With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa

Excellent work

With the Old Breed by Eugene B. Sledge is widely regarded as one of the most powerful and honest memoirs to come out of World War II. The book chronicles Sledge’s experiences as a Marine during the brutal campaigns of Peleliu and Okinawa, where he served in the front lines. What sets this memoir apart is its unflinching honesty. Sledge does not shy away from describing the horrors of war, the fear, and the despair that he and his comrades faced. His detailed recounting of the physical and psychological toll that combat took on the soldiers offers readers a stark and sobering view of the reality of war, without romanticizing or glorifying it. The gripping style of With the Old Breed is another hallmark of Sledge’s writing. His ability to convey the tension and intensity of combat pulls readers into the narrative, making them feel as though they are right there in the foxholes with him. Sledge’s descriptions of the relentless Japanese assaults, the relentless rain of artillery, and the constant threat of death create a vivid and harrowing picture of the battlefield. His storytelling is both vivid and direct, allowing readers to understand not only what happened, but also how it felt to be a part of it. This immediacy in his writing keeps readers engaged and invested in his story. The narrative structure of With the Old Breed is another aspect that makes it an exceptional memoir. Sledge combines his personal experiences with broader reflections on the nature of war and the human condition, creating a narrative that is both deeply personal and universally resonant. His careful attention to detail, combined with his ability to weave these details into a coherent and compelling story, results in a memoir that is both informative and moving. The book stands as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable adversity, making it a classic in the literature of war.

Though I've read countless history books, mostly on 20th Century Wars, never have I been transported so vividly to a battlefield. Until Saving Private Ryan came out, WWII was our 'glamorous' war if you will. So many heroic movies were made throughout the 50's and on starring every leading man in Hollywood. Sledges book truly strips the varnish off what the meatgrinder is like. Mechanized slaughter. The stunning contrast between Marines who just want to see their families again and Japanese who, while many surely hailing from simple lives and loving families, resigned to throw their lives away at the highest possible cost to their enemy. The gripping scenes of him stuck in a flooded foxhole with putrid remains around, waiting for orders to be sent into the fray while each sides artillery furiously flies overhead in each direction is one of the most sobering reads ever. Knowing these ordinary guys were out there doing extraordinary things for us is palpable. I was a Navy fighter pilot from '89 to '97 and, though I saw plenty pics of my handywork from two Iraq tours, I never came close to what Sledge felt, being resigned to near certain death or maiming. Ok, the night carrier landings were no picnic. But its impossible to exaggerate how huge a sacrifice so many regular Americans made, yanked out of their quiet lives and thrust into hell against a vicious, clever, well-armed enemy. The scene during mop up ops after the Okinawa battle had ended of the two Imperial officers in full dress uniform, boots polished, charging a Marine brigade armed only with Samurai swords to certain death is so contrary to any Western mentality. We are rightfully trained to make the other guy die for his country. My 94 year old uncle, still living, left his farm in 1941 to fly P-38's in N Africa during the war, returning to the farm when it ended. I thank him often. Though this country seems to be going down an uncertain path vis a vis the economy, immigration, demographics, debt, etc, its more important now than ever to THANK A VET in person while they're still with us.

Enlisted marine's experiences in the Pacific in WW2 . Well written. If you want to know what that war was like on the ground, this is the book.

E.B. Sledge has written a fantastic first person account of his service with the First Marines in World War II and the battles he participated in with that storied outfit at Peleliu and Okinawa. This is an important book for two reasons. First, the American soldier is rendered as a figure due even higher esteem for the hell he endured in Pacific fighting. Second, any notion of war as a romantic or gloried enterprise for those fighting and dying is stripped away entirely. Sledge, inevitably perhaps nicknamed Sledgehammer by his fellow soldiers, left officer candidate school at college in order to take a much quicker route to the fighting via the enlisted ranks. He was somewhat out of character for a typical recruit (though a large number of his ROTC fellows did the same at his school) in that he came from wealth (his father was a physician) and had been exposed to a more genteel form of life growing up than that which characterized his comrades. This did not place any barriers between Sledge and those he would fight and live with for two years in some of the worst hell seen by U.S. forces during World War II. It did, perhaps, give him the desire and ability to keep notes of his experience in the pages of a New Testament he carried with him thus providing the possibility of this important book. I have read many memoires of soldiers from different wars. Perhaps it was easier to see war as romance for those who fought and survived in set piece battles like Monmouth or Gettysburg. Death and destruction certainly reigned at those fields of battle, but at least the troops could count on relief after a brief close encounter with the enemy (hours to a few days). Then it was back to camp where relative safety could be found. At Peleliu and Okinawa, Sledge and his fellow Marines were in constant contact with the Japanese for months at a time saving brief respites in reserve in areas that were often still in artillery range of their enemy. Sledge spares nothing in what seems to be a very accurate description of life during those battles. This includes rotting and maggot infested dead as well as battlefields and foxholes overrun with human waste from front lines that often did not move for weeks at a time. Their enemy, pledged en mass not to surrender, had to be shot, shelled, burned and dug out of caves and emplacements. Nighttime brought even greater stress as the Japanese relied heavily on infiltration tactics where individual soldiers would crawl under cover of darkness toward our lines in hopes of knifing or shooting a couple of Americans in their foxholes before being put down. Thus, sleep did not come easily or in long periods for Sledge and his fellow Marines. No white flag that would cause Japanese soldiers to rise from their bunkers and surrender as a coherent force when it was obvious they could not prevail and were out of provisions could be counted on. Just the extermination man by man of a foe determined to die for his emperor and the resulting increased casualties rooting out the enemy to the last entailed for Americans. Sledge gives the incredible statistic that some 8,000 Japanese soldiers were killed in these operations on Okinawa after American forces controlled the entirety of the island above ground - and many extra American lives were the price of this fanatical devotion to "no surrender." I found the book riveting. It is well written, but the detail of the experience Sledge and his fellow Marines endured in fighting for his country is astounding and ought to be read by anyone who thinks war romantic or a high ideal in any way. It is amazing what our soldiers were willing to endure in wresting the Pacific back from the Japanese - they did it with excellent discipline and maintained a fighting edge even when wracked by lack of supplies, constant rain and / or oppressive heat, battle fatigue and the accumulation of wounds, sores and ailments due to lengthy exposure to battle - and always with the knowledge that their foe was not one who could be maneuvered into retreat but a hardened adversary who had to be taken out where they were found at great cost in blood.