Sheer Misery

March 26, 2021

Roberts (WARF Distinguished Lucie Aubrac Professor of History, Univ. of Wisconsin--Madison) aims to re-create the physical and mental world of World War II soldiers, focusing particularly on British and American infantryman on the Western Front. Roberts reconstructs the soldiers' experience from the ground up, with chapters detailing medical conditions such as trench foot, which results when one's foot is wet for too long. Perspectives from medical officers provide context for the different types of wounds that soldiers endured, as well as the reality of lifelong disability. Notably, Roberts analyzes Bill Maudlin's "Willy and Joe" cartoons, published in the military newspaper Stars and Stripes. The cartoons were popular among soldiers, as they validated their daily experience, but they incurred the wrath of Gen. George Patton, who believed they were a threat to discipline. While Roberts could be criticized for focusing on a relatively small national and geographic subset of World War II participants, she juxtaposes her examples of the British and American experiences with references to German and French soldiers. VERDICT This accessible account, based on a solid foundation of primary and secondary sources, offers a fascinating window into the world of combat soldiers, shorn of nostalgia. A welcome purchase for libraries, and a must for readers interested in firsthand perspectives of World War II.--Frederic Krome, Univ. of Cincinnati Clermont Coll.

Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 15, 2021
An anecdotal overview of the day-to-day rigors of war as experienced by the common soldier in World War II. Roberts, a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin, pulls together brutal accounts from soldiers who participated in the "three campaigns [that] left high-water marks for infantry misery: the 1943-44 winter campaign in the Italian mountains, the summer 1944 battles in Normandy, and the 1944-45 winter battles in northwest Europe." As the author shows with vivid detail, their trials went far beyond exposure to enemy action. The battlefield's assaults on the senses were unrelenting. Frontline troops faced awful weather, notably during the winter of 1944-45, with only sporadic opportunities to warm up and dry off. In some units, trench foot, caused by chronically cold, wet feet, put as many soldiers out of action as enemy fire, and some lost their feet to frostbite or gangrene. American soldiers' boots, in particular, were notoriously leaky and ill-fitting. In the chapter entitled "The Dirty Body," Roberts shows how soldiers were aptly portrayed by Bill Mauldin's GI cartoon characters Willie and Joe, who deeply annoyed the buttoned-up, spit-and-polish sensibilities of Gen. George Patton. Dirt was antithetical to discipline, Patton thought, but Willie and Joe became heroes to rank-and-file soldiers; a too-clean uniform became a marker of noncombat troops. Because officials were also anxious to keep the dead and wounded out of sight as much as possible, the Graves Registration Service arrived on battlefields shortly after the smoke had cleared to bury the bodies promptly. Photos of the dead rarely appeared back home other than for the purpose of drumming up sympathy and/or anger to help fundraising efforts. Roberts uses her sources to powerful effect, and the illustrations and photos, while sometimes disturbing, add to the narrative impact. A tightly focused, graphic illustration of the many ways that war is hell.

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