War As I Knew It

Book Description

Adored by many, loathed by some, General George S. Patton, Jr., was one of the most brilliant military strategists in history. War As I Knew It is the personal and candid account of his celebrated, relentless crusade across western Europe during World War II. First published in 1947, this absorbing narrative draws on Patton's vivid memories of battle and his detailed diaries, from the moment the Third Army exploded onto the Brittany Peninsula to the final Allied casualty report. The result is not only a grueling, human account of daily combat and heroic feats - including a riveting look at the Battle of the Bulge - but a valuable chronicle of the strategies and fiery personality of a legendary warrior. Patton's letters from earlier military campaigns in North Africa and Sicily, complemented by a powerful retrospective of his guiding philosophies, further reveal a man of uncompromising will and uncommon character, which made "Georgie" a household name in mid-century America. With a new introduction.

Customer Reviews:

How to Win War.......2007-08-14

The brilliant military leader and strategist General George S. Patton, Jr., presents his World War 2 autobiography with "War As I Knew It". First published in 1947, this remarkable 425-page book has often been republished (including this review's 1995 paperback).

This extraordinary study recalls the Allies' efforts from its Morocco landing (1942) to victory in Germany (1945) from the Major General's eyewitness 3rd American Army command. General Patton's gives considerable advice through many memorable epigrams:

* "If I do my full duty, the rest will take care of itself."
* "...the fatalistic teaching of Mohammed and the utter degradation of women is the out standing cause for the arrested development of the Arab."
* "One look is worth a hundred reports."
* "...throughout history, wars had been lost by not crossing rivers..."
* "It is useless to capture an easy place that you can't move from."
* "...one does not plan and then try to make circumstances fit those plans. One tries to make plans fit the circumstances."
* "...when the American Army had once put its hand to the plow, it should not let go."
* "...as long as you attack them they cannot find the time to plan how to attack you."
* "...every time I had been bitterly disappointed, it worked out for the best."

Patton reveled in attack and "killing Germans". He was determined for Allied victory by mean of his command. He fought battles, argued strategy with fellow generals, toured corpse ridden shell falling battlefields, and pressed his army to victory. He disliked British General Montgomery, had immense respect for Eisenhower, and had profound sympathy for all fallen Allied soldiers. This book presents war-winning strategy.

This book is recommended for all students World War 2 and those interested in the life of General Patton.

Bow down........2007-01-14

Patton was fine man. he cursed like hell, and roared with delight when his children did the same. I love the guy.

Last chapters are the best.

Old blood-n-guts in his own words.......2007-01-03

A wonderful resource to see how the great general viewed the wars in which he took part. A great study in his personality and his ambition that will be enjoyed by all who admired the man.

A General's General........2006-09-03

This has to be one of those always-at-hand reference books that modern day military leaders pick up and consult. Not so much for the academic and technical resource because it of course, is a bit dated in that regard, but simply to understand and hopefully learn what leadership in it's ultimate pure form really is. Patton had it. It goes without saying that World War II would have been finished much different if it was not for his style and drive. Certainly the most quotable allied general of the war. Todays business leaders and managers (myself included) read books like "War as I knew it" and come away with a renewed confidence in the human potential. Patton pulled every ounce of self worth out of his men to achieve the final victory. It was his standing order. This book discusses in detail how he did that and why. All explained very clearly. His style was unorthodox, his demeanor sometimes in question, his spirituality vivid and some battlefield decisions nearly cost him his career. "War as I knew it" will read at times like a dull teacher giving a lecture. Stick with it and breath it in. This is full-on George Patton. It all still works in the 21st century.

Patton - I imagine.......2006-08-30

This book is an excellent account of General Patton's battles in WWII. In his own words he describes some moments of the campaigns in the European Thater of Operations including North Africa. But this book is not only account of the battles, but it also contains events telling us stories about Patton's personal experineces and showing us that a war is not just battles, but also many other things.

