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The Boys' Crusade: The American Infantry in Northwestern Europe, 1944-45
The Boys’ Crusade is the great historian Paul Fussell’s unflinching and unforgettable account of the American infantryman’s experiences in Europe during World War II. Based in part on the author’s own experiences, it provides a stirring narrative of what the war was actually like, from the point of view of the children—for children they were—who fought it. While dealing definitively with issues of strategy, leadership, context, and tactics, Fussell has an additional to tear away the veil of feel-good mythology that so often obscures and sanitizes war’s brutal essence.
“A chronicle should deal with nothing but the truth,” Fussell writes in his Preface. Accord-ingly, he eschews every kind of sentimentalism, focusing instead on the raw action and human emotion triggered by the intimacy, horror, and intense sorrows of war, and honestly addressing the errors, waste, fear, misery, and resentments that plagued both sides. In the vast literature on World War II, The Boys’ Crusade stands wholly apart. Fussell’s profoundly honest portrayal of these boy soldiers underscores their bravery even as it deepens our awareness of their experiences. This book is both a tribute to their noble service and a valuable lesson for future generations.
“A chronicle should deal with nothing but the truth,” Fussell writes in his Preface. Accord-ingly, he eschews every kind of sentimentalism, focusing instead on the raw action and human emotion triggered by the intimacy, horror, and intense sorrows of war, and honestly addressing the errors, waste, fear, misery, and resentments that plagued both sides. In the vast literature on World War II, The Boys’ Crusade stands wholly apart. Fussell’s profoundly honest portrayal of these boy soldiers underscores their bravery even as it deepens our awareness of their experiences. This book is both a tribute to their noble service and a valuable lesson for future generations.
184 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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About the author
Paul Fussell
49 books134 followersPaul Fussell was an American cultural and literary historian, author and university professor. His writings covered a variety of topics, from scholarly works on eighteenth-century English literature to commentary on America’s class system. He was an U.S. Army Infantry officer in the European theater during World War II (103rd U.S. Infantry Division) and was awarded both the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. He is best known for his writings about World War I and II.
He began his teaching career at Connecticut College (1951–55) before moving to Rutgers University in 1955 and finally the University of Pennsylvania in 1983. He also taught at the University of Heidelberg (1957–58) and King’s College London (1990–92). As a teacher, he traveled widely with his family throughout Europe during the 1950s, 60s and 70s, taking Fulbright and sabbatical years in Germany, England and France.
He began his teaching career at Connecticut College (1951–55) before moving to Rutgers University in 1955 and finally the University of Pennsylvania in 1983. He also taught at the University of Heidelberg (1957–58) and King’s College London (1990–92). As a teacher, he traveled widely with his family throughout Europe during the 1950s, 60s and 70s, taking Fulbright and sabbatical years in Germany, England and France.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 89 reviews
June 2, 2021
This book is on the U.S. Army in France and Germany in 1944-45. The author emphasized the youth of many of these boy soldiers and their unpreparedness for combat. He removes the tropes of the “Greatest Generation” and the like. Many of the soldiers floundered under combat, some ran away, there were deserters, some surrendered, and there were self-inflicted wounds.
So, the author has a jaded viewpoint. He states that the English detested the American soldiers and vice versa. The same for their arrival in France – the boys hated the French and were detested by them. I am not so sure of all of this – there were after all marriages between U.S. soldiers and English women. The same in France. Saying that U.S. soldiers were unwelcome by the French populace is rather harsh – many films and interviews show otherwise.
This book goes over ground covered more thoroughly in other books - like Rich Relations: The American Occupation of Britain, 1942-1945, plus all those books on D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge. There are more books on the liberation of the concentration camps.
There are plenty of effusive citations of this book on the back cover and the first couple of pages which would lead one to expect something far more powerful than the contents. Aside from the author taking excerpts from the journals of some soldiers, I didn’t find this book personal. It is more of a synopsis and introduction to the role of the United States Army from 1944 onwards and from the U.S perspective.
So, the author has a jaded viewpoint. He states that the English detested the American soldiers and vice versa. The same for their arrival in France – the boys hated the French and were detested by them. I am not so sure of all of this – there were after all marriages between U.S. soldiers and English women. The same in France. Saying that U.S. soldiers were unwelcome by the French populace is rather harsh – many films and interviews show otherwise.
This book goes over ground covered more thoroughly in other books - like Rich Relations: The American Occupation of Britain, 1942-1945, plus all those books on D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge. There are more books on the liberation of the concentration camps.
There are plenty of effusive citations of this book on the back cover and the first couple of pages which would lead one to expect something far more powerful than the contents. Aside from the author taking excerpts from the journals of some soldiers, I didn’t find this book personal. It is more of a synopsis and introduction to the role of the United States Army from 1944 onwards and from the U.S perspective.
April 23, 2024
The Boy’s Crusade is an intriguing, short history of the U.S. Infantry in World War II. Fussell brings first hand experience to his subject, as he was an infantry office in Europe. He emphasizes that most of the infantry boys really weren’t much more than children, the majority of them being between 17 and 19. Fussell leaves all the ugliness and unheroic detail in, refusing to sanitize the story or rely on any pat, jingoistic stories we may already be familiar with. The brilliance of this short, well told history is the way he contrasts the bleak, unadorned horror of war against the youth and nativity of the boys who fought it.
February 24, 2012
Richard Yates was one of the terrified teenage draftees in what Fussell (after Vonnegut) calls “the boys’ crusade”—the high school class of 1944 starting the fall in the shitty mud and bloody snow of Northern Europe, the hastily trained replacements of the summer’s losses. Biographer Blake Bailey records that Yates emerged from the months of German shelling and gunfights in quaint villages with what would be a lifelong motto for endurance of adversity: keep a tight asshole. When things are rough, he'd say in a smoky growl, "keep a tight asshole." Fussell made me understand that this is not just a metaphorical call for composure under fire—it’s a good physiological tip. If you were a GI sweating and sleeping in cold-congealed mud, you were probably sick, and you probably had diarrhea; it was therefore imperative that you maintain a good clench in the extra time needed to dismantle your voluminous winter gear. I’ll never forget the soldier who, racing for the latrine, “slipped and fell in the mud and crapped in his clothes. He lay there and cried in frustration.”
