Trench Knives and Mustard Gas: With the 42nd Rainbow Division in France (C. A. Brannen Series, No. 6)

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Summary: Life and death on the western battlefields of World War I
Review: Trench Knives And Mustard Gas: With The 42nd Rainbow Division In France by historian Hugh S. Thompson consists of his personal memoirs of fighting in the trenches of World War I. Informed and informative, this is the story of a young man who entered the U.S. Army in 1918 as an officer and served with the 42nd Rainbow Division -- which was one of the first units to secure a sector of the line along the Western Front and experience the horror of mustard gas attacks by the Germans. Thompson barely survived the lethal battles of Lorraine, Champagne, and St. Mithiel, suffering severe wounds to the arm, leg, and back on three separate occasions. He was eventually awarded the Silver Star, the French Legion of Merit, and the Purple Heart with three Oak Leaf Clusters. Ably written with a personal intensity and realism, this battlefield memoir was originally published in 1934 in the "Chattanooga Times". This new edition from Texas A&M University Press has been enhanced with a superb introduction by historian, academician, and World War I expert Robert H. Ferrell. Vivid, insightful, and very strongly recommended reading, this memoir (Thompson died in 1961) is an enduring tribute to the hardships and horrors, comraderie and dedication, that were so characteristics of life and death on the western battlefields of World War I.