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Ever wonder what a soldier in the Battle of the Bulge encountered? This book was written by a WWII Infantryman who volunteered after hearing news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Tom Lacey was fascinated with aeronautics as a young boy, so naturally, he wanted to be trained to become a pilot; instead, he was assigned to the Army Infantry and volunteered to take a radioman post. Barraged by German artillery, with radio connection completely lost, Lacey later realized he survived the beginnings of the Battle of the Bulge. Of the 200 men in his unit, he was one of 12 to survive from the time of their entry into combat. Rather than discussing the traumas of war, Tom writes of experiencing friendship, heroism, benevolence, innovation, close calls - even humor and sacred beautiful moments. Join him as he recounts the characters from his personal experiences during this intense period in American history that are sure to inspire!
When Raymond Gantter arrived in Normandy in 1944, bodies were still washing up from the invasion. He and his fellow infantrymen moved across northern France and Belgium, taking part in the bloody Battle of the Bulge, penetrating into and across Germany, fighting all the way to the Czech border. From dueling with unseen snipers in ruined villages to fierce battles against Hitler's panzers, Gantter skillfully portrays their progress across a tortured continent.
"Gary Yee takes what is already a well-researched deep dive into the specifics of sniper training, employment and equipment to a new level." - American Rifleman Magazine Thousands of volumes have been published about World War II but relatively little attention has been given to the sniper. Drawing from memoirs, government documents and interviews, World War II Snipers incorporates eyewitness accounts to weave a comprehensive narrative of snipers in World War II. While certain common traits were shared among belligerents, each had its unique methodology for selecting and training snipers and, as casualties were high, their replacements. Drawn from hunters, competitive shooters, natural marksmen, outdoorsmen, city dwellers, farmers and veteran soldiers, they fought to assert local battlefield dominance and instill among their enemy a paralyzing fear. Sometimes admired and other times reviled by their own comrades because of the retaliation they drew, they were always too few in number. Their battlefield role, their victories and their defeats are retold here from neglected or forgotten sources. The scope of World War II Snipers is extensive with three chapters each on the major theaters of the war including Western Europe, Eastern Europe and the Pacific. This is supported by a lengthy chapter on the sniper rifles used by the snipers and their equipment.
“An important contribution to the history of World War II . . . I have never before been able to learn so much about maintenance methods of an armored division, with precise details that underline the importance of the work, along with descriptions of how the job was done.”—Russell F. Weigley, author of Eisenhower’s Lieutenants “Cooper saw more of the war than most junior officers, and he writes about it better than almost anyone. . . . His stories are vivid, enlightening, full of life—and of pain, sorrow, horror, and triumph.”—Stephen E. Ambrose, from his Foreword “In a down-to-earth style, Death Traps tells the compelling story of one man’s assignment to the famous 3rd Armored Division that spearheaded the American advance from Normandy into Germany. Cooper served as an ordnance officer with the forward elements and was responsible for coordinating the recovery and repair of damaged American tanks. This was a dangerous job that often required him to travel alone through enemy territory, and the author recalls his service with pride, downplaying his role in the vast effort that kept the American forces well equipped and supplied. . . . [Readers] will be left with an indelible impression of the importance of the support troops and how dependent combat forces were on them.”—Library Journal “As an alumnus of the 3rd, I eagerly awaited this book’s coming out since I heard of its release . . . and the wait and the book have both been worth it. . . . Cooper is a very polished writer, and the book is very readable. But there is a certain quality of ‘you are there’ many other memoirs do not seem to have. . . . Nothing in recent times—ridgerunning in Korea, firebases in Vietnam, or even the one hundred hours of Desert Storm—pressed the ingenuity and resolve of American troops . . . like WWII. This book lays it out better than any other recent effort, and should be part of the library of any contemporary warrior.”—Stephen Sewell, Armor Magazine “Cooper’s writing and recall of harrowing events is superb and engrossing. Highly recommended.”—Robert A. Lynn, The Stars and Stripes “This detailed story will become a classic of WWII history and required reading for anyone interested in armored warfare.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “[Death Traps] fills a critical gap in WWII literature. . . . It’s a truly unique and valuable work.”—G.I. Journal
From the Russian front to Hitler's bunker during the Battle of Berlin, this first-hand memoir offers stunning insight into the life of a soldier in Hitler's army.
