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History of the Rapido River Battle in Italy during World War II from the viewpoint of over one hundred combat soldiers from the 36th Division known as the "T Patchers."
In the infantry, dying is a necessary cost of doing business. If the infantryman survives his first battle, he comes to expect losses because it is the infantry that moves the arrows forward on the map -- and advancement has it price. It is the job of the generals to see that the most is gained with the least loss. If the strategy is sound and the operation goes well, the losses are accepted and the process begins again. There are those times, however infrequent, when everything goes wrong, nothing is gained, and even the most veteran officers and men must search deep within themselves to reconcile the terrible losses. This is the story of such a time and of the men the 36th "Texas" infantry Division who fought in the Rapido River battle but refused to accept the official explanation of why so many were called to such a great sacrifice. In interviewing over one hundred men from the 36th Division who fought at the Rapido, two emotions stand out. First is the loyalty and love that the men have for each other. Theirs is a close bond forged in the cold and mud of the Italian winter, when supplies were short and replacements for heavy losses of men were slow to arrive. One man stated that he was closer to the men in his company than to any of his brothers. This closeness is at the heart of the Rapido story. The second is the bravery of the men who went forward in a battle where victory was less likely than death. This is not a story of just the few whose deeds of heroism stand out but, rather, of the average soldier who was called upon to go about the business of war day after day. They did not flinch from their responsibility and they did not stand out for special recognition. Thus, the emphasis of this book is not upon the politics and personalities within the command structure. Instead, it is the view from the foxhole with a broad overview of the politics and the commanders.
The crossing of the Rapido, in the shadow of the monastery atop Monte Cassino, was one of the colossal mistakes of World War II. This is the first book-length history of the operation.
In the second volume of his epic trilogy about the liberation of Europe in World War II, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Atkinson tells the harrowing story of the campaigns in Sicily and Italy.
"Harrigan, surveying thousands of years of history that lead to the banh mi restaurants of Houston and the juke joints of Austin, remembering the forgotten as well as the famous, delivers an exhilarating blend of the base and the ignoble, a very human story indeed. [ Big Wonderful Thing is] as good a state history as has ever been written and a must-read for Texas aficionados.”—Kirkus, Starred Review The story of Texas is the story of struggle and triumph in a land of extremes. It is a story of drought and flood, invasion and war, boom and bust, and the myriad peoples who, over centuries of conflict, gave rise to a place that has helped shape the identity of the United States and the destiny of the world. “I couldn’t believe Texas was real,” the painter Georgia O’Keeffe remembered of her first encounter with the Lone Star State. It was, for her, “the same big wonderful thing that oceans and the highest mountains are.” Big Wonderful Thing invites us to walk in the footsteps of ancient as well as modern people along the path of Texas’s evolution. Blending action and atmosphere with impeccable research, New York Times best-selling author Stephen Harrigan brings to life with novelistic immediacy the generations of driven men and women who shaped Texas, including Spanish explorers, American filibusters, Comanche warriors, wildcatters, Tejano activists, and spellbinding artists—all of them taking their part in the creation of a place that became not just a nation, not just a state, but an indelible idea. Written in fast-paced prose, rich with personal observation and a passionate sense of place, Big Wonderful Thing calls to mind the literary spirit of Robert Hughes writing about Australia or Shelby Foote about the Civil War. Like those volumes, it is a big book about a big subject, a book that dares to tell the whole glorious, gruesome, epically sprawling story of Texas.
The definitive chronicle of the Allied triumph in Europe during World War II, Rick Atkinson's Liberation Trilogy is now together in one ebook bundle From the War in North Africa to the Invasion of Normandy, the Liberation Trilogy recounts the hard fought battles that led to Allied victory in World War II. Pulitzer Prize-winning and New York Times bestselling author Rick Atkinson brings great drama and exquisite detail to the retelling of these battles and gives life to a cast of characters, from the Allied leaders to rifleman in combat. His accomplishment is monumental: the Liberation Trilogy is the most vividly told, brilliantly researched World War II narrative to date. WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Here is an encompassing and insightful history of the distinguished 36th Division, which traces back to the 1870s and officially formed for World War I. In the Second World War, the 36th led the first contested Allied landing in Europe and gave the Fifth Army “the key” to Rome. Readers interested in early Texas and Western history, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the world wars, and the continuing debate over the best structure for the American military, will enjoy this exciting adventure story. The 36th Division was formed in 1917, just after the United States entered World War I. The division's documented ancestors in the Texas National Guard, the Texas Volunteer Guard, and the Texas militia trace back to the 1870s. The tradition in which the 36th played so great a part even predates the 1836 defense of the Alamo. This history explores the division's origins and also goes "over there" with the 36th for combat in World War I, chronicles the division in state National Guard service between the world wars, and witnesses its federalization in 1940, followed by combat training in 1940-1942 and combat action in Italy and France during the Second World War.
