Merriam Press World War 2 Memoir. On the Road to Innsbruck and Back is a product of the author�s long obsession with serving in Europe during World War II as a member of the 103rd Infantry Division. Too often he was given a responsibility that he neither deserved nor desired. But then he was in an Intelligence and Reconnaissance platoon, at the service of a regimental headquarters. The chief model for On the Road is Stephen Crane�s The Red Badge of Courage, the best short novel about war that he knows. Like Crane, he wanted, above all, to demonstrate the moral cost of some months in combat upon a not-insensitive young man.

On the Road to Innsbruck and Back chronicles the unheralded experience of a common soldier during World War II, from his enlistment in the army in 1942 to his discharge from an army hospital in 1946. It is the only war memoir to present itself in the form of short stories, sixteen in all. The first two stories ("Living with Violence" and "Losing It") deal with pre-combat events. The next ten stories describe combat from the clarifying perspective of a member of a regimental Intelligence and Reconnaissance platoon. The final four stories are concerned with the soldiers hospital experience. "The Hero Syndrome," like the title story, is retrospectively concerned with a single memorable event. The other eight combat stories are concerned with less remarkable, single events ("Gathering Intelligence" and "Off Limits") or with thematic matters ("Under Fire" and "Winding Down"). The style is clear; the tone is ironic; the hallmark is authenticity. On the Road reveals what happens to a young man who has been in combat and who has been seriously wounded. The historian Paul Fussell has praised the memoir for "its clear critical intelligence as well as its sensitivity and wisdom."

The incredible story of the unlikeliest battle of World War II, when a small group of American soldiers joined forces with German soldiers to fight off fanatical SS troops May, 1945. Hitler is dead, the Third Reich is little more than smoking rubble, and no GI wants to be the last man killed in action against the Nazis. The Last Battle tells the nearly unbelievable story of the unlikeliest battle of the war, when a small group of American tankers, led by Captain Lee, joined forces with German soldiers to fight off fanatical SS troops seeking to capture Castle Itter and execute the stronghold's VIP prisoners. It is a tale of unlikely allies, startling bravery, jittery suspense, and desperate combat between implacable enemies.

Leading historians suggest what might have been if key events during World War II had the war gone differently.

"[P]rovides a unique year-by-year overview of the fascinating story of the Tuskegee Airmen, embracing important events in the formation of the first military training for black pilots in United States history, the phases of their training at various air fields in Tuskegee and elsewhere, their continued training at other bases around the U.S., and their deployment overseas, first to North Africa and then to Sicily and Italy."--Provided by publisher.

Søgeord: Vogeserne ; Siegfried-linien ; Lorraine ; Donau ; Stuttgart ; Brenner.