- ARRSE Rating
I was initially uncertain about this book, as it looks like it's a coffee table book but was pleasantly surprised by the content. The book is a large format, 8" x 11" and slightly over an inch thick on high quality paper.
The author is a relatively young French journalist states that the book is intended to record the stories of the various personnel before they are forgotten. Given the effort involved in the author meeting many of the living subjects this book is obviously something of a labour of love.
This book is a collection of stories of a range of soldiers (Army with a few Air Force, and Marines, but no naval personnel) all of whom served in WW2. Each story is about 4 pages covering the war in chronological order from the invasion of France until the Japanese surrender. The stories are put together from correspondence collected by the author and knitted together to form a coherent tale. Soldiers come from primarily French, British and American forces with a small number of Canadians, Aussies and NZ but also includes a few "oddments" including the civilian entertainment troupe.
The various theatres of the conflict get a short introduction including synopsis of the overall situation with relevant maps and diagrams before the individual personal stories relating to that theatre. Each section is liberally illustrated with a variety of pictures including reproductions of letters, telegrams, pictures of various equipment, uniforms of the time and a photo of the subject.
The sections are well written and contain quite a lot of detail which people younger people will not be aware of. For example, the difficulty in communicating between service personnel and their loved ones in particular and the various types of mail messages, including ones sponsored by Kodak which were microfilmed, flow back to the US and then printed from the microfilm. Mail was not a transport priority and often would not be received for several weeks as units moved around, and of course would not arrive at all if the ship was sunk or the aircraft shot down.
Many of the stories are fascinating and give an insight into the different attitudes of the time, particularly one letter where the death of a brother in service is dealt with in a most matter of fact manner. Quite a few of the stories are extremely sad when you realise that the subjects died in their teens or early 20s.
Conclusion:
A well researched and thoughtfully written book with a lot of detail of life in wartime which will not be apparent to the modern or younger reader. The way the book is structured means that it's possible to dip in and out reading one campaign or story at a time.
If you are interested in biographical stories then this book gets the full 5 mushrooms.
Amazon product
The author is a relatively young French journalist states that the book is intended to record the stories of the various personnel before they are forgotten. Given the effort involved in the author meeting many of the living subjects this book is obviously something of a labour of love.
This book is a collection of stories of a range of soldiers (Army with a few Air Force, and Marines, but no naval personnel) all of whom served in WW2. Each story is about 4 pages covering the war in chronological order from the invasion of France until the Japanese surrender. The stories are put together from correspondence collected by the author and knitted together to form a coherent tale. Soldiers come from primarily French, British and American forces with a small number of Canadians, Aussies and NZ but also includes a few "oddments" including the civilian entertainment troupe.
The sections are well written and contain quite a lot of detail which people younger people will not be aware of. For example, the difficulty in communicating between service personnel and their loved ones in particular and the various types of mail messages, including ones sponsored by Kodak which were microfilmed, flow back to the US and then printed from the microfilm. Mail was not a transport priority and often would not be received for several weeks as units moved around, and of course would not arrive at all if the ship was sunk or the aircraft shot down.
Many of the stories are fascinating and give an insight into the different attitudes of the time, particularly one letter where the death of a brother in service is dealt with in a most matter of fact manner. Quite a few of the stories are extremely sad when you realise that the subjects died in their teens or early 20s.
A well researched and thoughtfully written book with a lot of detail of life in wartime which will not be apparent to the modern or younger reader. The way the book is structured means that it's possible to dip in and out reading one campaign or story at a time.
If you are interested in biographical stories then this book gets the full 5 mushrooms.
Amazon product
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