War from the Ground Up: The Ninetieth Division in Ww II [Hardcover]

I learned a great deal about WWII and my uncle on my trip to Europe, but this book really brings it home. I knew very little about the 90th, only that it was in Third Army and fought under Patton. I heard rumours that it was not such a crack divsion, at least until Patton got a hold of them, but that is all I knew.

From this book you learn what it must have been like to live with death gnawing at you everday. I was really quite shocked and never imagined it was this bad. WWII was different then Korea and Vietnam, you did not do your tour and go home. You were in it until we won or you were dead, captured or maimed. Their was no other ways out.

John Colby does a masterful job of explaining the plight of the 90th. You read detailed stories from several different sources. Almost every battle several different people give their impressions and views, from line grunts on up to the Generals. Excellently done, you see the struggling 90th grow into an elite unit, but the learning curve was costly.

Colby brings to life the agonies and the glory of the 90th. You are horrified in Normandy, inept leaders, German skill and the terrain extract a terrible toll. Yet you feel their exhileration and pride as they roll across France with Patton in Cobra. (By the way was their ever a better American General?)

I had no idea Normandy fighting immediately after D-Day was so bloody. I looked at the casualty numbers for American Divisions and I saw a shocking theme. Of the 4 top divisions for casualties in WWII the 4th, 9th, 1st and 90th all of them fought in the hedgerows of Normandy. The 4th, 9th and 90th all were in the Cotentin Pennisula where it was aparently unbeliveably brutal. Utah may have been a cake walk but when these units got inland they were hammered hard.

I recommend it for hardcore WWII buffs or those who want to know what WWII was really like for a line soldier. I think this is better then Company Commander by MacDonald and I liked that very much.

Mr. Colby you did a magnificent job of telling the story of the Tough Hombres. I have a new appreciation of the veterans sacrifices in WWII. It just seems sad that my unlce was able to make it so far, through so much, only to get killed towards the end. (Feb, war ended in May)

For many it seemed there was only one way out. And they had to have known, yet they continued on and did their duty. This book is an excellent tribute to those who knowingly sacrificed so much.

Patton said "All glory is fleeting". Yet I say may time never dim the glory of their sacrifices. I know it will never be forgotten by me.

John Carroll jfc23@mediaone.net