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Important insight into Hitler's personality development
Totally Worth the read - fractured yet Captivating histo lok at Hitler's early Years
One of the most important books on Hitler
Buy it
Portrait of a unique friend

The Young Hitler I Knew
August Kubizek
Manufacturer: Greenhill Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1853676942

Book Description

This is the first edition to be published in English since 1955 and it corrects many changes made for reasons of political correctness. It also includes important sections which were excised from the original English translation. August Kubizek met Adolf Hitler in 1904 while they were both competing for standing room at the opera. Their mutual passion for music created a strong bond, and over the next four years they became close friends. Kubizek describes a reticent young man, painfully shy, yet capable of bursting into hysterical fits of anger if anyone disagreed with him. The two boys would often talk for hours on end; Hitler found Kubizek to be a very good listener, a worthy confidant to his hopes and dreams. In 1908 Kubizek moved to Vienna and shared a room with Hitler at 29 Stumpergasse. During this time, Hitler tried to get into art school, but he was unsuccessful. With his money fast running out, he found himself sinking to the lower depths of the city: an unkind world of isolation and 'constant unappeasable hunger'. Hitler moved out of the flat in November, without leaving a forwarding address; Kubizek did not meet his friend again until 1938. The Young Hitler I Knew tells the story of an extraordinary friendship, and gives fascinating insight into Hitler's character during these formative years. A must for Hitler scholars.

Customer Reviews:

Important insight into Hitler's personality development.......2007-06-14

Written by Hitler's closest ever friend, what he tells us rings true. By the end of the book you have a pretty good idea of how his mind works and what ideas are important to him. Later when he had the power, he put these early ideas into effect . This book is recommended to understand Hitler's development.

Totally Worth the read - fractured yet Captivating histo lok at Hitler's early Years.......2007-03-07

This book is one of those resources that is in nearly every history of Hitler and stands as a sole personal reference to Hitler's early years.
August Kubizek through this work is able to fill in the gaps the public records, scant as they are, provide about Hitler's life as a boy and an artsy vagabond on the streets of Vienna. I found the author's approach to this book straightforward and written in the way that someone wishing to study the personality of an individual. He segments his chapters looking the town the mother and the father and Hitler's social life among other things. While the delivery is somewhat simplistic it is what would be expected of an average person who knew Hitler as a youth.

While the book is somewhat contradictory in that it says that Hitler's mother wasn't nearly a smothering as often said and interestingly Kubisek says that Hitler always had the gift for compelling oratory which seems odd seeing that he was a social misfit at the same time. It is interesting too because it seems even in trying to writing objectively the author has some strange affection or admiration for Hitler. No matter what it's a quick and interesting read that any historian studying Hitler should not pass up.

One of the most important books on Hitler.......2007-02-15

This is one of the most important books ever written on Hitler. It is an honest memoir of Hitler's best childhood friends. There is no book that even comes close to the coverage this book provides of Hitler's early years. Perhaps, the most important section of the book is the chapter where Hitler sees Wagner's opera Rienzi for the first time and sees a larger vision for his own life. Indeed, one aspect of the book is the huge influence of Richard Wagner on both Hitler and a generation of Germans. Check my German history book list on Amazon for more interesting books including a book on Wagner's influence on Hitler.

Buy it.......2007-02-11

I didn't think I would learn much of anything about Adolf Hitler through August's book, but I was greatly mistaken. While some try to discredit August, stating he was biased, put words in Hitler's mouth and so on, I found this book to ring true when compared against the accounts of others who were close to Hitler in later years. Quite a lot of the puzzle comes together via this book, and I believe you wind up getting to understand more about what made up the heart, mind, and attitudes of Adolf Hitler.
You'll read things that contradict what has been stated by others. Is August being truthful? I find his accounts more believeable and/or at least begin to doubt what others have stated. Here is one example amongst many: The doctor who attended to Hitler's mother was Jewish, but was well respected by everyone in Linz, including Hitler. His anti-Semitic feelings did not, as some claim, begin with his hatred for the doctor who alledgely failed to tend to his mother correctly.

