I'm rushing through my school work right now so I can finish my class in time to spend time with my sister when she has her baby. I have two books left to finish. The one I'm working on right now is called Citizen Soldiers and is by Stephen Ambrose. It's a battle by battle description of World War II from the GI's perspective. I usually wouldn't find such a chronological journal so interesting but this one has actually roped me in.
It tells the story of its generals and GIs in such a way that I can't pull my attention away from the book. There have been three great parts so far (I'm on page 141, Chapter 5). The first was the description of Lt. Waverly Wray not long after the D-Day landing in Normandy. The GIs were grounded behind the German hedgerows and couldn't break through. Wray was a daring officer and literally jumped over a hedgerow and bombed the hell out of the Germans with handheld grenades and a hand pistol. The other story was about the battle of Fort Driant where the US generals aspired to break through a 1900s fortified fort. Ambrose describes the gunfire and deafening explosions within the fort in such a way that I can pratically place myself in the situation. The third part is where Ambrose describes the two greatest weapons in the war thus far. The Jabos were amazing fighter jet pilots who sailed through the skies upwards of 600 miles per hour and bombed the Germans into the dust. The Germans absolutely feared the Jabos' arrival. The British feared the great V-1 and eventually the V-2, the 'vengeance' torpedoes Hitler created. The torpedoes were so fast that no one could see them. The scream of their approach was the only signal that the British cities were about to be bombed to hell and back.
Everything in this book is amazing. I would suggest it to everyone I know but for the fact that I realize not everyone appreciates the splendor and awe of the passed World Wars :)
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