From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Many of the
authors that served in various real-life
wars (and survived) wrote stories that are at least somewhat based on their own experiences. Some of them are outright
memoirs or fictionalized accounts of their exploits.
Henri Barbusse , served in
France (
Under Fire )
E. E. Cummings , volunteer ambulance driver (
The Enormous Room )
Robert Graves , infantry officer in the
Royal Welch Fusiliers (
Goodbye to All That )
Jaroslav Hašek , served in Austrian and Czech armies (who were on opposing sides), (
The Good Soldier Švejk )
Ernest Hemingway , drove ambulances in Italy (
A Farewell to Arms )
William Hope Hodgson , Killed by the direct impact of an artillery shell at the Fourth Battle of Ypres (
The House on the Borderland )
Ernst Jünger , (
Sturm ,
Storm of Steel )
T. E. Lawrence , Lawrence of Arabia (
Seven Pillars of Wisdom )
C. S. Lewis ,
British Army , Third Battalion
Somerset Light Infantry , served in trench warfare at Somme Valley (
The Chronicles of Narnia )
A. A. Milne ,
British Army , British Home Guard
Emilio Lussu , (Sardinian Brigade )
H. E. L. Mellersh , infantry officer in the East Lancashire Regiment (
Schoolboy Into War )
Wilfred Owen
Erich Maria Remarque , infantry soldier, wounded in
Passchendaele (
All Quiet on the Western Front )
Ludwig Renn , company commander, and a field battalion commander, Saxon Guard Regiment ("Krieg", "Nachkrieg", "War")
Siegfried Sassoon , infantry officer in the
Royal Welch Fusiliers (
Memoirs of an Infantry Officer )
J. R. R. Tolkien ,
Lancashire Fusiliers , served in trench warfare at Somme Valley,
Battle at Thiepval Ridge and assault on
Schwaben Redoubt (
The Lord of the Rings ), 2nd Lt.
Lajos Zilahy , (
Century in Scarlet )
Joyce Kilmer , killed during the
Second Battle of Marne
Adolf Hitler , served as a lance corporal in the Bavarian Army
Alvah Bessie , volunteer, served in the Abraham Lincoln
XV International Brigade on the Republican side (Men In Battle; A Story Of Americans In Spain )
Arthur Koestler , interned by the Nationalists
Laurie Lee , served on the Republican side (
A Moment of War )
George Orwell , served and wounded on the Republican side (
Homage to Catalonia )
Albert Prago , volunteer, served in the Abraham Lincoln
XV International Brigade on the Republican side (Our fight : writings by veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, Spain, 1936–1939 )
Gustaf Munch-Petersen , served and died in the
International Brigades
Brian Aldiss ,
Royal Corps of Signals , saw action in Burma (
Non-Stop , [No Time Like Tomorrow] )
Kingsley Amis ,
Royal Corps of Signals (
Lucky Jim )
Philip Appleman
Ashley Bryan ,
Operation Overlord ,
Omaha Beach (
Artist and Author, Wrote Infinite Hope: A Black Artist's Journey from World War II to Peace about his experiences )
Isaac Asimov ,
Philadelphia Navy Yard Naval Air Experimentation Station,
United States Army (
Foundation )
J. G. Ballard , interned as a boy in Shanghai (
Empire of the Sun )
Capt.
Edward L. Beach, Jr. ,
United States Navy (
Run Silent, Run Deep )
Earle Birney , Canadian Army (
Turvey )
Pierre Boulle , British Special Forces (
Bridge on the River Kwai )
Flt. Lt.
Arthur C. Clarke ,
Royal Air Force (
2001: A Space Odyssey )
Col.
Hal Clement , pilot
Consolidated B-24 Liberator , 68th Bomb Squadron,
44th Bomb Group ,
8th Air Force , European Theatre (
Mission of Gravity )
L. Sprague de Camp ,
Philadelphia Navy Yard Naval Air Experimentation Station (
Lest Darkness Fall ) pilot
Roald Dahl ,
Royal Air Force , saw combat in the Mediterranean and was a
flying ace . Wrote
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory .
Anthony Faramus , survived Fort de Romainville, Buchenwald and Mauthausen concentration camps (
Journey Into Darkness. 1990 )
Frank Kelly Freas ,
United States Army Air Forces , South Pacific
Samuel Fuller , – (
The Big Red One )
H. L. Gold ,
United States Army (
Beyond Fantasy Fiction )
William Golding , participated in the invasion of Normandy on D-Day, commanding a landing ship that fired salvoes of rockets onto the beaches, and was in action at Walcheren at which 23 out of 24 assault craft were sunk. (
Lord of the Flies )
.
Günter Grass Nobel Prize 1999, Waffen-SS, Germany. Tin Drum
James Gunn (author) ,
U.S. Navy (
This Fortress World )
Dashiell Hammett , was assigned to Army Intelligence on the Aleutian Islands. He assisted in writing
Battle of the Aleutians... He went on to write a number of detective novels
Sven Hassel , Danish-born penal regiment soldier
Robert A. Heinlein , Lt., graduate of the
United States Naval Academy . Served in
U.S. Navy aboard
USS Lexington (CV-2) ,
USS Roper (DD-147) ,
Philadelphia Navy Yard (
Stranger in a Strange Land )
Joseph Heller , served in 12th Air Force (
Catch-22 )
Herman Wouk , served in the Navy, Pacific (
The Caine Mutiny )
Frank Herbert ,
U.S. Navy
Seabees (
Dune )
James Herriot , served in the Royal Air Force
L. Ron Hubbard ,
U.S. Navy (
The Way to Happiness )
James Jones (author) ,
25th Infantry Division ,
United States Army , Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal (
From Here to Eternity , The Thin Red Line )
Lt.Col
Jorma Karhunen , Finnish
fighter ace and
Mannerheim Cross awardee, a notable fiction and history author
Cyril M. Kornbluth ,
United States Army .
Bronze Star recipient for service as heavy machine gunner at the
Battle of the Bulge (
The Space Merchants )
R. A. Lafferty , 1st Sgt.,
United States Army Pacific Theatre (
Fourth Mansions )
Alistair MacLean , Royal Navy (
HMS Ulysses )
Sgt.
Väinö Linna , served in the Finnish army
Norman Mailer , served in South Pacific (
The Naked and the Dead )
Harry Martinson , Swedish volunteer in
Winter War (Verklighet Till Döds )
John Masters Gurkha officer, served in
North Africa and
Burma with the
Chindits (
Bhowani Junction ,
The Road Past Mandalay )
Samuel Menashe ,
United States Army , served in the
Battle of the Bulge .
Nicholas Monsarrat , served in the Royal Navy
Sgt.
Frederik Pohl ,
United States Army Air Forces ,
456th Bombardment Group , European Theatre (
Gateway )
Douglas Reeman , served in the Royal Navy
Cornelius Ryan , war correspondent in the US Army
J.D. Salinger ,
United States Army ,
12th Infantry Regiment ,
4th Infantry Division , active at
Utah Beach on
D-Day , in the
Battle of the Bulge , and the
Battle of Hürtgen Forest . (
The Catcher in the Rye )
Harvey Shapiro ,
United States Army Air Force , flew 35 combat missions over Europe as a
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress
tail gunner and was awarded the
Distinguished Flying Cross
Col.
Konstantin Simonov ,
Soviet Army (
The Immortal Garrison )
C.J.R. Tolkien , served in the Fleet Air Arm
Leon Uris ,
United States Marine Corps , Pacific Theatre,
Guadalcanal ,
Tarawa (
Battle Cry )
A. E. van Vogt ,
Canadian Department of National Defence (
Slan )
Pvt.
Gore Vidal ,
United States Army (
Julian )
Pvt.
Kurt Vonnegut ,
United States Army infantry soldier, 423rd Infantry Regiment,
106th Infantry Division , captured during the
Battle of the Bulge , survived bombing of Dresden as a POW (
Slaughterhouse Five )
Lt.
Evelyn Waugh ,
Royal Marines , later
Royal Horse Guards served in
Crete and
Yugoslavia (
Men at Arms ,
The End of the Battle )
Jack Williamson ,
U.S. Army Air Corps (
Darker Than You Think )
William Woodruff was a Major in the 24th Guards Brigade of the British 1st Infantry Division at Anzio. Vessel of Sadness
[1] is based on his experience of the battle.
Cpl.
John Wyndham ,
Royal Corps of Signals , landed at Normandy (
The Day of the Triffids )
Richard Yates (novelist)