January 12, 2016
Paul Fussell was a WWII veteran. He served as an infantry officer with the 103rd Infantry Division in France and Germany. After the war he went on to have a distinguished career as a writer and professor. Like many men of his generation the War never went away and it remained an essential part of his life. It could be argued that the experience shaped him and influnced him for the decades that he lived after leaving the army. Like it did so many others.
"The Boys' Crusade" is a series of essays examining the experience of the U.S. Infantry in the fighting in Northwestern Europe (France, Germany, Belgium,Netherlands,Luxembourg) from 1944-1945. This is not an Stephen Ambrose or Tom Brokaw history, but more an angry bitter accounting of the war from the Jones and Vonnegut school. You won't find any gauzy "Greatest Generation" sentimentality coming from Paul Fussell.
"The Boys' Crusade" is a short read and much of the research is from sources that I have read in the past. Actually much of what Fussell writes about is nothing new for those who are familiar with the war, but for those who aren't it will be a rude awakening. He doesn't sugarcoat his fellow veterans or the U.S. military. War is an unbelievable disaster and Fussell wants the reader to know this. It's a tightly written book that ,while angry in parts, does not get bogged down in pathos or politiczing. At one point Fussell even writes that his book is not an argument for pacificism even as he accounts the horrors. The war had to be fought. Nazi Germany was a danger and a monstrosity. Fussell acknowledges this, but he won't brush over the Human cost of the war. Good for him.
"The Boys' Crusade" is a series of essays examining the experience of the U.S. Infantry in the fighting in Northwestern Europe (France, Germany, Belgium,Netherlands,Luxembourg) from 1944-1945. This is not an Stephen Ambrose or Tom Brokaw history, but more an angry bitter accounting of the war from the Jones and Vonnegut school. You won't find any gauzy "Greatest Generation" sentimentality coming from Paul Fussell.
"The Boys' Crusade" is a short read and much of the research is from sources that I have read in the past. Actually much of what Fussell writes about is nothing new for those who are familiar with the war, but for those who aren't it will be a rude awakening. He doesn't sugarcoat his fellow veterans or the U.S. military. War is an unbelievable disaster and Fussell wants the reader to know this. It's a tightly written book that ,while angry in parts, does not get bogged down in pathos or politiczing. At one point Fussell even writes that his book is not an argument for pacificism even as he accounts the horrors. The war had to be fought. Nazi Germany was a danger and a monstrosity. Fussell acknowledges this, but he won't brush over the Human cost of the war. Good for him.
June 22, 2014
Paul Fussell might be my new history hero. I mean that literally, and in the most positive possible sense, but Professor Fussell might not approve of that appellation. His work is itself a warning against the idolatry of war and, as a byproduct, the mythologizing of soldiers (whom Fussell insists--rightly--on calling "boys" throughout his history) into something other than desperate children trapped in desperate situations. Heroes might very well come from battle, but it is a world of villainy that they stand out in, and heralding them serves as a form of absolution for the horrors of war itself, for it allows people to overlook the political crimes, stupidities, egos and entitlement that created the horrors in which some few men (for they are surely matured by their experience) stand out.
Fussell's own military experience as an infantry officer during WWII is the least of his accomplishments. It is in portraying that war honestly and accurately that his legacy rests. This book is a snippet of that process. In telling (I should say retelling because most of the history in this book can be found in other sources) Fussell gives a "ground up" account of events; his subject ranges from the boys doing the fighting to the upper echelon of the general staff. He focuses on several particular events during that war (the Falaise Pocket, the Battle of the Bulge amongst them) that generally get less attention than other aspects of the war, and in doing so he describes the experience of the soldiers in a way very few other scholars attempt. He portrays them simply as boys whose ignorance and innocence is shattered. In doing so, he draws the reader into that experience in a way that very few other writers attempt or would be capable of. Though that is most likely an impossible task, Fussell does relate details in a way that is powerful and profound. It may not convey "what it was like" in any true sense of that term, but it does stand neatly in the truth's shadow, facing directly forward.
Where the book might err is in its brevity. 1944-45 is not a very large portion of the American Crusade in Europe, and though we can extrapolate from that period into the Italian Campaign, the African Campaign, the experience of the soldiers who fought at sea or in the air, the infantryman experience is not the entirety of what he dubs a modern installment of the children's crusade. Fussell maintains that focus, of course, by design, but in its own way that specialization prevents the reader from a more complete understanding. This book, therefore, becomes just a piece of the puzzle. It is a vital piece, to be sure, and one that is missing from most of the other "historical jigsaw puzzles" presented by other scholars, but it cannot complete the picture in the way that, say, John Keegan's The Mask of Command tells us about the (admittedly, much more well-covered and, therefore, less necessary...) nature of military leaders.
In a marketplace filled with such tripe as Tom Brokaw's pop history The Greatest Generation and Saving Private Ryan, a book that takes or even attempts an honest assessment of the actions and reactions of the boys to their situation is a refreshing change of pace. I'd recommend this book to anyone with an interest in military history, the psychology of combat or in the history of the period just before and in the decades since WWII.
Fussell's own military experience as an infantry officer during WWII is the least of his accomplishments. It is in portraying that war honestly and accurately that his legacy rests. This book is a snippet of that process. In telling (I should say retelling because most of the history in this book can be found in other sources) Fussell gives a "ground up" account of events; his subject ranges from the boys doing the fighting to the upper echelon of the general staff. He focuses on several particular events during that war (the Falaise Pocket, the Battle of the Bulge amongst them) that generally get less attention than other aspects of the war, and in doing so he describes the experience of the soldiers in a way very few other scholars attempt. He portrays them simply as boys whose ignorance and innocence is shattered. In doing so, he draws the reader into that experience in a way that very few other writers attempt or would be capable of. Though that is most likely an impossible task, Fussell does relate details in a way that is powerful and profound. It may not convey "what it was like" in any true sense of that term, but it does stand neatly in the truth's shadow, facing directly forward.
