Dan Wolfe was a Bronx; New York; teenager whose passions were baseball; fooling around in school; and hanging out at the candy store in the 1940s. Three years out of high school; he was drafted and sent to Korea. Cold Ground's Been My Bed is his no-holds-barred memoir of the experience; from his physical to deployment into a frontline platoon.Dan tells the story with unflinching honesty and humor amid the tragedies that befell his company.Feeling inadequate about handling the Browning Automatic Rifle in basic training; he expressed his doubts to a cadre man; who assured him; "You don't have to worry about it; kid. It's given to the biggest men in the squad." The day he arrived on the front line; Dan; five-foot-seven and 133 pounds; was assigned the twenty-pound BAR. When his platoon was ambushed; Dan crawled over fire-swept terrain to retrieve the body of his sergeant. Decades later he learned that he'd been cited for the Silver Star; but the Jeep carrying the papers was blown up by mortar rounds.When a GI was killed by negligent "friendly fire;" the victim's buddy carried out a revenge murder. In recounting his story; Dan never pretends to be more than he was; a young man being shocked and shaped by the reality of war.
#1187582 in Books Routledge 2002-11-08 2002-11-06Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 7.70 x .70 x 5.10l; .69 #File Name: 0582771854282 pages
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. A condensation of select aspects of the Russo-German war; not just StalingradBy Dave SchranckIf you have some experience on this subject; it won't take long to determine the author is very well read on the war. His knowledge is impressive. This is confirmed when the list of references is revealed. It reflects the elite authors of America; England; Germany and Russia who have envious reputations and Mr Roberts' book is a noteworthy condensation of those authors. The list is too long to mention all the names but a sampling is: Erickson; Werth; Beevor; Clark; Churchill; Walsh; Varrant; Chuikov; Glantz; Boog and many others.The author describes the reasons why Hitler went to war which are the same basic reasons for Stalingrad; a brief summary of the battle and finally the impact of the battle for the rest of war and beyond. The success at Stalingrad gave the Russians the momentum needed and would be able to control the rest of the war. The Germans would be strategetically on the defensive for the remainder of the war. The author does a good job of explaining this Russian turnaround. The first part and the third part are each larger than the battle summary which is unbelievably short.The author also includes a logical progression of 11 maps in overview. A partial list reflect Operations Barbarossa; Blue; Uranus; Little Saturn; Mars. The maps are an overview and have modest details. After the maps; a limited chronology is provided. The entries are very basic.If you're looking for a high level; concise overview of the reasons and ramifications for the battle and of the Soviet victory at Stalingrad; then give this book serious consideration. If you're looking for the tactical coverage of the actual battle; which the title implies; then you will be woefully disappointed with this book. For a concise but good rendition of the battle; let me suggest Walsh or Tarrant. The new books by Glantz are the ultimate for tactical coverage of the first phases of Operation Blue and the assault on Stalingrad.If you're looking for a quality high level overview of select issues of the war then this is worth your consideration; just be aware that its not a comprehensive overview.2 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Broad OverviewBy segI found this book to be very broad with little focus on the actual battle. While well written; I was disappointed as I felt like I learned very little by reading it.6 of 12 people found the following review helpful. Only So-SoBy DrBigThe author did a good job reviewing the literature; but the problem is that the literature (in English) regarding this battle; at the time of this publication; was mediocre. So; this book is by default mediocre; since the subject matter was mediocre. Much better books (Jason Mark) have been published since. Also; a much more useful book would be to include/review German Russian sources (both archival literature). That would be a useful review. This book? Maybe for a high schooler or younger; that's about it.
