Rating: 
Summary: Ambrose at his best
Review: Once again, the world's foremost scholar on the European theater of World War Two presents history without any interruptions.
Rating:
Summary: Combat Memoir
Review: So we've all seen Private Ryan now and think we know something about the horrors of war, but I would suggest that there is no way that anybody who was not there can truly understand it. This great book, written by an American paratrooper about his experiences leading up to and then at D-Day, makes us realize that the visceral horror of war is something that probably can not be conveyed. It is a rather short read and is in three parts: the first is at training camp in Georgia; the second in England preparatory to the assault; and the third is the terrifying jump into France, and the grim, terrible battle which followed. To say the least, it makes for very compelling reading. The training aspect was remarkable for its undisguised brutality. The men were told in no uncertain terms that the paratroopers did not want them; they were going to try to make them quit. The first day, for example, several men collapsed during the morning's six mile run. They were left by the side of the road, to crawl back as they could, with one of them not arriving until after midnight. He quit. Treatment, as well as being harsh, was also intentionally unfair. The narrator, after his first night jump, broke his ankle. He was left out there as well, in the darkness, to crawl back to the barracks as best as he could. "If I knew how to cry," he said. "I would have." The men were told that their likelihood of surviving combat was very poor, and that they should expect to die. The men accepted this. Most died. Their mission was to jump behind enemy lines the morning of D-Day. Each company was given specific tasks to accomplish, but one gets the sense that all it was really hoped they would do was to create as much chaos as possible. This is exactly what happened after the chaotic, haphazard way in which they were dropped. Nobody was dropped where they should have been. Entire planeloads of men were actually dropped at sea, where they drowned. The author witnessed one cowardly pilot, fearful of anti-aircraft fire, drop the men from an altitude of 100 feet. Every one of them was killed before his chute could open. The battle scenes are horrific, almost beyond comprehension. The way one killed one's enemy was by creating situations in which there were large amounts of flying metal in the enemy's area. This was done with bombs dropped from planes or fired from cannons and mortars, tanks, bazookas, grenades, machine guns, rifles and pistols. With such firepower on both sides, one realizes that getting killed was likely not a matter of if, but when. The author, diving into a hole, finds two German soldiers apparently hit by a bomb. Their faces, hands and feet are all blasted away but incredibly, they are still alive. The author shoots them, and prays that if the same were to happen to him, the Germans would show the same mercy. After a time the Americans are able to establish some order. The author is sent behind with communications, and retreats through fields of dead. For a quarter of a mile, they litter the ground so thickly that he is literally able to step from body to body. Finally coming to the end of this, he describes the experience as of coming from some hideous darkness, back into light. Eventually the author is wounded, first surviving a grenade blast which deafens him, then a piece of shrapnel which rips away the muscle of his forearm, exposing four inches of naked bone. He is sent behind to recover only so that he can come back and fight again. The narrative is written in a candid, matter-of-fact way, remarkable for its lack of sentimentality. This, we realize, is the way he was supposed to be. This is how he was trained. Gentility, kindness, thoughtfulness, and feelings were emotions wiped clean from the consciousness of these young men, trained as they were to kill and to die. This fine book is a sobering reminder of the sacrifice made by them, most of whom met a gruesome end at an age when Americans today are graduating from high school or going to the martini bar to meet girls. They instead lie in cold graves dug hastily for them in the north of France.