Where the book might err is in its brevity. 1944-45 is not a very large portion of the American Crusade in Europe, and though we can extrapolate from that period into the Italian Campaign, the African Campaign, the experience of the soldiers who fought at sea or in the air, the infantryman experience is not the entirety of what he dubs a modern installment of the children's crusade. Fussell maintains that focus, of course, by design, but in its own way that specialization prevents the reader from a more complete understanding. This book, therefore, becomes just a piece of the puzzle. It is a vital piece, to be sure, and one that is missing from most of the other "historical jigsaw puzzles" presented by other scholars, but it cannot complete the picture in the way that, say, John Keegan's The Mask of Command tells us about the (admittedly, much more well-covered and, therefore, less necessary...) nature of military leaders.
In a marketplace filled with such tripe as Tom Brokaw's pop history The Greatest Generation and Saving Private Ryan, a book that takes or even attempts an honest assessment of the actions and reactions of the boys to their situation is a refreshing change of pace. I'd recommend this book to anyone with an interest in military history, the psychology of combat or in the history of the period just before and in the decades since WWII.
July 31, 2019
In the American Civil War there was a shorthand phrase for having been in combat, “seeing the elephant.” Like an elephant, being under fire and seeing death and destruction all around was completely different from anything previously experienced, or even imagined.
Paul Fussell saw the elephant, experiencing combat in all its monstrous, horrific, tragic violence. As a newly commissioned second lieutenant in the 103rd Infantry Division in 1944-45 he fought in France and Germany, where he earned the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. When he writes of the life of an infantryman, defined by cold, filth, confusion, and terror, his words have the ring of truth because he was writing about what he remembered. His 1996 book Doing Battle was a personal memoir of his time during the war; this book abstracts his experiences to a general discussion of how the soldiers lived, fought, and died.
It is a small, short book. Although my copy is a hardcover, it is only about five by seven inches, the size of a paperback, and at less than 170 pages it is a quick read, something that can be finished in a couple of hours.
It consists of eighteen short chapters, one only four pages long. Each looks at a different aspect of combat in Europe. Some describe the feelings of the young soldiers, most away from home for the first time, and their relations with the English (strained, bordering on hostile) and the French (often hostile, since the Allies had bombed many French towns to rubble before the invasion, killing around 100,000 men, women, and children). Several of the important battles are described, such as the Falaise Gap, Hürtgen Forest, and the Bulge, but also a small but significant example of troops holding out Lost Battalion-style at a place called Mortain.
Losses in Europe were much higher than Army command had expected, and there was a pressing need for a constant supply of replacements. By late in the war most of these were draftees rushed through abbreviated basic training. When even more bodies were needed, troops were culled out of aviation units and sent to the infantry, as were a large group of educated young men who thought they had been promised they would sit out the war taking college courses. The large influx of these reluctant soldiers, many angry at finding themselves in the front lines, seriously affected morale and unit cohesion. Malingering was common, as was desertion and self-inflicted wounds. There is a book by Charles Glass called The Deserters: A Hidden History of World War II, which shows how large the problem was, including tens of thousands of American and British deserters in Paris alone.
The end was never in doubt, although the Germans, whipped into a desperate frenzy by Nazi propaganda, fought to the bitter end. In the closing weeks of the war the Americans stumbled upon the concentration camps, and were sickened and appalled by what they saw. For the first time they started to hate the Germans, truly hate them, and many vowed never to take another prisoner alive. It also drove home to the soldiers that what they were fighting for really mattered. This wasn’t a quarrel between governments but a fight for the very essence of civilization, of decency and humanity. This is what the soldiers had fought their way across France and Germany for, and it was worth any price to extinguish the forces of raging hatred and demonic evil that drove Nazi Germany. For all their dead and wounded, all the misery and terror they had experienced, they had done the right thing, and liberating Europe was one of history’s great examples of good confronting and defeating evil. Paul Fussell never shies away from the inanities and incompetencies of serving in the Army, but he also never loses sight of the larger picture, that some things will always be worth fighting, and even dying, for.
Paul Fussell saw the elephant, experiencing combat in all its monstrous, horrific, tragic violence. As a newly commissioned second lieutenant in the 103rd Infantry Division in 1944-45 he fought in France and Germany, where he earned the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. When he writes of the life of an infantryman, defined by cold, filth, confusion, and terror, his words have the ring of truth because he was writing about what he remembered. His 1996 book Doing Battle was a personal memoir of his time during the war; this book abstracts his experiences to a general discussion of how the soldiers lived, fought, and died.
It is a small, short book. Although my copy is a hardcover, it is only about five by seven inches, the size of a paperback, and at less than 170 pages it is a quick read, something that can be finished in a couple of hours.
It consists of eighteen short chapters, one only four pages long. Each looks at a different aspect of combat in Europe. Some describe the feelings of the young soldiers, most away from home for the first time, and their relations with the English (strained, bordering on hostile) and the French (often hostile, since the Allies had bombed many French towns to rubble before the invasion, killing around 100,000 men, women, and children). Several of the important battles are described, such as the Falaise Gap, Hürtgen Forest, and the Bulge, but also a small but significant example of troops holding out Lost Battalion-style at a place called Mortain.
Losses in Europe were much higher than Army command had expected, and there was a pressing need for a constant supply of replacements. By late in the war most of these were draftees rushed through abbreviated basic training. When even more bodies were needed, troops were culled out of aviation units and sent to the infantry, as were a large group of educated young men who thought they had been promised they would sit out the war taking college courses. The large influx of these reluctant soldiers, many angry at finding themselves in the front lines, seriously affected morale and unit cohesion. Malingering was common, as was desertion and self-inflicted wounds. There is a book by Charles Glass called The Deserters: A Hidden History of World War II, which shows how large the problem was, including tens of thousands of American and British deserters in Paris alone.