The Second World War was the largest armed conflict in human history. It transformed lives, cultures, and civilizations. The men who served as riflemen, truck drivers, medics, radio operators, clerks, factory workers provided the means to defeat fascism through tireless effort and heroic sacrifice. Their stories come to light in Victory Through Valor: A Collection of World War II Memoirs, a new book from Reedy Press. Collected and edited by Dr. George Despotis, Donald E. Korte, and Matthew Lary, this substantial volume truly captures the essence of America s unsurpassed generation. Filled with interviews of more than 100 World War II veterans and their wives, Victory Through Valor recounts the experiences of the combat troops and support personnel, as well as those who remained behind on the home front. It includes depictions of Basic Training, the trip across the Atlantic, D-Day landings at Normandy, the fighting during the Bulge, the subsequent surrender by Germany in May of 1945, and myriad moments in between. Our World War II veterans are vanishing, and along with them goes the opportunity to understand their unparalleled commitment and courage. Victory Through Valor illuminates their story and shows readers how a generation led us through one of the most serious crises in the history of mankind, to one of the greatest triumphs in American history. The book is published with the cooperation and encouragement of the Gateway Chapter of The Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge in St. Louis, Missouri.
Originally published: Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, c2002.
When Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Americans reacted with revulsion and horror. In the patriotic war fever that followed, thousands of volunteers—including Japanese Americans—rushed to military recruitment centers. Except for those in the Hawaii National Guard, who made up the 100th Infantry Battalion, the U.S. Army initially turned Japanese American prospects away. Then, as a result of anti-Japanese fearmongering on the West Coast, more than 100,000 Americans of Japanese descent were sent to confinement in inland “relocation centers.” Most were natural-born citizens, their only “crime” their ethnicity. After the army eventually decided it would admit the second-generation Japanese American (Nisei) volunteers, it complemented the 100th Infantry Battalion by creating the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. This mostly Japanese American unit consisted of soldiers drafted before Pearl Harbor, volunteers from Hawaii, and even recruits from the relocation centers. In Going for Broke, historian James M. McCaffrey traces these men’s experiences in World War II, from training to some of the deadliest combat in Europe. Weaving together the voices of numerous soldiers, McCaffrey tells of the men’s frustrations and achievements on the U.S. mainland and abroad. Training in Mississippi, the recruits from Hawaii and the mainland have their first encounter with southern-style black-white segregation. Once in action, they helped push the Germans out of Italy and France. The 442nd would go on to become one of the most highly decorated units in the U.S. Army. McCaffrey’s account makes clear that like other American soldiers in World War II, the Nisei relied on their personal determination, social values, and training to “go for broke”—to bet everything, even their lives. Ultimately, their bravery and patriotism in the face of prejudice advanced racial harmony and opportunities for Japanese Americans after the war.
When Robert J. Rider died in 1961, he left to his descendants a typescript text, tentatively entitled Flashbacks, which would eventually become Reflections on the Battlefield. Broadly autobiographical, this text offers a unique account of its author who fought as an infantryman while also serving as a chaplain, thus exposing himself in peculiar directness to the ambiguities of chaplaincy service on the battlefield. A further particularity is that Rider was in a minority among chaplains, being a Methodist chaplain. In August 1914, Rider, aged twenty-five, was about to begin his third year of training for the ministry of the Wesleyan Methodist church, at Handsworth Theological College in Birmingham. Two months later he had enlisted with the First Birmingham Battalion, later termed the 14th Battalion, of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Rider's first-hand accounts of Ypres, the Somme and Arras reveal a man morally opposed to war and yet adamant that Germany and her allies needed to be defeated. Reflections on the Battlefield provides us with a personal and valuable contribution to the present-day debate about the contemporary understanding of the ethics of war, as expressed on the World War I battlefield.
The Prequel to the Bestselling Thank You for Your Service, Now a Major Motion Picture With The Good Soldiers, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Finkel has produced an eternal story — not just of the Iraq War, but of all wars, for all time. It was the last-chance moment of the war. In January 2007, President George W. Bush announced a new strategy for Iraq. It became known as "the surge." Among those called to carry it out were the young, optimistic army infantry soldiers of the 2-16, the battalion nicknamed the Rangers. About to head to a vicious area of Baghdad, they decided the difference would be them. Fifteen months later, the soldiers returned home — forever changed. The chronicle of their tour is gripping, devastating, and deeply illuminating for anyone with an interest in human conflict.