Before Their Time: A Memoir

by Robert Kotlowitz

Book Overview

In this memoir of his experiences as a teenage infantryman in the US Third Army during World War II, Kotlowitz brings to life the harrowing story of the massacre of his platoon in northeastern France,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385496036
• ISBN13: 9780385496032
• Release Date: December 2011
• Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

An Excellent and Effective ASTP Memoir

"Before Their Time" by Robert Kotlowitz. Subtitled: "A Memoir". Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. New York, 1997. In 1943, Robert Kotlowitz was in the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) at the University of Maine when mounting casualties in the European Theater of Operation (ETO) required fresh men for the war. General George Marshall ordered the termination of ASTP program so as to release some 175,000 young soldiers to the battlefields of Europe. So, this young man from Baltimore found himself on the liner, "Argentina", at the city of Cherbourg, "...the old Norman city" in France. The soldiers of the 26th division, the old Yankee Division, had to climb down rope ladders, hanging on the hull of the ship, into Higgins boats below. The details of this relatively unimportant event... i.e. disembarkation, fill many pages in this small book of memories written many years after the war. In this small section, the recounts how his contemporaries reacted to the requirement of climbing down rope cargo nets into the boats below, and by so writing, analyzes those young men of the Yankee Division. The author not only analyzes the men but also the 26th Division. On page 8, he writes ... "By 1944 there were no longer many true Yankees in the Yankee division. (O)ther ethnic and national groups had begun to infiltrate the roster:,, Italians, ... Armenians, Greeks" ... and so on. Then, Kotlowitz notes that there was "... a substantial cluster of despised WASPs, who didn't yet know that they were a symptom of the future, as well as a handful of isolated Jews, who were also despised; but the unlike the WASPs, the Jews were quite used to it". The writing continues in this analytical tone until the day when his regiment, the 104th, was ordered to advance against the German lines. Almost everyone was killed or wounded. Kotlowitz was one of the few physically unharmed survivors; he spent the entire day under the sights of the Germans. He did not move and played dead. This affected his outlook on the war and on the army and on his future life. After this single day of terrible combat, where so many casualties were caused by incompetence, Private Kotlowitz was assigned to rear-echelon job. Safe for the duration. So, unlike many World War II memoirs, this book is not a bang-bang, shoot `em story. Rather, it is a sensitive and subtle analysis of the experiences of one American soldier.

Insightful, moving memoir of an infantryman

In a society seemingly addicted (or at least benumbed by) on-line polls, the personal, written memoir is an all too often overlooked source of experience-- and wisdom. This compact volume is the wartime memoir of Robert Kotlowitz, who served with the 26th Infantry Division during the Second World War. Deeply (and appropriately) personal, it shares a place on my bookshelf with Mowat's, _And No Birds Sang_, and Sledge's _With the Old Breed_.Even for those of us who have not served in combat, Kotlowitz's thumbnail word-sketches of his fellow soldiers and their dealings with one another have the hard edge of sometimes uncomfortable truth. Part of this story is untold, and cannot be told, but only lived. I deeply respect Kotlowitz as he tries, with each line, to be as scrupulously honest and accurate as he can be in conveying his experience.Towards the end of this book, the author brings up the valid point that the majority of World War II veterans who survived the war have since died. As that generation passes, memoirs of the sort written by Kotlowitz are increasingly important. This is war, at the infantryman's level, and in our rush to embrace "smart weapons," we had best not neglect the voices, such as Kotlowitz's, that still resound from cramped, cold, filthy foxholes.The candor Kotlowitz employs in this straight-forward narrative is in the best tradition of those combat veterans who, in the past 30 years, have tried to be forthcoming about their experiences.

HE NEVER FIRED A SHOT BUT HE KNOWS THE HELL OF WAR

Kotlowitz' memoir is just one bit of personal history that reflects the additutes and experience of a million privates during WWII. Filled with irony, this account vividly details what it was like for Kotlowitz, a nineteen year old grunt (and virgin) to train and participate in battle in the European theater. The first half of the memoir reveals the attitudes and personalities of the men of C company, as they are forced to live together, train together, and fight together.His describtions are so vivid, the reader becomes part of the company, and it becomes easy to imagine what it was like to live with these men. The second half of the book is the horrific account of the only battle of C company, of which there were just three survivors. It must have been painful for Kotlowitz, as he relives the night time attack by a German infrantry unit. Kotlowitz begins the battle playing dead, face down in the mud. He then spends the next twelve hours in cold black silence, as he listens to his buddies cry out for their mothers, get picked off by snipers, and slowly die screaming. All of this horror, and he never fired a shot. His guild of surviving has inspired this freightening and well written memoir. An excellent read for anyone who is interested in seeing the war through the eyes of a private.

Engaging and poignant account of WWII training and combat.

In a manner akin to that of Paul Fussell--professor, writer (Wartime, 1989), and WWII combat veteran--Robert Kotlowitz shares his recollections of state-side training and deadly combat in Europe during the Second World War. In this poignant albeit unsentimental account, Mr. Kotlowitz gives faces and humanity to the young men of C Company, 104th Regiment of Yankee Division, from the vantage of 50 years of personal distance. The mud and mundanity of infantry life provide an ever-present backdrop for boyhood dreams and urges, jovial conversations, and palpable fear. Painting with gray, impressionistic hue and technique, Kotlowitz breathes humanity into the machine-gunned teenage GIs in the horseshoe at Bezange. One is whimpering into the mud, softly without stopping. Another convulses from his wounds. And a third is calling in sad tones for his mother. We have come to know them, if only on one or two dimensions, before they are gone. Before Their Time is an important contribution to the literature on the human condition in the twentieth century. It is highly recommended for all public and college/university libraries. Robert S. Frey, M.A., Editor/Publisher BRIDGES

Engaging and poignant account of WWII training and combat.

In a manner akin to that of Paul Fussell--professor, writer (Wartime, 1989), and WWII combat veteran--Robert Kotlowitz shares his recollections of state-side training and deadly battle in Europe during the Second World War. In this poignant albeit unsentimental account, Mr. Kotlowitz gives faces and personalities to the young men of C Company, 104th Regiment of Yankee Division, from the vantage of 50 years of personal distance.The mud and mundanity of infantry life provide an ever-present backdrop for boyhood dreams and urges, jovial conversations, and palpable, white-knuckled fear.Word-painting with gray, impressionistic hue and technique, Kotlowitz breathes humanity into the machine-gunned teenage GIs in the horseshoe at Bezange, France. One man is whimpering into the mud, softly, without stopping. Another convulses from his wounds. And a third calls in sad, pathetic tones for his mother.And we have come to know them before they are gone, if only on one or two dimensions.Before Their Time is an important contribution to the literature on the human condition in the Twentieth century. It is highly recommended for all public and college/university libraries.Robert S. Frey, M.A., Editor/Publisher, BRIDGES: An Interdisciplinary Journa