The end was never in doubt, although the Germans, whipped into a desperate frenzy by Nazi propaganda, fought to the bitter end. In the closing weeks of the war the Americans stumbled upon the concentration camps, and were sickened and appalled by what they saw. For the first time they started to hate the Germans, truly hate them, and many vowed never to take another prisoner alive. It also drove home to the soldiers that what they were fighting for really mattered. This wasn’t a quarrel between governments but a fight for the very essence of civilization, of decency and humanity. This is what the soldiers had fought their way across France and Germany for, and it was worth any price to extinguish the forces of raging hatred and demonic evil that drove Nazi Germany. For all their dead and wounded, all the misery and terror they had experienced, they had done the right thing, and liberating Europe was one of history’s great examples of good confronting and defeating evil. Paul Fussell never shies away from the inanities and incompetencies of serving in the Army, but he also never loses sight of the larger picture, that some things will always be worth fighting, and even dying, for.
November 1, 2016
In his opening pages, Fussell recalls the famed Children's Crusade of the early 13th century, when 50,000 young people may or may not have marched into the Holy Land in an attempt to free it of Islam. It was an adventure that strikes modern sensibilities as nothing if not appalling.
He then points to Eisenhower's unironic invocation of the term "crusade" 700 years later, on the eve of D-day. It was an invasion that would cost 135,000 American boys their lives -- boys, Fussell points out, who were mostly still teenagers.
"I mean no disrespect to the memory of Dwight D. Eisenhower by examining his term crusade," Fussell writes. "It made some sense at the moment, even if many of the still unbloodied troops were likely to ridicule it. If they read or heard the Supreme Commander's words at all, they were doubtless embarrassed to have so highfalutin a term applied to their forthcoming performances and their feelings about them."
What the troops understood beforehand and what Eisenhower saw fit to forget even in retrospect (the title of his war memoir was Crusade in Europe) forms the bulk of Fussell's short book: a litany of the horrors of war experienced by and perpetrated by our boys in Europe.
There is mention, for instance, of the extensive Allied bombing of Pas de Calais in 1944 to further the ruse that this would be the D-day landing spot. "Even the Germans found it hard to believe that their enemy would kill so many civilians merely to maintain a deception," Fussell notes.
There is a revealing examination of American soldiers' attitudes toward the French and vice versa, as well as an acknowledgement of just how much better supplied GIs were next to the Brits (compare 22.5 sheets of toilet paper per day for the former to just three for the latter) -- a fact that resulted for the Americans in better hygiene and lots more sex with British girls.
There are many instances of gross incompetence -- incompetence that, for Fussell, was the rule and not the exception -- leading to countless military and civilian casualties alike. In one memorable chapter, ironically titled "One Small-Unit Action," Fussell narrates a platoon's doomed frontal assault on a superior German position. The order to attack may have been unintentionally precipitated by the platoon's lieutenant, who, in an argument with his superior, corrected the use of the word "revelant." The lieutenant was subsequently shot through the neck, and several soldiers were forced to painfully play dead for 12 hours before being rescued.
Fussell lets us see how talk of medals are used immediately after to cover up cowardice and ineptitude, and then how the unit's official history boils the horrifying encounter down to a "fracas," and a victorious one at that.
Fussell writes with characteristic anger, humanity and furious insight. His knowledge is wide-ranging -- he is by trade an English professor and has as much to say about poetry as he does about war -- but his voice thankfully lacks the somber, this-is-good-for-you quality of Chris Hedges, author of War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning and What Every Person Should Know About War.
Still, The Boys' Crusade feels undercooked: too arbitrary in its choice of vignettes, too vague in its arguments. It's tough to figure if it's too short or, even at fewer than 200 pages, too long.
What redeems it in the end is its willingness to wonder about the complications of its title. In his chapter "The Camps," Fussell shows how the Holocaust provided, nearly after the fact, a viscerally powerful moral justification for the war's slaughter. On the other hand, discovery of the death camps also brought to the surface our own darkest impulses: "I will never take another German prisoner armed or unarmed," declared one American lieutenant at Dachau. "How can they expect to do what they have done and simply say 'I quit,' and go scot free? They are not fit to live."
Read my full review here: http://bit.ly/2ekyhZ7
He then points to Eisenhower's unironic invocation of the term "crusade" 700 years later, on the eve of D-day. It was an invasion that would cost 135,000 American boys their lives -- boys, Fussell points out, who were mostly still teenagers.
"I mean no disrespect to the memory of Dwight D. Eisenhower by examining his term crusade," Fussell writes. "It made some sense at the moment, even if many of the still unbloodied troops were likely to ridicule it. If they read or heard the Supreme Commander's words at all, they were doubtless embarrassed to have so highfalutin a term applied to their forthcoming performances and their feelings about them."
What the troops understood beforehand and what Eisenhower saw fit to forget even in retrospect (the title of his war memoir was Crusade in Europe) forms the bulk of Fussell's short book: a litany of the horrors of war experienced by and perpetrated by our boys in Europe.
There is mention, for instance, of the extensive Allied bombing of Pas de Calais in 1944 to further the ruse that this would be the D-day landing spot. "Even the Germans found it hard to believe that their enemy would kill so many civilians merely to maintain a deception," Fussell notes.
There is a revealing examination of American soldiers' attitudes toward the French and vice versa, as well as an acknowledgement of just how much better supplied GIs were next to the Brits (compare 22.5 sheets of toilet paper per day for the former to just three for the latter) -- a fact that resulted for the Americans in better hygiene and lots more sex with British girls.
There are many instances of gross incompetence -- incompetence that, for Fussell, was the rule and not the exception -- leading to countless military and civilian casualties alike. In one memorable chapter, ironically titled "One Small-Unit Action," Fussell narrates a platoon's doomed frontal assault on a superior German position. The order to attack may have been unintentionally precipitated by the platoon's lieutenant, who, in an argument with his superior, corrected the use of the word "revelant." The lieutenant was subsequently shot through the neck, and several soldiers were forced to painfully play dead for 12 hours before being rescued.
Fussell lets us see how talk of medals are used immediately after to cover up cowardice and ineptitude, and then how the unit's official history boils the horrifying encounter down to a "fracas," and a victorious one at that.
