Bibliography of World War II

Cover of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1960) by William L. Shirer

This is a bibliography of works on World War II.

The bibliography aims to include primary, secondary and tertiary sources regarding the European theatre of World War II (1939–1945) and the Pacific War (1941–1945). By extension, it includes works regarding the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). Additionally, the scope of the bibliography expands to the causes of World War II and the immediate aftermath of World War II, such as evacuation and expulsion and war crimes trials (such as the Nuremberg Trials and the Tokyo Trials). Works on the causes or the aftermath of World War II should only be included if they describe the respective events in the specific context of and relation to the conflict itself.

There are thousands of books written about World War II; therefore, this is not an all-inclusive list. This bibliography also does not aim to include fictional works (see World War II in popular culture). It does not aim to include self-published works, unless there is a very good reason to do so.

Origins of World War II

The following lists should include works of secondary literature that are concerned mainly with the origins of World War II in general or with the entry into World War II by one particular country.

Military history, by theater

Global military history

Europe, by theater or front

Asia, by theater or front

Military history, by type of warfare

Aerial warfare

For general histories of national air forces, check the "specific military branches" section. For development of airplanes and technical histories, check the "science and technology" section.

Aerial warfare by country Germany United States Kamikaze and suicide attacks Strategic bombing, general German strategic bombing of the United Kingdom Western Allied strategic bombing of Germany and German-occupied Europe

Land warfare

For the history of specific theaters or specific units, see the respective sections.

Airborne warfare and paratroopers Amphibious warfare and naval infantry

For histories of the United States Marine Corps, see the respective section under in the specific branches section.

Anti-aircraft warfare Armored cars Armored warfare and tank forces Artillery Military fortifications

Naval warfare

General Aircraft carriers Convoys Naval battles, Pacific (1941–1945) Submarine warfare

Military history, by national militaries and national military branches

National militaries

Canada Germany Poland, whole military Soviet Union, whole military United Kingdom, whole military United States, whole military

Specific military branches

Australia, military branches Australian Army Royal Australian Navy Royal Australian Air Force Belgium, military branches Belgian Army Canada, military branches Canadian Army Royal Canadian Air Force Royal Canadian Navy France, military branches French Army Germany, military branches German Air Force (Luftwaffe) German Army (Heer) Waffen-SS Japan, military branches Imperial Japanese Army Imperial Japanese Navy New Zealand, military branches Royal New Zealand Navy United Kingdom, military branches British Army Royal Navy Royal Air Force United States, military branches U.S. Army Air Forces U.S. Army (without USAAF) U.S. Marine Corps U.S. Navy

Military history, by specific military units, formations and warships

Military history, war crimes

Works that are mainly concerned with war crimes trials and persecution of war criminals after the conclusion of the war should be placed in the appropriate list in the "Aftermath of World War" section.

Allied war crimes

American war crimes Soviet war crimes

Axis war crimes

Croatian war crimes German war crimes

Military history, occupation and occupied territories

American occupation

Occupation after 1945 should be covered in the postwar section.

American occupation of Italy until 1945

British occupation

Occupation after 1945 should be covered in the postwar section.

British occupation of Italy until 1945

German occupation

German occupation of Belgium German occupation of Denmark German occupation of France German occupation of Italy German occupation of Norway German occupation of Poland German occupation of the Soviet Union German occupation of Yugoslavia

Japanese occupation

Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia)

Military history, other

Colonial troops

United Kingdom, colonial troops

Grand strategy

Allied grand strategy Axis grand strategy

Insignia and military symbols

Prisoners of war

Resistance

National and regional histories of World War II

The following lists should include works focussed mainly on the history of a particular nation, state, or country during World War II. Histories of sovereign states as well as of colonial subjects and of cultural regions are of interest. Histories concerned with a particular theater of war should be placed in military history. For instance, a history of Poland during World War II should be placed in this section, but a history on 1939 invasion should be placed in the respective segment in the military history section.

Africa

Colonial names should be sorted alphabetically after their colonial name without colonial overlord identifiers. Colonial identifiers should be added with a comma, current countries names should be placed in brackets.

