The Americans at Normandy by John C. McManus

The Americans at Normandy by John C. McManus -439 pages

This book covers the costly, but decisive campaign that opened seventy years ago. Many do not realize that taking the beaches on D-Day was only the first step in a tremendous eighty day battle with German paratroopers, Waffen SS, and armored divisions amid nearly impassible hedgerows in the Norman countryside. My own grandfather served as a rifleman in the 29th Infantry that helped capture the important towns of St. Lo and Vire in July and August, and this book covers those events very well. The author has done a great deal of research to incorporate personal stories from front line soldiers and balances those with the overall view and the strategic decisions by the commanders.

The Last Battle: When U.S. and German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe by Stephen Harding

The Last Battle:  When U.S. and German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe by Stephen Harding - 223 pages

When I chose to read The Last Battle it was because I was interested in reading about the circumstances of how the United States and Germans teamed up.  However, I was unimpressed.  What is not clearly mentioned is that it was not truly the Germans who were participating.  Most of the so-called "German" soldiers were Austrians and they had joined the Austrian resistance long before the war ended.  The goal of this "last battle" was to protect a group of high-ranking French political prisoners (former ministers who opposed the Nazis) and kept at Schloss Itter, a medieval castle in the Tyrolean Alps.  Initially, after the true Germans guarding the prisoners leave, local Austrian-bred officers and soldiers plus one disgruntled former Bavarian SS Captain who deserted, Schrader,  help protect the prisoners.  Then one prisoner escaped to let the nearby American troops know what was happening and they came to the rescue in two waves.  The first is the focus of the latter half of the book, as the second wave is given only one paragraph.

Also a fact I disliked about the book was its focus on biographies over the actual event.  The first nearly one hundred pages were mini-biographies of the ensemble cast of about two dozen.  However, that same fact lets me unexpectedly claim this book towards this month's goal of sports and athlete related books.  One of the French prisoners was Jean Borotra, a world-renowned tennis champion and former Minister of Sports and Recreation, who was imprisoned for saying the Jews should be allowed equal opportunity to participate in sporting activities.  Also, the American soldier who led the troops to Schloss Ittler, John C. Lee, Jr., participated in swoardsmanship and horsemanship sports while enrolled in a military academy and played several seasons of semi-pro football after the war's end.  Both Lee and Borotra were the indispensable brains and brave souls whom without the battle never would have been won.

To Hell and Back- Audie Murphy an Autobiography

To Hell and Back- Audie Murphy an Autobiography 274 pages

This book was written in 1946, so the subject would be very familiar to those who went through much of these events.  The raw hatred of the Nazi soldiers, the shock and stress of being far to long in harms way, insufficient clothing, insufficient food, would be something all the folks back home would see in the loved ones who returned.

We as civilians really don’t understand the conditions the Infantryman in Europe in WW2 endured. This first hand account lends a small idea of how it changed the lives of the serviceman. Audie Murphy was the most decorated American soldier in WW2, yet he doesn't mention the citations except in passing.

In this day and time the only people who can really relate to the WW2 veteran are those veterans who served under similar conditions. Some may live next door...