Fussell writes with characteristic anger, humanity and furious insight. His knowledge is wide-ranging -- he is by trade an English professor and has as much to say about poetry as he does about war -- but his voice thankfully lacks the somber, this-is-good-for-you quality of Chris Hedges, author of War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning and What Every Person Should Know About War.
Still, The Boys' Crusade feels undercooked: too arbitrary in its choice of vignettes, too vague in its arguments. It's tough to figure if it's too short or, even at fewer than 200 pages, too long.
What redeems it in the end is its willingness to wonder about the complications of its title. In his chapter "The Camps," Fussell shows how the Holocaust provided, nearly after the fact, a viscerally powerful moral justification for the war's slaughter. On the other hand, discovery of the death camps also brought to the surface our own darkest impulses: "I will never take another German prisoner armed or unarmed," declared one American lieutenant at Dachau. "How can they expect to do what they have done and simply say 'I quit,' and go scot free? They are not fit to live."
Read my full review here: http://bit.ly/2ekyhZ7
April 21, 2014
This was a present for my father which I subsequently took out in the backyard on a subsequent visit to read while avoiding him. This is a sad and ongoing condition.
The book is also disturbing, a sage counterpoint to the warmongering shit of Stephen Ambrose. Fussell's work puts myths to rest and reminds us of the horrific.
The book is also disturbing, a sage counterpoint to the warmongering shit of Stephen Ambrose. Fussell's work puts myths to rest and reminds us of the horrific.
December 14, 2018
I chose to read this book now because the previous thing I read was a really long slog of a book about madness, and I wanted something short. Short this might be, but it was not an easy read. I've read quite a bit of Fussell and really admire his work, but this was even more focused than he usually is on the incompetence and cruelty that war inevitably involves. I could read only about twenty to thirty pages at a time, and to cheer myself up, I alternated the Fussell with rereading The Hunger Games for about the eighth time.
If there is anyone who can make a dystopian novel about teenagers being forced to fight to death seem cheerful, it's Fussell. And it's largely because of what I've read of Fussell's work that I'm always so moved by one of Katniss's reflections near the end of Mockingjay:
That's what war is: a game in which human beings sacrifice our children to settle our differences. The Boys' Crusade makes that clear.
If there is anyone who can make a dystopian novel about teenagers being forced to fight to death seem cheerful, it's Fussell. And it's largely because of what I've read of Fussell's work that I'm always so moved by one of Katniss's reflections near the end of Mockingjay:
They can design dream weapons that come to life in my hands, but they will never again brainwash me into the necessity of using them. I no longer feel any allegiance to these monsters called human beings, despite being one myself. I think that Peeta was onto something about us destroying one another and letting some decent species take over. Because something is significantly wrong with a creature that sacrifices its children's lives to settle its differences. You can spin it any way you like. Snow though the Hunger Games were an efficient means of control. Coin thought the parachutes expedite the war. But in the end, who does it benefit? No one. The truth is, it benefits no one to live in a world where these things happen.
That's what war is: a game in which human beings sacrifice our children to settle our differences. The Boys' Crusade makes that clear.
May 12, 2025
There's bound to be a very interesting story behind the publication of Paul Fussell's The Boys' Crusade.
We don't have time to get into it here, but if you come across a more in-depth review, or deeply researched story about this please let me know.
It's a bit misleading at first. It's well-known that plenty of underage American teenagers falsified papers to join up to fight in WWII. This, however, is not the in-depth investigative book on that many history readers hunger for. So, there's some degree of bait-and-switch here. It worked, getting me to buy it with no regrets.
There's an obviously young man's face on the center of the cover on a landing craft, and the title served to make me think I'd finally found a copy of that elusive book about all the underage warriors in that colossal meat grinder of a war. However, what it is possibly the most honest public picture of war, in print, since the movie Saving Private Ryan first showed in theaters.
P. 95, Replacements and Infantry Morale finally addresses that nagging WWII youth movement directly. It was only touched in passages and paragraphs, previously.
Yes, I was suckered into buying the book, and most likely would have, anyway. And I would really like to hear the behind scenes story, here. I might learn some things.
We don't have time to get into it here, but if you come across a more in-depth review, or deeply researched story about this please let me know.
It's a bit misleading at first. It's well-known that plenty of underage American teenagers falsified papers to join up to fight in WWII. This, however, is not the in-depth investigative book on that many history readers hunger for. So, there's some degree of bait-and-switch here. It worked, getting me to buy it with no regrets.
There's an obviously young man's face on the center of the cover on a landing craft, and the title served to make me think I'd finally found a copy of that elusive book about all the underage warriors in that colossal meat grinder of a war. However, what it is possibly the most honest public picture of war, in print, since the movie Saving Private Ryan first showed in theaters.
P. 95, Replacements and Infantry Morale finally addresses that nagging WWII youth movement directly. It was only touched in passages and paragraphs, previously.
Yes, I was suckered into buying the book, and most likely would have, anyway. And I would really like to hear the behind scenes story, here. I might learn some things.
March 1, 2025
A quick and dirty on what it was like fighting in the American Army in Europe as a teenager. More like a sociology primer on war and young men. There's a lot here in this concise book. It's all meat. It's a quick and outstanding read that wets your whistle for more. From a quick military history of the chronology of the campaign to the "sloppery" of GI's, self inflicted wounds, medics, and the psychology of killing Fussell masterfully engages the reader. He also provides a superb list with notes in "Suggestions for Reading" at the end of the book. This is one you want in your personal library as a military professional.
February 26, 2021
This was a great book with many new insights I hadn't heard about. Desertion in the US Army in the Hurtgen Forest, the effects of replacement troops on established army units, etc. Some dirty little secrets that weren't meant to be known publicly. Short book. Good writing style.
March 21, 2017
During a recent conversation with a friend and ex-client who was a member of my father's generation and a retired military intelligence officer, I was referred to this book as a good representation of what it was really like to be in the infantry in WWII in the battles of northern Europe. The author, Paul Fussell, tells it like it was, which is to say, brutal, bloody, and--surprisingly, for one like me with no military experience whatsoever--eye-opening to say the least on the subject of how disorganized and even downright incompetent some of our military commanders were. Surprising, considering we won the war decisively, yet could have done much better by our own troops than we did. Surprising, also, in that IMHO our modern-day military commanders appear not to have learned enough from the mistakes of their predecessors, as it seems we keep making the same mistakes in battle over and over again.
