The Boys' Crusade: The American Infantry in Northwestern Europe, 1944-1945

<p><I>The Boys' Crusade</I> 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 purpose: to tear away the veil of feel-good mythology that so often obscures and sanitizes war's brutal essence.</p><p>"A chronicle should deal with nothing but the truth," Fussell writes in his preface. Accordingly, 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, <I>The Boys' Crusade</I> 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.</p><hr><p>"This is a former warrior's haunting meditation on the terrible, yet often necessary, destructiveness of total warfare. Written with passion and fidelity, <I>The Boys' Crusade</I> is a book that will not leave you after you have put it down. If there is a more powerful personal account of the ground war in Western Europe I have yet to encounter it."<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;DONALD L. MILLER, AUTHOR OF <I>THE STORY OF WORLD WAR II</I></p><p>"No one writes about war with greater authenticity and eloquence than Paul Fussell. <I>The Boys' Crusade</I> is an e

The award-winning author of The Great War and Modern Memory provides a stunning look at the World War II in Europe, from D-Day to the fall of Berlin, from the perspective of the young American infantry soldiers who fought, capturing the true horrors, hardships, and terrors of battle while dealing with issues of leadership, strategy, and tactics. 50,000 first printing.

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 purpose: 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.

From the Hardcover edition.

Paul Fussell is the author of fifteen books, including Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War and The Great War and Modern Memory, which won the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award and was named by the Modern Library as one of the twentieth century’s 100 best nonfiction books. He taught literature for many years at the University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers University. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife.

The boys crusaders — First time abroad — The fortitude secret — The boys and the French — An episode called Cobra — The boys hold our near Mortain — The lost opportunity at Falaise — One small-unit action — The haunted wood: Hurtgen forest — Replacements and infantry morale — Modes of dishonor — treatment of damaged bodies, alive and dead — The bulge — The Skorzeny affair — The Peiper affair — The end — The camps — Seriousness.