The GI's War: The Story of American Soldiers in Europe in Ww II - Hardcover

Hoyt, Edwin Palmer

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0070306273 ISBN 13: 9780070306271

Publisher: McGraw-Hill, 1988

Synopsis

Field soldiers of the Second World War offer heartfelt opinions and memories of encounters on and off the battlefield and dispel some common stereotypes of the men who defended the country

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Quoting from letters, diaries and interviews, Hoyt (Hitler's War, etc.) retraces ground already well trodbut with a difference. The emphasis here, to a large degree, is on the American soldier as skeptical grouser keeping a wary eye out for "the brass" who at times seem as threatening as the Germans. This GI Joe has little use for Gen. George "Blood and Guts" Patton ("His guts, our blood" was the saying of the time) and is not particularly surprised when Army doctors offer to amputate toes as treatment for trench foot, nor when he is reprimanded for giving a German general he captures the bum's rush. This GI is capable of feeling disgust at the obsequious behavior of liberated European civilians and is capable as well of brutality. Throughout this fast-paced narrative, Hoyt skillfully depicts how foot soldiers gradually evolved from an original state of confused ineptitude into disciplined warriors. The book is unblinkingly realistic and scrupulously unsentimental. Photos.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

One of America's leading popular military historians, Hoyt uses simple, almost stark, stories to establish the matter-of-fact attitude of rank-and-file American soldiers who fought the Germans. A reporter and foxhole-level narrator, he relies heavily on letters, tapes, and interviews from junior officers and enlisted men who served in the U.S. Army's combat arms in the European theater and concludes that these men knew they were there to do a dirty, dangerous job. The book has enough different stories to provide a comprehensive perspective on training and combat. It admirably complements Lee Kennett's G.I. ( LJ 3/1/87). Generally recommended. Dennis E. Showalter, Colorado Coll., Colorado Springs
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0070306273
• ISBN 13: 9780070306271
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 620