Portrait of a unique friend.......2007-02-08

I would recommend this book to anyone who has studied the life of Adolf Hitler. It brings him to life as a real person better than any other biography of him I've read -- even though Kubizek's book covers only the years of their friendship as teenagers, and their meetings in the late 1930s when the talented musician August Kubizek was a minor provincial official, and Adolf Hitler -- once a frustrated architect and practically penniless -- was leading the Third Reich down a path of conquest that ended in massive defeat and his own suicide.
Despite the introduction by Hitler biographer Ian Kershaw, who does his best to poison the well and cast doubts on many things in the narrative, Kubizek's book rings true, all the way through. Kubizek freely admits a number of times that he cannot remember certain details about their lives together, and confesses his own ignorance about things political -- which fascinated his friend Hitler from a young age.
One gets the distinct impression that Adolf Hitler would have been a very difficult friend indeed, with his self-centered worldview, his demands on one's time, and his interminable monologues. But having said that, it is obvious from Kubizek's words that he loved Hitler as a friend, and truly valued that friendship.
Kubizek tells in detail about aspects of Hitler's life often glossed over by other biographers. He describes Hitler's deep and abiding love for his mother, his occasional, totally unselfish acts such as cleverly persuading Kubizek's father to allow his son to attend college to pursue the musical career he longed for -- even his extreme fondness for sweets such as Viennese pastry.
The book also gives, indirectly, a telling portrait of its author: A quiet, amiable young man, supremely talented in music, content to be his friend's audience of one on so many occasions simply because Hitler WAS his friend and needed someone to listen.
It's doubtful if a book quite like this one exists about any other historic leader. It's a splendid read.

Patton War As I knew It The Great Commanders

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Patton War As I knew It The Great Commanders
Patton
Manufacturer: Collector Reprints Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: B000O7JB4U

Mud, Blood and Poppycock: This Will Overturn Everything You Thought You Knew about Britain and The First World War (Cassell Military Paperbacks)

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Editor's Help Needed
Dr Pangloss Does WWI
The Great War revisited
A Soldier's View
Two Cheers for WW I

Mud, Blood and Poppycock: This Will Overturn Everything You Thought You Knew about Britain and The First World War (Cassell Military Paperbacks)
Gordon Corrigan
Manufacturer: Cassell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0304366595

Book Description

The popular view of the First World War remains that of 'Blackadder': incompetent generals sending brave soldiers to their deaths. Alan Clark quoted a German general's remark that the British soldiers were 'lions led by donkeys'. But he made it up. Indeed, many established 'facts' about 1914-18 turn out to be myths woven in the 1960s by young historians on the make. Gordon Corrigan's brilliant, witty new history reveals how out of touch we have become with the soldiers of 1914-18. They simply would not recognize the way their generation is depicted on TV or in Pat Barker's novels. Laced with dry humour, this will overturn everything you thought you knew about Britain and the First World War. Gordon Corrigan reveals how the British embraced technology, and developed the weapons and tactics to break through the enemy trenches.

Customer Reviews:

Editor's Help Needed.......2006-11-23

Not what I expected. The book's subtitile promised it would "overturn everything you thought you knew about Britain and the First World War." Instead it was a poorly presented reposte to the criticism of the British army's actions in the war and its generals' ineptitude. An editor should have reorganized the book into a point-by-point discussion of "standard history" v. "reality" (as seen by the author), and cut down the size.

Dr Pangloss Does WWI.......2006-09-09

This book is a real treasure -- closely argued, well researched with the deft touch of a military man with a good grasp of his subject I was very favourably impressed with both his crisp writing style and his rather curmungeonly avuncular, slightly eccentric English grandfather-type of personality that wants to "sit you right down young man and sort you out."

For the moderately read scholar of WWI much of this book will not come as a surprise. Yes, amongst the masses it is a myth that British officers sat behind the lines sipping brandy whilst ordering working classes into the teeth of machine guns. Yes it is a myth for some that the American contribution was not significant or that the war was a just war.

For those people this book will be a good tonic and the cold salve for their gaping ignorance. But I think that this book was not written for the general reader having a first stab at the study of WWI. As the reviews below prove, those with considerable knowledge like the book... I liked it too. I wonder if it is because it pandered quite a bit to my personal tastes... and conservative sentiments.

After reading about half-way into the book I felt that it was starting to border more upon a polemical work, rather than an objective study.

- whatever Corrigan writes about there is no doubt that he is right. Corrigan is really loath to offer contrasting examples from very bone fide historians and where he does, such as in the case of citing Alan Clark as a non-historian, we can do nothing but agree. I could not help but leafing through Leon Wolff's "In Flander's Field" to convince myself that there was more going on between the miliary-politico machinations than Corrigan cites.

- almost all Generals seems to be either misunderstood -- really great minds that were doing the best they could under hard circumstances -- or were hobbled by the machinations of politicians. This is simplistic in the extreme, and Corrigan's stories are highly selective and slanted. It is also a easy target to round on Lloyd George, but quite another thing to question the motivations of certain members of Parliament (and while Churchill is criticised, Corrigan does not once mention his experience in the trenches and his willingness to pay for mistakes (even though they were not his).

