![]() ![]() For a minihistory or minibiography of the same subject, readers should stick with Stephen Ambrose's Citizen Soldiers. ![]() The focus bounces around, with mini-essays covering such non-infantry affairs as the Allied deception operation for D-Day, at the expense of material on the infantry as other than victim. Fussell also tends toward space-consuming jabs at rival schools of interpretations and even journalists as distinguished as Ernie Pyle. Thorough research has not prevented some questionable pieces of historiography, such as leaving out the resistance the American army eventually generated in the Battle of the Bulge. Fussell enjoys the example patina: those in the top tier emphasize the first syllable the others stress the second. If wounded, they were returned to some other unit through the infamous Replacement Depot system, and altogether not treated much better than the trench fodder of WWI. They were also frequently thrust into combat after no more than four months' training, led by officers as green as themselves Fussell himself was one of them. It focuses on the 17-, 18-, and 19-year-olds who were the backbone of the infantry. Army's most burdened branch in the final campaign against Germany does not represent its National Book Award–winning author at his highest level. ![]()
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