A Soldier's Story

I have rarely enjoyed a book so much. It is thoroughly engrossing, illuminating us to so many aspects of the European Theater, many of the great men of the war, and general command principles. Bradley recounts, in some detail, battle by battle the move through Africa, Sicily, France and Germany. His account seems straightforward and humble, tackling failures of Monty (including Market Garden) Patton, and even himself in his failure to anticipate the Ardennes Offensive that led to the Battle of the Bulge. His accounts of interactions with great men of the era such as Eisenhower, Monty, and Patton are worthwhile, but what I found fascinating were the figures new to me such as Hodges, Middleton, Ridgeway, Heubner, Gerow, Devers, and even Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. The hard-charging, do your duty feeling that was evident in this book makes me proud to be an American. It is simply amazing to see that men such as Eisenhower and Bradley moved from relative obscurity as colonels to leaders of enormous armies in some of the most important battles of history in a period of only 5 or 6 years. An added plus are the motivational and management lessons learned from Bradley. One suggestion: While the book is filled with helpful maps, search for WW2 Battlefield maps online and print them for reference. Keep them with you when you read Bradley's accounts. They will make following the detail of movement much easier.

Currently, I am about 20 pages from the end of this book. It was a gift to me from the widow of a soldier that fought (and survived) in the ETO. As soon as I picked it up to look it over, I found myself drawn into Gen. Bradly's world over 50 years ago. It was difficult to put down each time I picked it up.I read a LOT of WWII books and magazines. Usually I am most drawn to eyewitness/personal accounts of frontline combat. In this book I was fascinated by Gen. Bradley's personal account at the strategic level--the problems they faced, how they came to critical decisions, the relationships and insights into influential persons involved in the conflict. This is a wonderful compliment to the footsoldier genre of WWII literature. I learned a lot about some aspects of combat command that I had never been exposed to before--like logistics and supply--and how important they are in decision-making. If you're interested in experiencing (vicariously) what it was like to be involved in this period of history, this book belongs as a unique part of your curriculum. No one else can tell us what it was like to be both under and over Patton in the same war, as a Corp Commander and as an Army Group Commander. And I might add that his writing is easy to enjoy.

"A Soldier's Story" is the perfect title for General of the Army Omar Nelson Bradley's account of WW2. In this book he talks of his career just previous to the outbreak of the war, of his experience as Eisenhower's "eyes and ears" in North Africa, of his command of the II Corps in Tunisia and Sicily, of his role as being either commander of the First Army and 1st (later 12th) Army Group for a time, of his impressions on Russian officers, and so.What set this book aside from other personal accounts on WW2 is not only its wealth of facts and details, but on how it is told: as personal and passionate as a general can be. General Bradley does not only tell how things happened, but also how he felt about them. There we find his impressions on those great figures of Eisenhower, Patton, and (specially) Montgomery are remarkable, but also his appreciation for the common soldier, more specifically when disagreeing with Patton's opinion of battle fatigue being a lame excuse for cowardice. Bradley admitted that the living of a frontline soldier is harsh, where death can be found in the next step, and that the role of a commander is to balance casualties in order to keep them low in the long run, even at a cost of a higher rate from an immediate action. Interesting is how he reproduces the infantryman custom of mentioning where in the US a fellow soldier came from, like when he told about the "hedgerow cutter device" and telling that its inventor, Sgt. Curtis Cullin, came from New York. No surprise that he earned the nickname of "G.I. General".With this respect, of telling things lively, he is unsurpassed by any American soldier or general: Eisenhower's "Crusade in Europe" seems a "bureaucratic" account when comparised with "A Soldier's Story" (sorry Ike fans). It measures up with the massive Winston Churchill's "The Second World War", which for its turn is written under a political perspective.Anyway, I really liked a lot this book and strongly recommend it for anyone interested on WW2.

After watching the movie Patton more times than I can remember, I FINALLY got to buying Gen'l Bradley's book. The new Modern Library reprint is nicely done. The maps are good and you'll notice how much more real estate the U.S. army gained as compared to Monty sauntering along the coast road. Also, within the U.S. forces, it's amazing how Patton's 3rd army gained ground and killed Germans. Bradley writes well and this is terrific summary of the North African, Sicilian and European battles. After reading this, I can see why two seemingly different people, Patton and Bradely, got along so well with each other in Europe. These two guys knew that attacking and encircling were the quickest ways to inflict casualties on the enemy and win the war. They did it spectacularly.