- Corrigan does rightly state that the effects of Gas and Fire weapons and tanks were greatly exagerated. Despite their perceived horrible nature, few casualties were actually inflicted by these new weapons, and even fewer fatalities. But all horrors are not created equal, and his avering that the costliest battles for Britian and the Empire, the Somme and Passchendaele, were actually "great victories" stretches the definition of victory. There are many ways to critique these battles, but by merely portraying them as inevitable and really not all that bad, he risks throwing out the baby with the bath water. He does not mention the British Army Reports from the Battle of Loos in 1915 clearly stating that wire cannot only in the best of circumstance be cut with HE. My grandfather in the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery (seconded to the British Army at the beginning of the Somme) told me that it was common knowlege in the officer core that the wire had not been cut before July 01st. This is but one example of where clearly British commanders were playing fast and loose with soldiers lives and allowing themselves to get caught up in the inevitable nature of battle. In almost all cases, even where the allies knew the Germans expected the attack, the dice were always tossed. This must be an indictment of some commanders in the field and was what Lloyd George was precisely against(not that I want to go too far out on a limb for LG).

- there is also a lot missing here from the myths that I would like Corrigan to add in his next revision: Galliploi was a good idea. Using the Navy was Churchill's sound policy that was actually forcing the straits when politicians intervened and decided that ships were more valuable than men and embarked on the land campaign to capture the Dardenelles. Badly handled but sound strategy. Corrigan should explore this more fully (He might also want to take some wind out of the sails of the average Aussie who feels that Gallipoli was a purely Australian affair. They were a minor but significant partner with the British commiting almost 4 times the number of Australians and the French losses being marginally more than the Australians).

All in all, despite the fact that Corrigan is trying his damnest to copy Candide, I felt the book was a great and ripping read and give it my highest recommendation. That doesn't mean that it does not pander to preconceived notions, it just means that Corrigan does write well and tells his story even better -- and the best books are usually those with a few flaws.

The Great War revisited.......2005-11-05

Gordon Corrigan has written a vivid - and long overdue - historical work that has rolled a hand grenade of reality into the dugout of all our perceptions about trench warfare in World War I. Discarding the clichés of mud and blood of movies and novels of the period, this study explores the real world the British soldiers of November, 1918, would have recognized. High morale, advanced technology for the time, and a belief in victory flies in the face of conventional wisdom but Corrigan faithfully records it all, laced with a wicked wit. He then moves on to the anti-war movement that would, within a decade, portray the trench soldier as a hapless victim of immense folly, as "Journey's End," "Goodbye to All That" and the war poems entered the national consciousness. The British Tommy - and his 700,000 dead comrades - deserved better...and Corrigan does sterling work to redress the balance in this controversial and immensely readable history.

A Soldier's View.......2005-03-22

Only a soldier could have written this book. It is written with an understanding about the frictions of war. All too often, historians would discuss a war as if it was entirely an intellectual exercise with glaringly obvious choices that most of the time the people were involved were too stupid to choose. There was no regard for the necessities that are imposed by a multitude of factors like terrain, the state of technology, the army that you have, the enemy (yes! They don't always cooperate by being stupid enough to let you maneuvre past their flanks!), the weather, and just plain bad luck.

Mr Corrigan put up a well argued case that the British Army and its generals did all right given what they had to work with.

A point, however, which he did not make often enough, is that victory could only be bought with the blood of a country's soldiers. The more even matched an enemy is to one, the more likely that price will be high. If defeat is too horrible to contemplate (and Mr Corrigan make a good case for the necessity of war), then, unfortunately, the price might just have to be 700,000 deaths.

Two Cheers for WW I.......2004-07-19

You know the conventional wisdom. In World War I stupid and unimaginative generals sent hundreds of thousands of men to their deaths in parade-ground charges into the machine guns of the enemy. The common soldiers lived knee deep in mud in the trenches while just a few miles away prissy staff officers dined on white tablecloths and plotted the next ridiculous attack.

Au contraire regarding the British army says the author, a former British military officer -- and he says so vociferously. After the war, poets and biased historians gave a distorted picture of life in the trenches and created a myth of brutal, uncaring officers. The author marshals quite a few facts in support of his view. For example, he maintains that few British units spent more than three days at a time in the trenches and more that 4 or 5 days a month on the firing line. The mistakes of the British army were largely a result of the necessity of quickly building up a small pre-war army into a much larger one and the resultant inexperience of both officers and men. Contrary to the opprobrium usually poured on the head of British commander, Field Marshall Douglas Haig, the author finds him to be a man who did the best with what he had.