Rating:
Summary: Combat Memoir
Review: So we've all seen Private Ryan now and think we know something about the horrors of war, but I would suggest that there is no way that anybody who was not there can truly understand it. This great book, written by an American paratrooper about his experiences leading up to and then at D-Day, makes us realize that the visceral horror of war is something that probably can not be conveyed. It is a rather short read and is in three parts: the first is at training camp in Georgia; the second in England preparatory to the assault; and the third is the terrifying jump into France, and the grim, terrible battle which followed. To say the least, it makes for very compelling reading. The training aspect was remarkable for its undisguised brutality. The men were told in no uncertain terms that the paratroopers did not want them; they were going to try to make them quit. The first day, for example, several men collapsed during the morning's six mile run. They were left by the side of the road, to crawl back as they could, with one of them not arriving until after midnight. He quit. Treatment, as well as being harsh, was also intentionally unfair. The narrator, after his first night jump, broke his ankle. He was left out there as well, in the darkness, to crawl back to the barracks as best as he could. "If I knew how to cry," he said. "I would have." The men were told that their likelihood of surviving combat was very poor, and that they should expect to die. The men accepted this. Most died. Their mission was to jump behind enemy lines the morning of D-Day. Each company was given specific tasks to accomplish, but one gets the sense that all it was really hoped they would do was to create as much chaos as possible. This is exactly what happened after the chaotic, haphazard way in which they were dropped. Nobody was dropped where they should have been. Entire planeloads of men were actually dropped at sea, where they drowned. The author witnessed one cowardly pilot, fearful of anti-aircraft fire, drop the men from an altitude of 100 feet. Every one of them was killed before his chute could open. The battle scenes are horrific, almost beyond comprehension. The way one killed one's enemy was by creating situations in which there were large amounts of flying metal in the enemy's area. This was done with bombs dropped from planes or fired from cannons and mortars, tanks, bazookas, grenades, machine guns, rifles and pistols. With such firepower on both sides, one realizes that getting killed was likely not a matter of if, but when. The author, diving into a hole, finds two German soldiers apparently hit by a bomb. Their faces, hands and feet are all blasted away but incredibly, they are still alive. The author shoots them, and prays that if the same were to happen to him, the Germans would show the same mercy. After a time the Americans are able to establish some order. The author is sent behind with communications, and retreats through fields of dead. For a quarter of a mile, they litter the ground so thickly that he is literally able to step from body to body. Finally coming to the end of this, he describes the experience as of coming from some hideous darkness, back into light. Eventually the author is wounded, first surviving a grenade blast which deafens him, then a piece of shrapnel which rips away the muscle of his forearm, exposing four inches of naked bone. He is sent behind to recover only so that he can come back and fight again. The narrative is written in a candid, matter-of-fact way, remarkable for its lack of sentimentality. This, we realize, is the way he was supposed to be. This is how he was trained. Gentility, kindness, thoughtfulness, and feelings were emotions wiped clean from the consciousness of these young men, trained as they were to kill and to die. This fine book is a sobering reminder of the sacrifice made by them, most of whom met a gruesome end at an age when Americans today are graduating from high school or going to the martini bar to meet girls. They instead lie in cold graves dug hastily for them in the north of France.
Rating: 
Summary: With the 101st at Normandy
Review: The author was a member of A Company of the 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne. While dealing to a certain extent with his training and the preparation phase for the invasion, the book deals primarily with his experiences during D-Day and the days that followed. Early on the morning of June 6, the 101st along with the 82nd Airborne and other paratroop units were dropped behind the German costal defenses to capture key pieces of infrastructure in order to facilitate a rapid inland thrust from the invasion beaches. The drops, however, were poorly done and much chaos ensued as the men tried to form up and carry out their missions. As the book Currahee! graphically describes, the bitter fighting that ensued was fluid and brutal. Often in small bands (sometimes consisting of men from both the 101st and 82nd) the paratroopers took on whatever Germans they encountered, causing much disruption behind the lines and no doubt lessening the influence of the reserve units that the Germans sent to drive the Allies off of the beaches. This book is a gripping eye-witness account to the D-Day invasion and the role that the 101st Airborne played in it. A must read for every WWII buff.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent memoir of two weeks in heavy combat
Review: The most striking thing about this is Burgett's simple, laconic style: This is not the work of a writer, but a soldier, and as such, he never imparts a political or moralist overtone. This is simply what happened to him as he remembered it, the training and fighting and blood and humanity. Burgett tells about Paratrooper school and its rigors, about being dropped behind enemy lines, and about plowing through hailstorms of bullets into what would be one of the hottest ground firefights in military history. Thank the stars he survived, because writing like this is as hard to come by as it is historically valuable - a soldier's story, and a soldier who is unafraid to tell you what he remembers without interjecting opions about political affairs or larger morality. Just 'I did this, it felt this way, and this what I saw'. Absolutely astonishing. This is by far one of the best supplements available to anyone studying the Second World war in Europe, much as Hersey's 'Hiroshima' is to anyone studying the Pacific campaign. You will not learn about diplomacy or the reasoning of Generals here, but you will be on the ground in the firefight, astonished to get out of it in one piece. The section on boot camp is also a welcome addition to the history of this most trajic war, as it is an aspect to American soldiering very often overlooked or underplayed. All in all, a very readable, utterly compelling piece of history, unclouded by emotion or agenda, worth much more than the five or six dollars it sells for. It is worth noting, however - and Ambrose makes mention of it in the introduction as well - that as a memoir there are certain pieces which Burgett assumes as a soldier from all the excitement on the ground which are more hearsay than not. He reports seeing a dead Japanese in the fight, but as he did not know what Japanese uniforms looked like, he was probably saw the body of a Russian Mongol. In some way, though, this adds to the authenticity of the account, as we are behind the eyes of an eighteen year old boy dropped into the middle of a bloodbath, there to save the world. This is an important, valuable book.
