Return of 'Red Army'
 

After years out of print, Ralph Peters' Red Army is available on Amazon in trade paperback (6 x 1 x 9 inches). When I first heard about it, about 13 years ago, it was out of print and all I could get my hands on was a beat-up mass market paperback (the smallest format). At around $18, the new trade paperback is a bit pricey but, IMHO, worth the investment.

I started rereading it last night and it's as good as I remember. If you've never read Red Army, I recommend checking it out. It's about the opening phase of WWIII in central Europe, told from the point of view of Soviet soldiers, from a lowly private up to a major general. Reading Red Army inspired the OP of this megathread, an apologetic on the Soviet military of the last decade of the Cold War:

https://forum.juhlin.com/showthread....fense+red+army

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Red Army
 

Seconding this recommendation. I didn't love most of his other books, but this was a very well crafted story, with much better emphasis on characters than Clancy ever managed.

Red Army was a good read. Much better than the faceless horde the pact was stereotyped as in most western treatments of a conflict. Seeing the Soviets execute their tactics and operational art under best circumstances was really good. Peters probably suffered in review by having the Soviets focus on the “weak sisters” of Netherlands and Belgium to isolate the more effective British and German force at the expense of focusing on the usual decisive clash of US versus Soviet forces. That said, the Americans are a tactically decisive force on the battlefield but cannot overcome the political indecision of NATO.

I also liked The War in 2020, which was similar in showing the not necessarily symmetric relationship between tactics and strategy. The American forces suffer a strategic defeat in the beginning, and climb out of defeat to achieve battlefield dominance in the end. However, the political will to capitalize on battlefield gains is lacking and it’s all for naught. The pieces about domestic support operations and counter guerrilla operations in Mexico left me wishing for more detail. Seemed very T2K/recovery.

It's been 14 years since anyone mentioned it in this thread, but I'll second the recommendation on the Sharpe novels (later turned Sharpe's Rifles tv series). It's a bit Mary Sue-ish, but it covers small unit action in the Napoleonic Wars. Lots of great ideas in here.

On that note, and this is probably a bit out of left field, but I would HIGHLY recommend the Gaunt's Ghosts series. It's Warhammer 40k set, small unit fiction by the same guy that wrote Guardians of the Galaxy, and the 12? books so far are an absolute joy to read. Really fantastic descriptions of battles (albeit often against demons and cultists) and strong character building. And as with Sharpe, definitely more than a few scenario ideas that can be pulled out of the series for use in T2k.