Combat: European Theatre, World War II

by Don Congdon, Merle Miller (Introduction)

From El Alamein to the breaching of the Siegfried Line, here are the major battles, unforgettably recorded by the men who fought them.

EUROPEAN THEATER, 1940 to 1945

From the over-all view of grand strategy to the fox-hole view of the individual rifleman, these authoritative accounts recreate with immediacy and in full dimension the historic battle for Europe.

THE CHASE OF THE BISMARCK

BEHIND ROMMEL’S LINES

ATTACK AT EL ALAMEIN

RAID ON REGENSBURG

THE BATTLE FOR CASSINO

ANZIO TO ROME

AIR DROP ON NORMANDY

OMAHA BEACH

BREAKOUT AT ST. LÔ

THE HÜRTGEN FOREST

BASTOGNE THE CAPTURE OF REMAGEN BRIDGE

SMASHING THE SIEGFRIED LINE

and other battles

Complete with maps and running commentary, this is a companion volume to COMBAT: PACIFIC THEATER-WORLD WAR II.

Genres: History, World War II, War

466 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 1, 1958

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine book. This book is a series of vignettes written by American soldiers and reporters in the European theatre. It is focused only on the land war and describes the struggles, fear, and suffering encountered in various battles. Every story is interesting. In several vignettes a map is included- very helpful in following the battle. More maps or more detailed maps could have been included, and I noticed on one map what appeared to be a mislabeled town as opposed to the spelling in the text. Nevertheless, for anyone interested in knowing what WW2 was like from an American soldiers' viewpoint, this is highly recommended. There are several editions of this book, but I believe other than typesetting and some formatting they are all identical.

[carl theaker · Rating 3 out of 5]

My copy says 'War with Germany', but I'm betting it's the same book in the Don Congdon style.

Stories include: Dunkirk, Battle of Britain, Malta, Tobruk, St. Nazaire, Dieppe, Scharnhorst, Sicily, Ploesti, Salerno, St. Lo, Market Garden.

A collection of stories written by Vets during the 40s & 50s, probably for magazines like 'True' and 'Cavalier'. Fun to pick a story or two and re-read.

They are just the kind of stories that everyone is trying to get from the WWII vets now that they are passing away.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

1963 collection of excerpts from 13 books or articles on a wide variety of action in WWII, from Dunkerque to Arnheim, inc. North Africa, Italy, France, and at sea and in the air (see below). Most were early or contemporary accounts. Have read this twice. Had a note to pursue some of the original sources, but don't seem to be able to find the book. My best recollection is of the account of a British commando raid on St. Nazaire, written by C. E. Lucas Phillips.

This anthology contains: Introduction by Herbert Mitgang; Dunkirk by David Divine; The Crisis of Fighter Command by Alexander McKee; Malta by Ian Cameron; Tobruk by Anthony Heckstall-Smith; The Raid at St Nazaire by C. E. Lucas Phillips; The Main Assault by R. W. Thompson; Sinking of the Scharnhorst by Fritz-Otto Busch; Montgomery's Mountain Goats by Farley Mowat; Target: Ploesti by Leon Wolff; Salerno by Samuel L. Morison;; Before St.-Lo by Glover S. Johns; The Road to Arnhem by Chester Wilmot; and The Distant Drum Was Still by Laurence Critchell..