Used Book in Good Condition
The Best War Book I've read! The combat scenes in this book are incredible and the author's lyrical prose brings an intimacy to WWII combat that I have never experienced in any other combat book. Mr. O'Donnell weaves a compellng narrative developing the men of Dog Company like movie characters. He takes the reader through their training (some of the toughest of any Allied unit prior to D-Day) as these intrepid Rangers climb 100-300 foot cliffs without safety harness in full equipment. In their boots, you scale Pointe du Hoc under murderous German machine gun and grenade fire. Fighting through a maze of tunnels and minefields two men neutralize a crucial gun position, 700 tons of allied bombs and thousands of naval shells failed to detroy. Moving through France to the battle of Brest, a small group of Rangers miraculously seize another Guns of Navarone like gun battery after a gutsy Ranger forces his way into the massive underground fortress and puts a grenade between the German officer's crotch and compels the entire 800 man garrison to surrender. Like a crescendo, the book builds to a bayonet charge and an against all odds assault defense of Hill 400. This book hits home My father was one of the Rangers who fought in D company so that's why this book really hits home. I could never get my father to talk of his war experiances while he was alive, Mr O'Donnell really brings all those mens horrific experiances to life. So well written you felt as though you were right there with those guys. Pat made a special trip to the UP of Michigan to interview Sig some 5 years or so ago and I have been waiting for this book so I can see where my father had been, and this book doesn't disapoint, I enjoyed every gripping paragraph. If my father was still here he definately would have given this book 5 stars. Thanks again Pat Great Story of Brave Men "Dog Company The Boys of Pointe du Hoc - The Rangers Who Accomplished D-Day's Toughest Mission and Led the Way across Europe" by Patrick O'Donnell is a stirring account of some of America's finest soldiers of WW2 in the European theatre. The author introduces us to a close knit "band of brothers" who would do anything for one another, even give their lives to save their buddies, which sadly many do. We read about the formation of the 2nd Ranger Battalion and the men of D - `Dog' Company in the United States. We follow them through training and then their preparation for one of the toughest missions allocated to Allied soldiers on D-Day - the storming of a highly defended German gun position on Pointe du Hoc, situated on towering cliffs between the invasion beaches of Utah and Omaha. The Rangers, against all odds, manage to land under heavy defensive fire, scale the cliffs, storm the German defensive positions, destroy the targeted artillery pieces and then stand firm and hold off numerous German counter-attacks until relieved some days later. We then follow these brave men through the campaign in France until the allied armies reach the borders of the Third Reich, then, what is left of the Battalion is thrown into the hell of the Hurtgen Forest battling against elite German Fallschirmjager and other German troops until they secure their objective - Hill 400. The book is filled full of first-hand accounts from the Rangers themselves; stories of comradeship, humour, sadness and death. Pat O'Donnell let's these brave men tell the story of what they and their buddies did. The book is not an in-depth military history or campaign study and has limited maps but provides numerous black & white photographs to help the reader follow the story. This is a book about brave men doing their job under terrible conditions and I am sure anyone who enjoys a good historical account will enjoy this book. Interesting material but only adequately written. The author clearly interviewed all the surviving Rangers that were available in order to write this book. It appears that he then went through the individual interviews and cut them into segments pertaining to specific time frames and pasted the segments regarding the time frames all together. This makes for a disjointed account, and, worse, leaves the reader hanging as he constantly raises questions which are not answered because he didn't follow up questioning in his original interviews and, apparently, never did follow up interviews. Two examples of many such instances, both from his description of the Rangers intense, isolated battle at Huertgen Forest He tells how a Ranger has gotten a Jeep and is driving the wounded back to the rear area through German lines, successfully for several times without incident. His last statement is that the Jeep returns to the battle area and there is now a German tank there. And...? (We'll never know.) Also at this battle, the Rangers are surrounded at the top of the hill, holding off far superior numbers of Germans when one of the Rangers' has his hand blown off when he tries to throw a grenade. And...? (Does he survive or die, we'll never know). The book tells in great detail the two significant battles that the Ranger participated in D-Day and Huertgen Forest, their participation in which has previously received little or no attention, and does convey the difficulty and intensity of those actions. The descriptions of the formation and training of the Rangers and the minor actions between and following the major actions are forced and feel like they are merely padding. The book is worth reading for the information presented but not for the writer's style. Expertly Written!!! This book is a real page turner! From the opening chapter through the final scene, the author captures WWII in a way that I have never experienced before. I write for a living and really appreciate the years of research and oral histories that the author converted into sparkling narrative prose. I've read several of the auhor's other books but Dog Company is his best work. I thing mega bestselling author Clive Cussler said it perfectly "[Patrick O'Donnell] is a great American author."
Titre: Dog Company The Boys of Pointe du Hoc The Rangers Who Accomplished D-Day's Toughest Mission and Led the Way Across Europe
Auteur: Patrick K. O'Donnell
Editeur: Blackstone Audiobooks
Reliure : CD
Marque : Brand Blackstone Audio Inc
Publier en : Anglais
Languages d'origine : Anglais
Createur : Narrateur John Pruden
Edition : Unabridged
Format : Livre audio
Date de publication : 06/11/2012
Dur?e : 28800 Minutes
Dimensions : 17,00 x 15,00 x 15,00
Information Complementaire : Used Book in Good Condition
Classement : Livres anglais et étrangers > Subjects > History > Military > World War II
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