Corrigan has little use for British politicians. The Prime Minister Lloyd George comes across as meddling, dishonest, philandering obstacle to winning the war. Winston Churchill suffers from "flights of fancy." He likewise has little use for the French, especially after a soldier's mutiny in 1917 reduced the capability of the French army to defense only. He gives a nod of appreciation to the Americans, but "in 1918 it was the British army which made the major contribution to the defeat of the German army." Moreover, he claims that the British army of 1918 was a better army that Monty's in 1945.

Corrigan's view of World War I is so radically different from most other authors that I don't know how much credibility to give him. He makes a good case for his point of view. Still, the British had almost 700,000 soldiers killed in World War I out of a population of 45 million. The author points out that British losses were less than German and French losses -- but, anyway you look at it, 700,000 dead is a bloodbath and suggests that British strategy and tactics were hardly brilliant. I highly recommend this book as a well-argued, icon-breaking history of the British army in World War I.

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War as I Knew It (Military Book Club)

Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000F6Q47W

Product Description

Illustrated with maps. Introduction by Douglas Southall Freeman. This military book club edition has a new foreword by Martin Blumenson. This book contains General Patton's rules and principles forged from fighting experience gathered in three wars. Patton's dominant belief was that a commander's place is at the front, where he can inspire the morale of his troops and keep aware of combat conditions. This belief he lived up to through days and nights of perilous fighting and breaking weariness, and his actions gave rise to many stories. Here we have Patton's own story of his European campaign, written on the spot with the terse vigor of a military man. Appendices, maps and charts on endpapers, 328 pages.

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The War the Infantry Knew, 1914-1918
J. C. Dunn
Manufacturer: Little Brown U.K.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0349106355

Book Description

The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 is a remarkably coherent narrative, in diary form, of an infantry battalion's experience on the Western Front. A moving, truthful historical record, it deserves to be added to the select list of outstanding accounts of the First World War.

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War As I Knew It

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 055322803X

By ways I knew not: God led me in time of war

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By ways I knew not: God led me in time of war
Boris N Pache
Manufacturer: Review and Herald Pub. Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

The America I Once Knew Vanishing but Not Forgotten: A World War II Veteran Takes a Critical View of the Foibles of American Society

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A Book You Need to Read!

The America I Once Knew Vanishing but Not Forgotten: A World War II Veteran Takes a Critical View of the Foibles of American Society
Charles L. Salm
Manufacturer: Writers Club Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0595256708

Book Description

If you enjoy reading a perspective on life that can be only be obtained from a member of the Greatest Generation, you have selected the right book. Chuck Salm entertains you with a series of essays that will strike a responsive chord, not only with his peers, but also with patriotic Americans of all ages. Forget political correctness and apologies for the wayward and the incompetent in our society. Don t look for excuses that cover for our self-serving politicians. You may, at times, be offended even outraged. You may also be delighted, heartened and encouraged by knowing that someone out there thinks like you do and does not shy away from writing the very things you believe in. To be sure, you will be entertained every step of the way. Read on!

Customer Reviews:

A Book You Need to Read!.......2003-01-26

Alright, Listen up folks! If you're sick of the Commie pinkos and left wing dopers trying to steal our country, you can take heart by reading this World War II veteran's fine book. You will find a series of essays that will entertain, enlighten and stir your soul to action. I believe that Chuck Salm speaks well for the majority of World War II vets and other patriotic Americans who are sick and tired of hack politicians abusing our laws and our freedoms. In his book, you will find a blend of humor, sarcasm and just the right tell-it-like-it-is toughness to hammer his points home. If you're looking for cutsie political correctness that strives to keep from offending champions of illegal immigration, sell-out liberal judges or incompetent school administrators, you just walked into a buzzsaw!

You may have read Sean Hannity's "Let Freedom Ring" and Michael Savage's "The Savage Nation". Those are great books of today, but you haven't rounded out your appreciation for the greatness of America and how to pull the fat out of the fire to save our great nation until you've read the third book in this exciting trilogy, "The America I Once Knew - Vanishing But Not Forgotten".

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The Gator Navy: The Amphibious Navy That I Knew In World War Ii
victor L. Killingsworth
Manufacturer: Vantage Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0533147859

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