One stark, revealing comment made by the author at the end of the book (in the section called "Suggestions for Further Reading") is the following: "Readers should realize that all writing sent from the front lines...had to pass rigorous censorship. ...The writing and pictures by official, accredited reporters and photographers had to pass censorship in Paris or New York. The result was that during the war, nothing really nasty as the troops knew it could reach nonmilitary minds, and readers of this book should realize that even when writers describe gruesome experiences and sights, the most appalling details have probably been excised or softened. Things were worse than they were allowed to seem, and many were literally unspeakable." In other words, as bad as it seems to anyone who reads this or other accounts of battles and combat conditions, in reality, IT WAS FAR WORSE. As I have many times in my life, when I finished this well-written book, I said a little prayer of thanks that I wasn't around to witness or--God forbid--participate in any of it. The second part of my little prayer is the fervent hope that nobody else ever again has to do so. Amen.
One stark, revealing comment made by the author at the end of the book (in the section called "Suggestions for Further Reading") is the following: "Readers should realize that all writing sent from the front lines...had to pass rigorous censorship. ...The writing and pictures by official, accredited reporters and photographers had to pass censorship in Paris or New York. The result was that during the war, nothing really nasty as the troops knew it could reach nonmilitary minds, and readers of this book should realize that even when writers describe gruesome experiences and sights, the most appalling details have probably been excised or softened. Things were worse than they were allowed to seem, and many were literally unspeakable." In other words, as bad as it seems to anyone who reads this or other accounts of battles and combat conditions, in reality, IT WAS FAR WORSE. As I have many times in my life, when I finished this well-written book, I said a little prayer of thanks that I wasn't around to witness or--God forbid--participate in any of it. The second part of my little prayer is the fervent hope that nobody else ever again has to do so. Amen.
April 5, 2018
Paul Fussell’s book is an unusual contribution to the Modern Library Chronicles series. Whereas most volumes provide short introductions to their respective subjects, as other reviewers have noted, this is not a straightforward military history of the war with Germany. Instead, Fussell offers a much more idiosyncratic work, a social and cultural history of the American riflemen who fought in northwestern Europe after Normandy.
This is not to say that this book isn’t worth reading – quite the contrary. Throughout this book, Fussell dispels much of the “greatest generation” mythology cultivated in recent years by writers such as Stephen Ambrose. A veteran of the war, Fussell provides a much more complicated portrait of inexperienced young boys thrown into the chaos and violence of combat. In a series of short chapters, he covers topics ranging from the interactions with the French to the treatment of the wounded and the dead to the discovery of the work camps – all of which he addresses with the same blunt and insightful analysis that is a hallmark of his work. Anyone seeking to get a more accurate portrait of what the “good war” was really like for the men who fought in it would do well to start here.
This is not to say that this book isn’t worth reading – quite the contrary. Throughout this book, Fussell dispels much of the “greatest generation” mythology cultivated in recent years by writers such as Stephen Ambrose. A veteran of the war, Fussell provides a much more complicated portrait of inexperienced young boys thrown into the chaos and violence of combat. In a series of short chapters, he covers topics ranging from the interactions with the French to the treatment of the wounded and the dead to the discovery of the work camps – all of which he addresses with the same blunt and insightful analysis that is a hallmark of his work. Anyone seeking to get a more accurate portrait of what the “good war” was really like for the men who fought in it would do well to start here.
January 20, 2015
While WWII is sometimes called the Good War, this book explains how it wasn't the Perfect War and that there really isn't a Good War, no matter how right we think we are. I get that in war, decisions are made that are part of the whole 'winning the war' thing but so often the lives destroyed are overlooked. The focus is the last 9 months or so of the war in northern Europe when more and more infantry were being thrown at the battle - most of them barely trained. One comment was that it took 6 weeks on the front lines to unlearn the things being taught in training.
Lots of fascinating (and I hope true as well) bits of information about American GIs smelling better than their British counterparts, and the US Army planned for far more toilet paper per person than did the British (thought that wasn't the main reason for the odor difference). These balanced some of the less amusing bits.
I found similarities between the descriptions in this book and descriptions of Vietnam and Korea that I hadn't expected. And also both Gulf Wars. For all that we study it, we don't really seem to learn from history.
Lots of fascinating (and I hope true as well) bits of information about American GIs smelling better than their British counterparts, and the US Army planned for far more toilet paper per person than did the British (thought that wasn't the main reason for the odor difference). These balanced some of the less amusing bits.
I found similarities between the descriptions in this book and descriptions of Vietnam and Korea that I hadn't expected. And also both Gulf Wars. For all that we study it, we don't really seem to learn from history.
May 6, 2018
A book on the American soldiers experience of war in the European theater of operations. Unlike many books on the subject, Mr. Fussell discusses topics not covered ordinarily. He gives a through no punches pulled assessment of the American G.I.'s experience in the war. Mr. Fussell was himself an officer in the American army at the time. At times very eye opening, a very good account of the G.I. in Europe.
July 23, 2014
A refreshing break from Stephen Ambrose-style, Greatest Generation™ hagiographies that litter the bookshelves these days. Too bad Fussell doesn't have Ambrose's storytelling ability. Too bad too that this book is so cursory, illuminating so many dark places, just to briefly skim over them. In the end I felt as though I was reading the Coles' Notes for a much more interesting book.
Regardless, a fascinating and sobering look at some very ugly aspects of WWII, written by a man who was there.
Regardless, a fascinating and sobering look at some very ugly aspects of WWII, written by a man who was there.
August 31, 2010
Short, but makes its point. War is hell and not good and not the heroism that Ambrose portrays it to be. Very difficult to write a chapter by chapter review because it's vignette/essay style.