Beginning with tribal wars among Native Americans before Europeans settled Texas and continuing through the Civil War, the soil of what would become the Lone Star State has frequently been stained by the blood of those contesting for control of its resources. In subsequent years and continuing to the present, its citizens have often taken up arms beyond its borders in pursuit of political values and national defense. Although historians have studied the role of the state and its people in war for well over a century, a wealth of topics remain that deserve greater attention: Tejanos in World War II, the common Texas soldier’s interaction with foreign enemies, the perception of Texas warriors throughout the world, the role of religion among Texans who fight or contemplate fighting, controversial paramilitary groups in Texas, the role and effects of Texans’ ethnicity, culture, and gender during wartime, to name a few. In Texans at War, fourteen scholars provide new studies, perspectives, and historiographies to extend the understanding of this important field. One of the largest collections of original scholarship on this topic to date, Texans and War will stimulate useful conversation and research among historians, students, and interested general readers. In addition, the breadth and originality of its contributions provide a solid overview of emerging perspectives on the military history and historiography of Texas and the region. Partial listing of CONTENTS Introduction Alexander Mendoza and Charles David Grear PART I. Texans Fighting through Time: Thematic Topics 1. The Indian Wars of Texas: A Lipan Apache Perspective p. 17 Thomas A Britten 2. Tejanos at War: A History of Mexican Texans in American Wars Alexander Mendoza 3. Texas Women at War p. 69 Melanie A Kirkland 4. The Influence of War and Military Service on African Texans p. 97 Alwyn Barr 5. The Patriot-Warrior Mystique: John S. Brooks, Walter P. Lane, Samuel H. Walker, and the Adventurous Quest for Renown p. 113 Jimmy L. Bryan Jr. 6. "All Eyes of Texas Are on Comal County": German Texans' Loyalty during the Civil War and World War I p. 133 Charles David Grear PART II. Wars in Texas History: Chronological Conflicts 7. Between Imperial Warfare: Crossing of the Smuggling Frontierand Transatlantic Commerce on the Louisiana-Texas Borderlands, 1754–1785 p. 157 Francis X. Galan8. The Mexican-American War: Reflections on an Overlooked Conflict p. 178 Kendall Milton9. The Prolonged War: Texans Struggle to Win the Civil Warduring Reconstruction p.196 Kenneth W. Howell 10. The Texas lmmunes in the Spanish-American War p. 213 James M. McCaffrey 11. Surveillance on the Border: American Intelligence andthe Tejano Community during World War I p. 227 Jose A. Ramirez 12. Texan Prisoners of the Japanese: A Study in Survival p. 248 Kelly E. Crager 13. Lyndon B. Johnson's Bitch of a War: An Antiwar Essay p. 269 James M. Smallwood 14. Black Paradox in the Age of Terrorism: Military Patriotismor Higher Education p. 283 Ronald E. GoodwinIndex p. 301
Monte Cassino is the true story of one of the bitterest and bloodiest of the Allied struggles against the Nazi army. Long neglected by historians, the horrific conflict saw over 350,000 casualties, while the worst winter in Italian memory and official incompetence and backbiting only worsened the carnage and turmoil. Combining groundbreaking research in military archives with interviews with four hundred survivors from both sides, as well as soldier diaries and letters, Monte Cassino is both profoundly evocative and historically definitive. Clearly and precisely, Matthew Parker brilliantly reconstructs Europe’s largest land battle–which saw the destruction of the ancient monastery of Monte Cassino–and dramatically conveys the heroism and misery of the human face of war.