G Company's War: Two Personal Accounts of the Campaigns in Europe, 1944-1945

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University Alabama Press

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Studio: University Alabama Press
Theatrical Release Date: Dec 31, 1969
DVD Release Date: Dec 31, 1969
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ASIN: 0817309780
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Sales Rank: 884648

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Editorial Review from Product Description:

"G Company's War" is the story of a World War II rifle company in Patton's Third Army as detailed in the journals of S/Sgt. Bruce Egger and Lt. Lee M. Otts, both of G Company, 328th Regiment, 26th Infantry Division. What distinguishes it from other accounts of combat in World War II is its parallel day-by-day records of the same events as seen by two men in the same company, one an enlisted man, the other an officer. These are the voices of ordinary GIs, the men who did the fighting, not the generals who viewed events from a distance. The two authors came from different parts of the country - Egger from the mountains of central Idaho, and Otts from a small town in the Alabama Black Belt. They did not know each other during the war, yet a remarkable similarity exists between their individual recollections of G Company's war, even down to the smallest detail. The juxtaposition of their accounts provides insights into how these two distinctly different personalities responded to the same experiences. For Egger, the war was a grim ordeal, and his account is packed with descriptions of the dead and wounded, the privations endured by the soldiers, and the destruction they witnessed. For Otts,the war was no less an ordeal, but he responded to it as a once-in-a-lifetime experience, sometimes even fun, and recorded pranks as well as his own foibles. Both men not only tell of extraordinary and daily acts of courage but speak forthrightly about those of their comrades whose conduct in battle left something to be desired. The author has interspersed throughout the text overviews and summaries that place G Company's activities in the larger context of overall military operations in Europe. In addition, Roley notes what happened to each GI mentioned, (as wounded in action, transferred, and so forth) and provides detailed tables summarizing G Company's losses by replacement draft and period. The extensive losses, the disease and injury, the number of replacement drafts needed - these sobering facts form a compelling picture of the reality of war in a frontline infantry company by the men who lived through it.

Amazon Customer Reviews:

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Great first person reporting, 2008-01-26
It was so interesting to see how each of them had a different view of daily survival and combat.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Two books for the price of one, 2004-07-25
This book has two stories. Each one is based on journals kept by soldiers of the 26th Infantry Division. Although the two authors vaguely knew each other neither knew the other was keepng a diary. They are very descriptive especially of the 26th's role in the Lorraine campaign which tend to get overlooked too often in the corpus of works on the ETO. This is a very interesting book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

Can't judge a book by its cover, 2001-02-16
When I first got this book through the mail I said UGH! It is the ugliest Pepto Bismol color you have ever seen...but luckily the cover is not why you read the book. Inside are the combined memoirs of two members of the yankee division(26th) during the fight across France and Germany. The book is not always exciting but does offer a very good glimpse into the mind and life of a frontline infantry soldier. The combination of the two is good in that it offers a Lt and a pfc\sgt's perspective on the war. That combination can also get a bit confusing because you have to keep two separate stories in your head as you are reading. The editor does try and keep you up to date with a daily comment as to what the company was doing overall, but a vague mention of a random french or german town does not always help develop a picture in your head of what is going on. That is why I deducted a star. But the book is very good and worth adding to your collection if you are interested in the ETO during WW2.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

Perhaps the best account of war as fought at this level., 1999-05-29
Among the mind numbing number of books on world war two, this book is in my top ten. Written from two perspectives within the same company, it is a lucid, real and above all believable account of what it was like on the sharp edge of combat. A real gem!