October 2, 2024
Not the Second World War history you read about in school... the broad strokes are there: buildup to D-Day, hedgerows, Battle of the Bulge, crossing the Rhine, discovering the death camps... but Fussell notably emphasizes the life lived by the young, often teenaged, infantry soldier during the European campaign of June 1944 to May 1945. In those eleven months, says Fussell, 135,000 US soldiers lost their lives in Europe alone. He particularly points out how many boys died needlessly, either by friendly fire from artillery and bombers, or by the insanity of sending wave after wave of infantry companies forward in places like the Hurtgen Forest. He notes rates of desertion—which, for soldiers in Europe, there were actually places to desert to (Italy, France, etc.) as opposed to soldiers/marines on islands in the Pacific—and he notes how the vast majority were draftees, many of whom did not want to be there. But that all changed once the war looked close to done (in Europe) and the death camps were discovered. Suddenly, all the blood and chaos and nonsense and absurdity made sense. Suddenly, the war had a greater purpose than just taking on Germany (again) and American GI's dying (again) in Europe. The war became a crusade.
Here's one of my favorite quotes:
"Now, almost sixty years after the horror, there has been a return, especially in popular culture, to military romanticism, which, if not implying that war is really good for you, does suggest that it contains desirable elements—pride, companionship, and the consciousness of virtue enforced by deadly weapons [couldn't help thinking of "Band of Brothers" on that one]... There is nothing in infantry warfare to raise the spirits at all, and anyone who imagines a military "victory" gratifying is mistaken."
A quick read. I will say that I was expecting something more of a personal account but got a history lesson instead. I'll also mention that this is far from comprehensive a history. It's short and punchy and it's main aim is to strip the pop culture label of "The Greatest Generation" from its pedestal by showing that many of these "crusaders" in Europe were really just children sent into the meat grinder of industrial warfare.
Here's one of my favorite quotes:
"Now, almost sixty years after the horror, there has been a return, especially in popular culture, to military romanticism, which, if not implying that war is really good for you, does suggest that it contains desirable elements—pride, companionship, and the consciousness of virtue enforced by deadly weapons [couldn't help thinking of "Band of Brothers" on that one]... There is nothing in infantry warfare to raise the spirits at all, and anyone who imagines a military "victory" gratifying is mistaken."
A quick read. I will say that I was expecting something more of a personal account but got a history lesson instead. I'll also mention that this is far from comprehensive a history. It's short and punchy and it's main aim is to strip the pop culture label of "The Greatest Generation" from its pedestal by showing that many of these "crusaders" in Europe were really just children sent into the meat grinder of industrial warfare.
January 25, 2025
I found Paul Fussell’s unsentimental account of what it was like to serve as a US Infantryman in Europe in WW2 to really hit home. Like my Dad, he was 20 years old when he was wounded in combat, fighting the Germans. Also, like my Dad, he did not in any way fondly reminisce about those days, just being glad to get home with only wounds. My Dad did his duty but did not glorify the military. He never went to the VFW, or wore any commemorative caps. He tucked his medals away along with a captured luger in a wardrobe drawer.
Several other things that Fussell mentions in the book resonate with my Dad’s service in Europe. Fussell several times mentions the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) which was designed to provide technical skills to Army enlistees. Enlistees in that program were promised a chance to become engineers or medical personnel. My Dad and his identical twin brother enlisted at 18 and were enrolled in this very program. But, as Fussell mentioned, when casualties began to mount the program was abruptly discontinued and the enlistees found themselves in the Army’s dreaded replacement pool as Infantrymen. Fussell describes the prospects for general replacements as bleak and my Dad and his brother must have thought so too, for they volunteered to join the 82nd Airborne and fought with that division in France, Holland, the Bulge, and in Germany.
Another point of resonance was Fussell’s mention of the little town of Schmidt, Germany. As Fussell explains, it was one of the goals of the Allied November 1944 offensive to gain this little town, as part of the hellacious fighting in the Hürtgen Forest, since it controlled access to some important dams in the area. Well, three months later, in February, 1945 the town was still contested and my Dad’s twin brother was killed there, winning the Silver Star. Fussell’s mention of this forgotten, crummy, little place really hit home. You won’t see in mentioned in most histories, and as Fussell explains, a lot of the dying happened in small corners like that
Don’t expect to learn a lot about grand strategy or unit details, but this book will give you an idea of how it really felt to be a US Infantryman in WW2.
Several other things that Fussell mentions in the book resonate with my Dad’s service in Europe. Fussell several times mentions the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) which was designed to provide technical skills to Army enlistees. Enlistees in that program were promised a chance to become engineers or medical personnel. My Dad and his identical twin brother enlisted at 18 and were enrolled in this very program. But, as Fussell mentioned, when casualties began to mount the program was abruptly discontinued and the enlistees found themselves in the Army’s dreaded replacement pool as Infantrymen. Fussell describes the prospects for general replacements as bleak and my Dad and his brother must have thought so too, for they volunteered to join the 82nd Airborne and fought with that division in France, Holland, the Bulge, and in Germany.
Another point of resonance was Fussell’s mention of the little town of Schmidt, Germany. As Fussell explains, it was one of the goals of the Allied November 1944 offensive to gain this little town, as part of the hellacious fighting in the Hürtgen Forest, since it controlled access to some important dams in the area. Well, three months later, in February, 1945 the town was still contested and my Dad’s twin brother was killed there, winning the Silver Star. Fussell’s mention of this forgotten, crummy, little place really hit home. You won’t see in mentioned in most histories, and as Fussell explains, a lot of the dying happened in small corners like that
Don’t expect to learn a lot about grand strategy or unit details, but this book will give you an idea of how it really felt to be a US Infantryman in WW2.
July 18, 2020
The typical American-written book about World War II portrays the U.S. Army rolling mercilessly over the Nazis en route from Normandy to Berlin and final victory. Okay, a few unlucky GIs might have died honorably, but that just demonstrates the courage of the rest.
But author Paul Fussell ain't playin'. He led a rifle platoon in the 103rd Infantry Division in Europe, was severely wounded and survived to come home and teach history.
His book The Boys' Crusade focuses on how young, badly trained, poorly equipped and poorly led the U.S. Army was in Europe. How do 45,000 deserters and 19,000 self-inflicted wounds fit in with the narrative of The Greatest Generation, hmmm?
