War As I Knew It

Rating:
Summary: a real taste of war
Review: I consider these book just excelent, the third part of the book regarding tactics and strategy it is an example of how to run not only an army but also a business, in these days of global competition and crisis being a good strategist and a good leader is the key to success, i recomend these book to executive managers and business students.

Rating:
Summary: War From a Distance
Review: I was quite disappointed with this book. Given its title, I was not prepared to spend endless pages reading about his non-military activities. Often it was basically travelogue and who was present at formal luncheons. Much of the coverage of the various campaigns was more listing of the order of battle with little description of the tactics, strategy and events of the battles. The last 85 pages, however, made my purchase seem more worthwhile but I would recommend checking it out at a library.

Rating:
Summary: The ultimate war biography
Review: Patton's "War as I knew it" captures war and the experiences of it in raw and true form. Dedicated to his craft, Gen. Patton, thru his comentaries and diary entries, walks the reader thru day by day (in some cases minute by minute) accounts of a senior officer. From the "Babtized by fire" landings in 1942 North Africa, to personal reflections and "not so politically correct" comments and observations made after the war.

Right or wrong, Gen. Patton spoke his mind...eloquently, profanely and retrospectively. He is quick to criticize yet equally quick to praise. This book is a welcome addition to any military historian's library.

Rating:
Summary: The ultimate war biography
Review: Patton's "War as I knew it" captures war and the experiences of it in raw and true form. Dedicated to his craft, Gen. Patton, thru his comentaries and diary entries, walks the reader thru day by day (in some cases minute by minute) accounts of a senior officer. From the "Babtized by fire" landings in 1942 North Africa, to personal reflections and "not so politically correct" comments and observations made after the war.

Right or wrong, Gen. Patton spoke his mind...eloquently, profanely and retrospectively. He is quick to criticize yet equally quick to praise. This book is a welcome addition to any military historian's library.

Rating:
Summary: General Patton's Diaries
Review: The book is composed of excerpts from the diaries of General Patton. It isn't the complete diaries but is fun and interesting. It's good to read something, in his own words, of how the general actually thought. It seems that General Patton had intended to write a book called "War as I Knew It". He didn't live long enough after the war to get it done. He does expound some about his philosophies and why he put on his war face to give the impression of being hard boiled, when in many ways he was very sentimental. He did not want to get soldiers killed needlessly. He made the "tough guy" act in order to inspire his men and psych them up for the job they had to do. His rough, hard, & extremely thorough training made his troops among the best-trained and combat ready troops in the army. The hard training was to condition and train the men to know what to expect and how to react so they would not get killed for lack of condition or not knowing what to do. General Patton's biggest problem, not controlling what he said in public, is not treated very much in this book. His war principals are outlined at the end of the book. It's a rather short read and quite entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting snippet of history
Review: The war/anti-war movie Patton some years ago gave us a storehouse of anecdotes and images about this larger-than-life character. Some of the conventional biographies about Patton get lost in the many contradictions between his various public and private personae. War as I Knew It, though falling in the time-hallowed military genre of "leaving one's own record", presents a fascinating set of contradictions as poignant as any cinematic fantasy about Patton. The work is quite short, and

tells a more or less chronological set of anecdotes about the Italian and German campaigns, coupled with a set of observations on war generally. The anecdotes are organized in almost despatch or diary-derived smatterings, while the general observations of war are modeled on classical war instructive material from past times. One is consistently surprised at how many "colorful myths" about Patton prove to have a basis in reality. One is also consistently aware of how Patton's world view, biases and prejudices marked him as very much a man of his own era, rather than the noble warrior from the distant past he imagined himself to be. The work contains a large amount of self-congratulation, but it can also tell very heroic stories in fairly low key. The liberation of Bastogne, during the Battle of the Bulge, is told in a fairly understated fashion. Although in the text Patton owns up to only two flaws in his military campaigns, one significant, one very minor, one still has the idea that deep down he understood not only the advantages but also the drawbacks of the "always attacking" role in which he cast himself. The racist remarks contained in portions of the book were reasonably tame in their time, but resonate very poorly today; Patton himself seems aware of the controversy, as he sometimes takes pains to couch his remarks with conciliatory statements about the bravery of those he denigrates. The reader is not bogged down with military jargon in this book, but gets a real feel for Patton's gift of rapid mobilization of armored divisions. Patton's sense of history and culture, though sometimes emphasized with a curious false modesty, are nonetheless quite notable.

