et Hiroshima. Lequel, parmi les anti-fa de pacotille d’aujourd’hui, en fera autant?
Lord Moran, medecin particulier de la famille royale et de Churchill qu’il a accompagné dans tous ses déplacements, avait été chargé par le ministère de la Défense d’étudier le comportement des hommes au combat en 1917 comme en 1940. Il écrivit par la suite un essai intitulé The Anatomy of Courage.
Lord Moran s’était élevé en 1917 contre la pratique inhumaine du cachet LMF (Lack of Moral Fiber) apposé jadis sur le dossier des combattants dont les nerfs avaient lâché. Cette phrase infamante qui marquait l’officier au fer rouge existait depuis la campagne des Indes et du Soudan et le malheureux n’avait alors en 1900 le choix qu’entre l’exil et le suicide...
Un phrase clé de l’essai de Moran mérite d’être citée: “Quand j’écris sur la naissance de la peur, je pense à quelque chose qui va profondément blesser et qui n’est pas le trac qui passe une fois l’acteur sur scène. La vraie peur n’apparait que chez les hommes qui ont affronté la mort”
Le grand Cirque- Pierre Clostermann (illustation Helie de St Marc)
Pierre Clostermann, DSO, DFC and bar in the cockpit of "Le grand Charles", his Hawker Tempest Mk. V. The french ace of WWII with 33 victories. He started the war on Spitfires with the No 341 Squadron RAF (also known as Groupe de Chasse n° 3/2 "Alsace" to the free french force) before joining No 274 Squadron RAF in december 1944.
Pierre Clostermann, the leading WW2 French Ace his 432 sorties flying in the RAF, Clostermann was credited officially with 23 victories (19 solo, 14 shared, most of them against fighters)
Clostermann wrote a very successful book, The Big Show (Le Grand Cirque), on his experiences in the war. One of the very first post-war fighter pilot memoirs, its various editions have sold over two and a half million copies. William Faulkner commented that this is the finest aviation book to come out of World War II.
