If You Survive : From Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge to the End of World War II, One American Officer's Riveting True Story

"If you survive your first day, I'll promote you." So promised George Wilson's World War II commanding officer in the hedgerows of Normandy -- and it was to be a promise dramatically fulfilled. From July, 1944, to the closing days of the war, from the first penetration of the Siegfried Line to the Nazis' last desperate charge in the Battle of the Bulge, Wilson fought in the thickest of the action, helping take the small towns of northern France and Belgium building by building. Of all the men and officers who started out in Company F of the 4th Infantry Division with him, Wilson was the only one who finished. In the end, he felt not like a conqueror or a victor, but an exhausted survivor, left with nothing but his life -- and his emotions. If You Survive One of the great first-person accounts of the making of a combat veteran, in the last, most violent months of World War II. From the Paperback edition first hand account of platoon leader with 4th infantry division from normandy to the siegfried line during last 9 months of the war. describes almost continuous combat from the infantryman's perspective. considered one of the best of its type. prose is unusually excellent for the genre. no false heroics. extremely realistic, holding back no details of the gore and misery of combat. Even though America was heavily engage in World War II in the fall of 1942, I felt safe in enrolling in college because the Marines and the Navy had turned me down. "From Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge to the end of World War II--one American officer's riveting true story"--Cover Wilson's command of his troops from July of 1944 to the end of WWII. fast-paced look