"If you survive your first day, I'll promote you." So promised George Wilson's World War II commanding officer in the hedgerows of Normandy, and it was to be a promise dramatically fulfilled.
From July, 1944, to the closing days of the war, from the first penetration of the Siegfried Line to the Nazis' last desperate charge in the Battle of the Bulge, Wilson fought in the thickest of the action, helping take the small towns of northern France and Belgium building by building.
Of all the men and officers who started out in Company F of the 4th Infantry Division with him, Wilson was the only one who finished. In the end, he felt not like a conqueror or a victor, but an exhausted survivor, left with nothing but his life and his emotions.
One of the great first-person accounts of the making of a combat veteran, in the last, most violent months of World War II.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I recently finished reading this book and did quite enjoy it. I have read better first hand accounts of fighting in World War Two but there were some poignant and exciting moments in this book that ensured you didn't want to put it down. On the other hand there were times when the oratory felt dry and it moved steadily through these motions for the entire book.
So to summarise this book has good moments, it doesn't get bogged down in high ranking tactical discussion. Its a soldiers story that has you running through the hedgerows avoiding incoming MG42 fire but suffers severe slow down in places before finally fizzling out towards the end. I would recommend it as one to read if it is in your local bookshop but certainly wouldn't recommend you going out of your way to find it.
From July, 1944, to the closing days of the war, from the first penetration of the Siegfried Line to the Nazis' last desperate charge in the Battle of the Bulge, Wilson fought in the thickest of the action, helping take the small towns of northern France and Belgium building by building.
Of all the men and officers who started out in Company F of the 4th Infantry Division with him, Wilson was the only one who finished. In the end, he felt not like a conqueror or a victor, but an exhausted survivor, left with nothing but his life and his emotions.
One of the great first-person accounts of the making of a combat veteran, in the last, most violent months of World War II.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I recently finished reading this book and did quite enjoy it. I have read better first hand accounts of fighting in World War Two but there were some poignant and exciting moments in this book that ensured you didn't want to put it down. On the other hand there were times when the oratory felt dry and it moved steadily through these motions for the entire book.
So to summarise this book has good moments, it doesn't get bogged down in high ranking tactical discussion. Its a soldiers story that has you running through the hedgerows avoiding incoming MG42 fire but suffers severe slow down in places before finally fizzling out towards the end. I would recommend it as one to read if it is in your local bookshop but certainly wouldn't recommend you going out of your way to find it.