I came to this book feeling that Patton was a complex character, not easily understood. Having read the work, I find him no less complex, no less disturbing, but even more mythical than the movie had led me to believe. One does not leave this book liking the man better than before reading it, or really understanding the man, but the book is nonetheless an absorbing read about a curious character indeed.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting snippet of history
Review: The war/anti-war movie Patton some years ago gave us a storehouse of anecdotes and images about this larger-than-life character. Some of the conventional biographies about Patton get lost in the many contradictions between his various public and private personae. War as I Knew It, though falling in the time-hallowed military genre of "leaving one's own record", presents a fascinating set of contradictions as poignant as any cinematic fantasy about Patton. The work is quite short, and

tells a more or less chronological set of anecdotes about the Italian and German campaigns, coupled with a set of observations on war generally. The anecdotes are organized in almost despatch or diary-derived smatterings, while the general observations of war are modeled on classical war instructive material from past times. One is consistently surprised at how many "colorful myths" about Patton prove to have a basis in reality. One is also consistently aware of how Patton's world view, biases and prejudices marked him as very much a man of his own era, rather than the noble warrior from the distant past he imagined himself to be. The work contains a large amount of self-congratulation, but it can also tell very heroic stories in fairly low key. The liberation of Bastogne, during the Battle of the Bulge, is told in a fairly understated fashion. Although in the text Patton owns up to only two flaws in his military campaigns, one significant, one very minor, one still has the idea that deep down he understood not only the advantages but also the drawbacks of the "always attacking" role in which he cast himself. The racist remarks contained in portions of the book were reasonably tame in their time, but resonate very poorly today; Patton himself seems aware of the controversy, as he sometimes takes pains to couch his remarks with conciliatory statements about the bravery of those he denigrates. The reader is not bogged down with military jargon in this book, but gets a real feel for Patton's gift of rapid mobilization of armored divisions. Patton's sense of history and culture, though sometimes emphasized with a curious false modesty, are nonetheless quite notable.

I came to this book feeling that Patton was a complex character, not easily understood. Having read the work, I find him no less complex, no less disturbing, but even more mythical than the movie had led me to believe. One does not leave this book liking the man better than before reading it, or really understanding the man, but the book is nonetheless an absorbing read about a curious character indeed.

Rating:
Summary: Fans of Patton read on! Otherwise...
Review: This book gives the reader an excellent insight into the mind of one of the most colorful and reknowned military leaders in history. The book is his war diary, so it is filled with dates and facts about the war, but is also meshed with the thoughts of General Patton on the course of the war. As a fan of Patton's, I found the book to be incredibly enlightening, especially the end sections on his views of the principles of military operations.

I do have to say that if a reader is not a big fan of Patton, they may find this book to be a rather boring read. Part of the allure of this book is Patton's interpretation of events, so if you aren't into his views...well, there is no shortage of his opinions within!

Rating:
Summary: An essential read for the student of military history.
Review: This book is as valuable for the light it sheds on Patton's character as it is for the detailed accounts of his various European campaigns. Patton's directness (admittedly the book was a rough draft of what would have been published had he lived) confirms that he was a man committed to discerning and speaking the truth. Generous with friends and reticent with enemies, he appears honorable and entirely credible in his explication of the facts of the War. As for his opinions on the nature of war, they are very clearly encapsulated in the appendix, and are shown to be both learned and hard to refute.

A large portion of the book is concerned with the dispositions of the Third Army; these sections would undoubtedly be easier to follow if more and better maps were included in the book.

Rating:
Summary: Interresting
Review: This book was difficult for me to follow. It seemed to be written more like a diary or personal notes and maybe he didn't have time to fill in the blanks. To tell you how confused I was, one moment I thought I was in North Africa and the next he's talking about Italy. I said, "when did I get to Italy?" On the other hand, you do get a feel for who Patton was and he does give some good advice for tactics and he had some very interresting views of how digging fox holes dropped [spirits]. I didn't notice any mention of him slapping the soldier that he took so much heat over.

I'm not going to give up on his writing and will some day try to read another book by him. So with that in mind I would recommend trying something else. Either another book of his or as I have done but not read yet, a book by Omar Bradley, "A Soldiers Story."