His chapter on the Huertgen Forest will turn your stomach. Inept U.S. leaders sent unit after unit against strong, hidden defenses where they were slaughtered in futile attacks reminiscent of the carnage of World War I.
But author Paul Fussell ain't playin'. He led a rifle platoon in the 103rd Infantry Division in Europe, was severely wounded and survived to come home and teach history.
His book The Boys' Crusade focuses on how young, badly trained, poorly equipped and poorly led the U.S. Army was in Europe. How do 45,000 deserters and 19,000 self-inflicted wounds fit in with the narrative of The Greatest Generation, hmmm?
His chapter on the Huertgen Forest will turn your stomach. Inept U.S. leaders sent unit after unit against strong, hidden defenses where they were slaughtered in futile attacks reminiscent of the carnage of World War I.
April 15, 2025
One of the worst books on WW II I’ve ever read - it is shallow, misleading, and inaccurate. The U.S. war in Europe was NOT fought by teenagers - the average age of a US soldier was 26! The draft started in 1940 and the National Guard divisions were Federalized in 1941 - D-Day wasn’t until June 1944, almost 4 years later. Infantry units did take heavy casualties and the combat replacement system was flawed, but the 40 odd divisions in Europe continually outfought the Germans, whose units were often composed of teenagers by the end of the war. He denigrates Patton, the best US operational commander of the war, yet I never met a WWII vet who didn’t brag about serving in Patton’s Third Army. The chapters on Peiper and Skorzeny added nothing. All of the books listed as sources are better than this book. He left out MacDonald’s Company Commander, one of the best books on infantry combat in WW II.
September 22, 2019
Good book.
Only 34,000 words, there's no fat in this slim book. Fussell gets right to the point: informing (disillusioning) readers with info he's gleaned from dozens of foot-soldiers' accounts of fighting in Europe. At book's end Fussell lists the book titles and proffers 'Suggestions for Further Reading', which should not be skipped, since it gives him one more opportunity to speak his mind.
To learn more about what Fussell thinks, read this excellent interview with him (3200 words):
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archiv...
Here's another (6600 words):
https://www.americanheritage.com/real...
Here's Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust's fine memoriam for Fussell:
https://newrepublic.com/article/10394...
Only 34,000 words, there's no fat in this slim book. Fussell gets right to the point: informing (disillusioning) readers with info he's gleaned from dozens of foot-soldiers' accounts of fighting in Europe. At book's end Fussell lists the book titles and proffers 'Suggestions for Further Reading', which should not be skipped, since it gives him one more opportunity to speak his mind.
To learn more about what Fussell thinks, read this excellent interview with him (3200 words):
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archiv...
Here's another (6600 words):
https://www.americanheritage.com/real...
Here's Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust's fine memoriam for Fussell:
https://newrepublic.com/article/10394...
November 8, 2023
Short but definitely not sweet, this book is an important addition to WWII histories and literature. It's brutally honest and completely unsparing in its call to understanding what these young men were up against. By the last year of the war, units had been removed of their longest-serving soldiers leaving gaps these often poorly prepared boys had to fill. The psychological stress of knowing they were replacements and then being treated with contempt by the old-timers is heartbreaking to read. War is horrible no matter how you look at it. I'm glad Mr Fussell told it in such an unflinching yet very readable way. The final chapters when the dawn of realization comes to the Allies for why they were really fighting is an essential illumination and makes for a complete picture. I would wholly recommend this to any student of war history.
May 16, 2019
The Boy's Crusade is book all about Americas campaign through Europe in WWII telling stories of the soldiers experiences and all of the sights seen and noises heard. Over all this book is very good, it is short in length but there is lot in the 165 pages to enjoy and imagine.I loved to read the book always turning a page, the book does a good job of telling about the soldiers experiences like a personal story while also doing well in fulfilling it's role as an informational book jam packed with facts, quotes and dates. If you are into World War 2 books, The Boy's Crusade is a good book to read.
October 27, 2017
Written as a kind of antidote to saccharine movies like Saving Private Ryan, The Boys' Crusade is readable, informed, suggestive rather than exhaustive, and mercifully short - all qualities missing from most histories. Fussell maintains a sad, understated tone throughout, but it's an earned tone: Fussell was there. As always when reading about WWII, the sheer scale of the murder can make post-war history seem slight.
The afterword contains a good listing of books for further reading on the subject.
The afterword contains a good listing of books for further reading on the subject.
September 23, 2020
A disappointing collection of vignettes from the usually reliable Fussell. Especially when you compare it against THE GREAT WAR AND MODERN MEMORY. I think Fussell's weakness has a lot to do with how he relates to the soldier -- despite being one! He's better when he's considering the nature of reinforcements and exploring the implications of how higher-paid American soldiers caused lower-paid British soldiers to be resentful of them. But honestly this feels like a series of rapidly written essays more than a cohesive volume.
August 2, 2022
Fussell's fact-drenched revisionism regarding America's World War II in Europe is bracing, invaluable, and downright liberating. A briskly paced 165 page gem that makes two things clear by the last chapter: the war was PROFOUNDLY necessary, and that war was won in spite of countless self-inflicted wounds and criminal stupidities. One comes away from Fussell's work wondering if Americans' distrust of government actually began with World War II. An epic withdrawal of deference would certainly seem warranted.
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June 22, 2021This is the book you loaned Clay &n me, which I discovered on my shelf knowing I need to get it back to you. An interesting, short book that provides a different perspective on WWII than I am accustomed to from my movie watching and from which I have tended to romanticize the war (while recognizing that it was horrific as all wars are). Fussell is a credible writer about WWII having served in the war. I very much enjoyed reading it.
March 31, 2022
A nice collection of small essays focusing mostly on the young soldiers thrust into action in the European theater. Inexperienced and for the most part poorly trained (as many had expected to enter officer training while they were basically doing JROTC studies), they were often scared and quickly killed. A lot more desertions than I knew about. A more corrective to the official stories. This would be a good book for young adults interested in military service or history of war.
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