Rating:
Summary: The Best
Review: The only other World War II novels that can compare with this one are Burgett's 3 ohters. Very truthfull and gives the reader a real feel of what a paratrooper went through at Normandy.
Rating:
Summary: Setting the Precedent for All Combat Memoirs!
Review: The successful book and mini-series _Band of Brothers_ prompted a re-read of Donald R. Burgett's timeless classic: Currahee: A Screaming Eagle in Normandy (the subtitle was added to the reprint editions). First published in 1967, Burgett was ahead of his time in paving the way for a no holes barred narrative and chilling memoir. Some of the more recent World War II memoirs will attest that there are several pit-falls awaiting the well intentioned autobiographer. For example, a combat veteran's world was very small. He was rarely aware of events transpiring outside the realm of his squad or platoon. He oftentimes knew not where he was, nor was he aware of the grand strategy of which his unit was a small yet intricate part. All he knew was that he had to keep going on to victory, not so much for his country as a whole, but for his buddies who depended on him, as he relied on them for survival. Also, there is a tendency for the humorous memories to over-shadow the horrors of war in many recent accounts. The result is often a personal anecdotal approach. Although this style is significant to understanding the culture of the World War II veteran, it can also bore the reader quickly. Not so with Burgett's first effort. Burgett blends the anecdotal with the overall picture splendidly. He made a smart decision to have a military historian edit his manuscript and fill in the holes with facts Burgett could not possibly have known at the time. This collaboration is done with finesse, lending just enough factual military history to Burgett's personal experiences to make for a riveting read (This delicate ingredient will become more abundant in Burgett's subsequent installments). Burgett takes the reader from paratrooper training, overseas deployment, and eventual night drop into Normandy on the eve of the D-Day invasion. His attention to detail is remarkable. Every facet of training from the technical to the ironic is covered with crystal clear prose. If it were not for an injury suffered during Burgett's first qualifying jump, he would have crashed and burned with his original stick in an unfortunate training accident. Burgett's acclimation to combat appears to occur rapidly. He soon learns to think like an infantryman: is this ditch a safe place to spend the night, he wonders, or does the enemy have it zeroed-in? Burgett soon learned to trust no one outside his circle of squad buddies in the second squad, second platoon of A Company, 506th Parachute Infantry, 101st Airborne Division. He would make the grateful French citizens drink the wine and cider they happily offered their liberators first to insure it was not poisoned. Thinking three moves ahead in the game of survival became a way of life for Burgett. Burgett's re-telling of the sporadic fire fights among the hedgrows of Normandy are vital to a thorough understanding of the Airborne operations on D-Day. The reader may wonder whether the paratroopers preference for screaming frontal assaults directly into the mouths of German machine guns and deadly artillery is the result of elite combat training or youthful bravado (Burgett was only nineteen). Burgett makes no bones about his macabre desire to scalp the blond locks from a dead German soldier he felled with his M-1 Garrand. Only intense enemy machine gun fire prevented him from performing this gruesome deed. Burgett comments on the one topic no one likes to talk about: friendly fire. Burgett tells us that not only were his comrades killed by mishaps during Allied air and artillery support missions, but also short rounds fired from ships off-shore as well. Without a doubt, Burgett's tell-it-like-was memoir will become a timeless classic. All veterans contemplating preserving their experiences to paper should consult Burgett as a model.
Rating:
Summary: The effects of a war
Review: This book is a great example of the transformation that can befall a young man to be turned from an every-day kid to a lethal killing-machine. The account of Burgett's own transformation and the rigorous trials he was forced to endure, make this book one of the best WWII books ever to hit the shelves. I would love to instill in every reader the insuraance of this book being a great buy.
Rating:
Summary: An intense view of a paratrooper's actions in Normandy.
Review: This book is a great read. I have read many books written by soldiers that have been in combat, but this has to be the best. Mr. Burgett takes us from the time that he decides to join the paratroops, through the training, and finally into the night drop that takes him into the Normandy Campaign. I read this book in one sitting, I just could not put it down.
Rating:
Summary: Burgett puts you right into the action!
Review: This book is very good for several reasons, but mostly because Burgett keeps your attention throughout so that you almost feel as if you are his comrade in the war. He gives a great first hand account of all the action, hardships and general doings of a paratrooper during one of the most prolific and celebrated battles of WWII. I was so involved in the book that I missed my bus stop - - by 10 stops! The only downside would be that the book is focused on only Normandy, but at [this price], Burgett's the three battle books (Currahee!; Road to Arnem and Seven Roads to Hell) are well worth it!
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