Band of Brothers

[papabear]

I'm now rewatching Band of Brothers and am still glad that I bought it in the first place...

What book or unit history or campaign do you think should be turned into a TV miniseries?

[Gringo]

Pegasus Bridge by Stephen E. Ambrose!

[Gordon]

I've read a few books about the SAS in the 2nd world war following their progress from the deserts of Africa, the invasion of Italy and islands in the Mediterranean to their involvement in France and Germany. The most recent one i read is an biography of Lt. Col. Robert Blair "Paddy" Mayne and is a really good read, he was the most decorated (British, or maybe i should say Irish) soldier of the war and was one hard b*****d. For those who know what i mean he collected four DSO's, the Croix de Guerre and the Legion d'honneur.

I reckon there's more than enough material for someone to make a miniseries on the subject of this, the SAS in the 2nd world war, and the only factor would be if they could do justice to the achievements of the people who were involved.

[FallenAngel]

The Hunt for Red October...

oh wait....damnit.

umm...oh, I know.

VMF-214 "Black Sheep"
Battle of Iwo Jima
Chosin Resevoir
Siege of Kha San (spelling?)
Battle of 73 Easting

I dunno. THat's just whats up the top of my head.

[OzMan]

**** Marcinko, "Rogue Warrior".

[GI_Rutger]

**** Marcinko, "Rogue Warrior".
No, bad choice. Marcinko is always talking about the new system of the Navy, which kicks him out. Maybe a book from Crhis Ryan or something like that.

[OzMan]

Ok, didn't think about that. I just think it would be an action-packed series, and probably some good entertainment.

[Scrim]

Rutger-There is already a movie of Chris Ryans "The One That Got Away" pretty hard to get outside of the UK though.(I assume thats the Chris Ryan your talking about.)
There is a book called "A Mouthfull of Rocks" by Christian Jennings, its a brutal look at the modern French Foreign Legion. If you have any interest in the Legion, read it, anyone who has will know that it would make a great movie.

[Upfrontreporting]

How about Anders Lassen (???) most of you guys don't know him I assume.

ANDERS LASSEN – known as "ANDY" – joined the British army january 1941 and became a highly respected member of the famous SAS regiment.

You can read more about him in this book

ANDERS LASSEN VC, MC, OF THE SAS. Mike Langley, 256 pages, Hodder & Stoughton (Oct 1988) ISBN: 0450424928

[Gringo]

I've heard of Anders Lassen. He was Killed in the last days of the war wasn't he?

[Upfrontreporting]

Yup, at Lago Commachio in Italy, while storming the 3rd or 4th German machinegun position.

I've read the book, very interesting.


He has a headstone at the SAS cemetary in Hereford.

[Upfrontreporting]

that should have been 3rd or 4th machinegun position in a row along a road

[Gordon]

Yeh, i've read about Anders Lassen .. he finished off the war in the SBS and, as you said Screaming Eagle, died pretty near the end. So the story goes is that he was attacking 3 or 4 german bunkers on a lake which were pretty impregnable and he took out all of them except the last one and then asked the soldiers in the last bunker if they would surrender, they agreed and he moved to the door whereupon he was cut down by the Germans. Needless to say the rest of his unit took their revenge.

That's the famous story about him but there's alot more where that came from and I reckon that would make a pretty awesome film.

[James]

I'll second the proposal for "Pegasus Bridge". My own suggestion is "With the Old Breed" by Eugene Sledge - USMC in the Pacific, WWII. Reaching back a little bit farther, any of Lyn MacDonald's non-fiction books about The Great War are rich in subject matter.

[Gringo]

That's the famous story about him but there's alot more where that came from and I reckon that would make a pretty awesome film.

It'll be a lot like a Brit' remake of that film with Audie Murphy, can't remember what is was called now. Wasn't it To Hell and Back or suthin like that?

[Royal]

14 Platoon by Sydney Jary MC. Required reading for officer cadets in the UK. Follows an infantry Platoon (Somerset Light Infantry) from Normandy to the German border.

Jary still writes on sub-unit tactics in UK military journals.

I'd seccond a film on Lassen (or the SAS/SBS in Southern Europe '43-'45) the only UKSF VC by the way.

[Chris1]

Mirbat
9 SAS
250 AK47 armed Adoo warriors with rocket launchers and mortars.
Guess who won :)

[James]

Hmm... I wonder. :lol:

[James]

I'd like to see a well made movie about WWII OSS/SOE Jedburgh teams causing mayhem and running amok in France in 1944. There is a good book of oral history about the subject - "Behind the Lines" by Russell Miller.

For those fans of the book and/or miniseries "Band of Brothers", you should read "Parachute Infantry" by Daniel Webster. He is a character in both the miniseries and in the book. "Parachute Infantry" is his own memoir. It is very good. It differs from "Band of Brothers" mainly because it is the story of a single man instead of the unit.

Last but not least, "The Forgotten Soldier" buy Guy Sajer - an Alsatian who joined the German Army in 1943. He spent the vast majority of his time on the Eastern Front. Lucky for him, he was captured by some Englishmen in the Spring of 1945.

[XASA]

.

Last but not least, "The Forgotten Soldier" buy Guy Sajer - an Alsatian who joined the German Army in 1943. He spent the vast majority of his time on the Eastern Front. Lucky for him, he was captured by some Englishmen in the Spring of 1945.

Great suggestion James. "The Forgotten Soldier" is a classic book on the Russian Front from a German soldier's perspective.

A highly successful WWII special operations unit that gets little recognition is Popski's Private Army http://users.pandora.be/ppa/blad7a.htm
Their exploits in their heavily armed jeeps in the North African and Italian campaigns would make a great mini-series or movie.

[California Joe]

That is an awesome book James. I read that on recommendation of a friend and was greatly impressed. The coolest guy in the whole book was "Weiner"? the machine gunner that sacrifices himself so they can escape?

[delta1ukc]

Bloody heros and operation certain death by damien lewis would be very good choices, i found both the books to be avid reading.

[Dispatcher]

And the necropost award goes to!! ^^^

Im anticipating "The Pacific", to stay on this rather dusty topic.

[T3ngu]

Thats gotta be some kind of a necro record.

[EasyC]

Why in God's name did you bump two 7 year old threads (http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?183-SAS-Book-recommendations) to post the same info.

[California Joe]

Because we need to know man, we need to know.

[Andreas]

Because we need to know man, we need to know.

were you a mod back then when you posted in this thread ? Best necro post I have seen

[California Joe]

Nah, I wasn't. I finally joined the same month after reading threads for a few months.

[Steak-Sauce]

Hugh Mills. Low Level Hell: A Scout Pilot in the Big Red One.

€dit: Oh damn... 7 years!

[iloxos]

Gates Of Fire by Steven Pressfield

check the pics here http://home.stevenpressfield.com/content/news.asp

[JRT]

A story of a German unit, for example the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich. They fought in France, Eastern Front, Normandy, Hungary and surrendered to the Americans in the end. A story of a Japanese, Italian or Soviet unit would be interesting too, as well as a British unit. Not to be taken as an insult, but the concentration of movie industry in the US and the lack of willingness for the lost nations to remember their doings has resulted in quite one-sided depiction of events in motion picture.

Having said this, I'm really waiting for "Pacific" to come out anyways.