General Basutoland, British (Lesotho) Bechuanaland, British (Botswana) Ethiopia/Abyssinia North Africa, French (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia) Northern Rhodesia, British (Zambia) South Africa

Asia

Note that the Middle East has its own section.

China India, British Indochina, French (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos) Iraq Japan Thailand

The Americas

Argentina Brazil Canada Chile United States

Europe

Austria

Austria was part of Germany between 1938 and 1945 (see: Anschluss). This section contains books relevant specifically to that segment of the German Reich in the timeframe or to the postwar Republic of Austria in its relationship to World War II.

Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany

For books specifically about German-owned Austria between 1938 and 1945, see the "Austria" section.

Hungary Ireland Italy (Kingdom) Latvia Lithuania Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Soviet Union


Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey United Kingdom Yugoslavia

The Middle East

Egypt Fr. Syria (Syria, Lebanon) Iran Palestine

Oceania

Australia New Zealand

Science and technology

Aircraft development and specific aircraft types

Germany Japan United Kingdom United States

Jet engines

Nuclear technology and atomic weapons

Secondary literature, other

Animals

Art and artists

Italy Soviet Union United Kingdom United States

Biographies and person-focussed works

The following lists should include works of secondary literature concerned with a singular person that participated in World War II, as well as with the context and content of that service. These books can either be full biographies or be person-focussed studies of the respective subject's wartime service. The subjects of the biography should be listed (preferably wikilinked) after the respective bibliographical entry to ease searching.

Collections of biographies Military, generals/admirals France, biographies of generals/admirals Germany, biographies of generals/admirals Japan, biographies of generals/admirals Soviet Union, biographies of generals/admirals United Kingdom, biographies of generals/admirals United States, biographies of generals/admirals Yugoslavia Military, other Canada, biographies of military personnel (non-generals/admirals) United Kingdom, biographies of military personnel (non-generals/admirals) United States, biographies of military personnel (non-generals/admirals) Politicians, political leaders, monarchs

This section should be limited to those persons who were politicians and political leaders during World War II. Postwar political leaders should be placed in the sections relevant to their wartime experience.

Australia, biographies of political figures Belgium, biographies of political figures France, biographies of political figures Germany, biographies of political figures Soviet Union, biographies of political figures United Kingdom, biographies of political figures United States, biographies of political figures Scientists United States, biographies of scientists Writers and poets Soviet Union, biographies of writers/poets Victims of genocide or ethnoracial persecution/oppression Holocaust Japanese Americans Porajmos Victims of warfare Japan

Diplomatic history

Economic history, resource production, agriculture

Intelligence and espionage Literature and fiction

Official histories

Mass media

Women's history

Biographies of individual women are to be found in the biographies section.

Sexual assault and rape during World War II Women in combat roles during World War II Women's history, by country Australia Soviet Union United Kingdom United States

Aftermath of World War II

The following lists should include works of secondary literature concerned with the immediate and short-term aftermath of World War II, giving strong priority to such works that describe said events in specific relation and reference to World War II.

General

Establishment of the Eastern bloc

Expulsion and refugee movements

Fugitive war criminals

Liberated territories

Postwar occupation

Germany Japan

War crimes trials

Germany Japan

Direct accounts and primary literature

Diaries, letter collections, transcripts of private conversations

The following lists should include diaries or letter collections written (at least partially) during World War II. The list should be focussed on works that were written during the war for either personal or restricted private consumption, and without authorial intent for widespread publication.

Civilians Belgium, civilian diaries Germany, civilian diaries Netherlands, civilian diaries United Kingdom, civilian diaries United States, civilian diaries Military Australia, military diaries Canada, military diaries Germany, military diaries United Kingdom, military diaries United States, military diaries Politicians, political leaders, diplomats Canada, politician diaries France, politician diaries Germany, politician diaries Italy, politician diaries Soviet Union, politician diaries

Memoirs and autobiographies

Study aides and tertiary literature

Atlases

Encyclopedias, dictionaries, and lexicons

The following list should include encyclopedias of World War II, i.e. reference works or compendiums containing multiple short entries that are sorted alphabetically.

Source collections

The following list should include source collections, i.e. collections of primary documents or accounts about or in reference to World War II.

Bibliographies

This list should include bibliographies, i.e. listings of books, about World War II.

See also