Infantry Soldier: Holding the Line at the Battle of the Bulge

by George W. Neill

Book Overview

Infantry Soldier describes in harrowing detail the life of the men assigned to infantry rifle platoons during World War II. Few people realize the enormously disproportionate burden the men in these... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0806132221
• ISBN13: 9780806132228
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
• Length: 356 Pages
• Weight: 1.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.7" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

View from a fox hole

George Neill presents a front line soldier's view of what it was like to be part of the WWII American infantry. While reading the book, I almost felt the cold and fear that were the soldier's constant companions. while the rear echelon soldiers got the winter boots, and the generals got heated quarters, Neill and his fellow soldiers tried to survive the cold, boredom and attacks. I felt like I was there. This book gets my very highet recommendation.

Quiet Heriosm

"Infantry Soldier" is the Diary of all Infantrymen. The Horror and Reality of War on the front lines by one who experienced and witnessed young men die in foxholes, in the winter of 1944-45 on the westernfront during the battle of the Bulge.Mr Neill tells the story of the real "Heroes" as they fought the bitter cold and held the line.As a soldier on the front lines and now a seasoned journalist, he brings you into the foxholes of young infantrymen who fought,died ,and survived a horrible front line experience. As a former Infantryman with the 38th division [Philipines]I found "The Infantry Soldier" as real as you can get. It explodes with the realiasm and bluntness of front line combat.George did a magnificant job of describing the Infantrys roll in WW2.He told the story as it should have been told. I Salute you Mr. George Neill. Fred Silberstein

The finest book I have ever read about the Second World War

This is a blockbuster! The author goes into stark detail about life on the front lines during the Battle of the Bulge. Mr. Neill tells all about the misery, pain, sorrow and frustrations experienced by the infantry soldiers who built and manned the foxholes beyond the front. He has written these accounts down in stunning detail and helps the reader appreciate and "feel" what it was like to live out in the open in the snow, cold, slush and mud, without adequate winter gear. He couldn't have done better. This book is riveting from beginning to end.I remember what a Political Science professor told me about a book we had to read for his class. The book, The Theory and Practice of Hell, by Eugen Kogan, was about life in the Dachau concentration camp. He said, "This book should only be read while you're out in the cold, sitting on a concrete slab, with inadequate clothing and starving." The same holds true for Infantry Soldier. Mr. Neill can't do any better in making the reader understand the horrors, dangers and tragedies of war. The reader is propelled into the middle of battle and can actually feel the cold and hunger experienced by these soldiers. We have no idea of what these men went through, even by reading accounts of the war by others.No other author comes close. Nothing by Shirer, Manchester, Tuchman, Pyle or Eisenhower can hold a candle to this book. Even All Quiet on the Western Front pales in comparison. It is a must read! My hat is off to Mr. Neill! A splendid work!

The Real Story

If there is just one book that you read about the Battle of the Bulge, make sure that is George Neill's book, "Infantry Soldier. Holding the Line at the Battle of the Bulge." It was absolutely eerie for me, a buddy of George's in L Company, 395th Regiment, 99th Division, to have such long-dormant memories so poignantly revived. From the early days of induction from college into the Army, basic training and ASTP in Texas, "assignment" to the 99th Division, to landing in England, France and Germany, George vividly recounts the incredible experiences we college kids went through until we arrived in the little German village of Hoefen, during that terrible winter of 1944. His book is a loving and fitting tribute to all those who suffered there and to our many close friends who gave their lives during the massive assault made in December by troops of the German Wehrmacht. On reading his story, I felt myself reliving those absurd day-to-day experiences, the incredible cold and freezing wetness of that miserable winter and the fantastic haphazardness of war that some of us somehow survived. George is at his best when he describes his own remarkable trials, and he pulls no punches in decrying the irregularities in the supply lines that left us on the front lines without proper clothing and equipment (I, myself, arrived at the front with no rockets for my bazooka and with no snow boots--hence my evacuation because of my avoidable affliction with frozen feet. My own outrage and anger match George's, when I recall having later seen so many well-shod and well-clothed support troops behind the lines). For anyone who has witnessed the inanities of warfare this book will serve to revive the joys, frustrations, suffering and anger of infantry life in battle. For those who have been spared these unreal experiences this book is a "must" for insuring that such needless, even criminal, waste of life is never forgotten--and, hopefully, never repeated.

Plaudits from George W Neill's original Foxhole Buddy

It took the internet,avid reading,and 55 intervening years to find George with whom I had the pleasure of enduring the cold,snow, and wet of L company 395th Infantry of the 99th Division. I was also with George at John Tarleton and Agricultural College in Texas. We ended up in the same squad at Camp Maxey.George's literary background is evident in the craftsman like way our experiences are portrayed.I was an early on victim of trenchfoot with evacuation to hospital in England.Via Army reserves I served two years in Japan at Gen. Hqs. during the Korean War.It was inspiring to finally get in touch with George after all these years and make contact with the 99th Division Reunion Association.I highly recommend Infantry Soldier for interesting reading. I am proud to have served with George and all members of our squad,platoon and Company. John R Karchner, Sun Lakes,Az.