Rodney

World War II was so many things, in so many places. A lot of amazing things hppened in out-of-the-way places, so no one ever heard much about them. But that didn't stop them from being amazing.

That said, I would recommend highly "The Thousand Mile War" by Brian Garfield, about the Japanese invasion of the Aleutian Islands. Yes, the Japanese actually invaded American soil, because the Aleutians -- part of Alaska -- definitely qualified. But the Aleutians, with terrible weather conditions and biting cold, are about the worst possible place to conduct a war. What actually went on, and what both sides had to do, is practically inconceivable by today's standards. This is a factual book, written with input from both sides, but it reads like a novel, and a gripping one at that. Highly, highly recommended.

If you're going to Europe, this isn't exactly what you had in mind. But when you asked for "the best," that's what I came up with. Another great one that's not about where you're going, from the Japanese side, is "Samurai," by Saburo Sakai, a war memoir by Japan's greatest fighter ace in WWII, and one of the very few Japanese pilots who made it through the entire war alive. It's a great read.