100 Books Like Cold Harbour

I was immediately drawn to the suspense of this book. The novel begins at the Berlin Wall, where British intelligence agent Alec Leamas helplessly watches as East German guards murder his colleague.

As I followed the elaborate British plan to get revenge on an East German official, I had the nagging feeling that I was missing something. When I finally got to the end, I realized that I had been duped—much like many of the characters in the novel. 

You can feel the danger lurking behind every day as radio journalist Shirer watched Hitler build on one horror after another.

Reynolds writes in a way you can hear him, in a stye that echoed his broadcasts. Even after the declaration of war, “life here is still quite normal… the theatres and movies, all open and jammed.”

And this item when he went to the front: “At last will get a chance–maybe–to see how this German colossus has been doing it, walking through Belgium, Holland and now, Northern France, so fast.”

What I like about Shirer’s approach is that he takes you along with him on every day’s events. There were so many things he touched on that often got missed in other books. I enjoyed being with him each day and you will, too.

Ken Follett’s breakthrough novel is a taut and thrilling wartime espionage tale set during World War II. But there is sufficient naval action to include it in this list. I felt it was a wonderfully atmospheric novel.

It centres on Henry Faber, a ruthless German spy nicknamed “The Needle” for his deadly stiletto. Faber uncovers the Allies’ deception surrounding the D-Day invasion and races to deliver the intelligence to Nazi command. His journey leads him to Storm Island, where he encounters Lucy Rose, a lonely Englishwoman whose emotional entanglement with Faber becomes pivotal. As MI5 closes in, the novel builds to an exciting naval warfare climax.

Follett masterfully blends suspense, romance, and historical intrigue in this compelling tale of loyalty and betrayal.

If you’re curious about what was happening in Germany throughout the war, you’ll love Albert Speer’s memoir, which provides a unique, inside look at Hitler and his closest associates before and after the Allies landed in Normandy. Speer was Hitler’s architect and paints a unique picture of Hitler from the start of the war. It also includes a wonderful series of pictures at every stage.

If you’re fascinated by The Second World War, this book is a must for your library, as it is in mine. I look at the pictures over and over and delight in seeing the principal players who made those years memorable. It’s a book that will stay in your head for a long time.

ODESSA was a port-war organization established to re-establish the power of SS mass murderers throughout the world and carry out Hitler’s Final Solution 20 years after his death.

In researching for ODESSA Files, Forsyth talked to several former SS members and used their memories to enhance the atmosphere and feeling of reality throughout the book.

It’s a look at what Hitler and the SS had in mind for the world. Almost every chapter bristles with suspense and excitement when a journalist starts to expose them. It’s cleverly plotted and has you on edge from start to finish.

The war was also operated at an unseen level and J. C. Masterson was in the midst of it–espionage. The Brits added another to it–double cross, in which they provided known German agents with false information, and were successful in convincing the Germans that D-Day landings would take place in the Pas de Calais.

The book is an authoritative account of their activities and the great nicknames they used to pull it off. Names like Snow, Celery, Biscuit, Charlie, Midas, Dragonfly, Tricycle, and what their responsibilities were. They also used letter-writing agents who were part of their deception to get the Germans to retain a Panzer division in the Bordeau area, away from the landing area. You’ll marvel at their cleverness.

I know the book intrigued me and I’m sure you’ll come away from it amazed as I was.

It’s a hard book to put down. It was written by Stevenson, a Canadian, along with William Donovan, who created a super spy agency that was responsible for a string of Allied successes. Their agency included a number of very talented men and women, including Ian Flemming who went on to create James Bond.

You’ll be fascinated by the way they handled their challenges and remember Donovan and Stevenson and what they did after the war years long after you’ve read the book. I really like spy stories and how they overcame their challenges. Their book is filled with how they were successful. I like to read books for the subtlety that often escapes listening to an audio-book.

Yes, there was a naval war in the Atlantic, too. Had not the Allies defeated Hitler’s U-boats over a multi-year battle—the longest of the war—World War II would likely have been lost no matter the heroics in the Pacific. Hitler’s U-Boat War does for the Battle of the Atlantic what Blair did with Silent Victory for submarine actions in the Pacific.

This book is exhaustive in detail—pick a boat or an engagement, and Blair has chronicled it— but taken overall, these volumes show the tenuous nature of the battle that was won in the aggregate by individual conflicts between hunter and hunted. This is a reliable desktop reference as well as a compelling read.

Just a great overall, concise, single-volume study of the Battle of the Atlantic and one that is written from a mid-Atlantic perspective (Milner is a Canadian academic). Great writing Milner conveys the challenges at the heart of the Battle of the Atlantic in which fortunes fluctuated considerably from 1939 to 1945. 

There are many valuable memoirs that can take you inside the stories of the Battle of the Atlantic.

Changing technologies and the grand strategy of winning the Second World War tend to dominate many accounts but memoirs give insight into the lives, emotions, and thoughts of those called on to fight in great waters. Gretton was one of the most capable Royal Navy commanders whose skills and professionalism helped to turn the tide in the Battle. 

Read this and see the campaign through his eyes as a professional hunter of U-boats and a good shepherd to the merchant ships under his protection.