The Lost Battalion

Rating:
Summary: Lost Battalion, A Private's Story
Review: After reading the Foreword of this book, I became completely drawn in to the story of this scared young man getting ready to go to war. Only as the book progresses and John Nell's trials and tribulations escalate, does it become crystal clear the enormity of the sacrifices made by these men. Long before we were a technologically advanced military, these men fought using the simple weapons available and when those weren't available, they used sheer will and resolve to survive. The story of how John Nell survived is riveting. This is one page-turner I wasn't able to put down.

Rating:
Summary: Why don't we hear more about WWI?
Review: Having never been a fan of war related books I was astounded at my reaction to this book. From the first two pages the narrator and main character drew me in with the very personal approach to his story. And that is exactly what it is..a story of war which does not focus so much on the places, dates and battles but on the interaction of the soldiers, the first person feeling of a young private and the tenacity and heroism that seems to be almost taken for granted. The type of communications available in the trenches...the lack of medical care in that era...all types of things we take for granted today. It was an eye opener and a can't put down read. A book which I'll highly recommend and loan to my friends. GC

Rating:
Summary: They held out against incredible odds
Review: The Lost Battalion: A Private's Story is a unique, first-person perspective memoir of John W. Nell, one of the privates involved in the World War I "Lost Battalion" incident. Published 83 years after the events it relates, The Lost Battalion is a gripping tale of courage, terror, and survival. The Lost Battalion was not in fact "lost" at all. They were cut off and surrounded by German forces. They held out against incredible odds (including an artillery barrage of "friendly fire" from the American lines) until their presence compelled the German forces to retreat and American forces to finally reach them. World War I ended five weeks after this dramatic battle took place. A scattering of black and white photographs illustrate this slim but compelling story. The Lost Battalion is an essential addition to any World War I studies collection or reading list.

Rating:
Summary: They held out against incredible odds
Review: The Lost Battalion: A Private's Story is a unique, first-person perspective memoir of John W. Nell, one of the privates involved in the World War I "Lost Battalion" incident. Published 83 years after the events it relates, The Lost Battalion is a gripping tale of courage, terror, and survival. The Lost Battalion was not in fact "lost" at all. They were cut off and surrounded by German forces. They held out against incredible odds (including an artillery barrage of "friendly fire" from the American lines) until their presence compelled the German forces to retreat and American forces to finally reach them. World War I ended five weeks after this dramatic battle took place. A scattering of black and white photographs illustrate this slim but compelling story. The Lost Battalion is an essential addition to any World War I studies collection or reading list.

Rating:
Summary: Grunt's Eye View
Review: This book about the experiences of one private from the Lost Battlion is a good read for those interested in Military History or WW1.

I think the most interesting part of the book was his description of training and the travel. Boot Camp 1917 seemed to be more of a boy scout camp than the Boot Camp of Full Metal Jacket. It is also revealing that the author (although a patriotic American) didn't get caught up in the jingoism of the time (or maybe he omitted it by hindsight?) He ends the book by echoing the sentiments of many combat soldiers when he says that the people should think hard before committing men to battle.

As for those who asked why WW1 was forgotten while WW2 is glorified there are several reasons:
1) The Doughboys were poorly equipped, led and trained as described in this book. This made a mockery of the "Nothing's too good for the boys" propaganda that was in vogue at the time. This is not a knock against the actual soldiers who went, but at those who were responsible to equip, lead and train them (including the civilian leadership.)
2) In the 1920's, America grew rich from such new fangled things such as the stock market so people just wanted to make money and forget about this war nonsense.
3) The peace and isolationist movements didn't want anything to do with war or the study of it. They thought that by banning war and words associated with it would prevent war from happening ever again (understandable considering how deadly WW1 was, but naive as WW2 proved.)

Sounds familiar...

Rating:
Summary: Why don't we hear more about WWI?
Review: This book is really fascinating, because it gives one a ground level view of what combat was really like in WWI. And it was really different from most of the combat images we see on the tube (our primary source for such). It is different because the high impact images we see are tied to the ability to record combat photographically in a high resolution format. That limits our (21st century mankind) experience to WWII, Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf War (plus a few other minor skirmishes).

What is so incredible about WWI, as seen through the eyes of John Nell, is that he and his comrades did not have the tools or the ability to communicate, which we take for granted.

The fact that the Lost Battalion was saved by a homing pigeon is certainly a metaphor for the level of combat communication in WWI.

Then there is the issue of medical care. How about a hole drilled in your side to release bronchial gunk?

But I guess most impressive was that these soldiers were willing to face grueling fire and near certain death, without question, on the basis of an order from a superior. Would today's 18 year olds do that?

This book is highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: The Lost Battalion by John W. Nell
Review: When I started reading this book I could not lay it down. It is a true story told by a Private surving durning World War I and what it was like way back then compared to now. Could not believe what all he and the other soldiers had to go threw.