The GI's War

June 3, 1988
Quoting from letters, diaries and interviews, Hoyt (Hitler's War, etc.) retraces ground already well trodbut with a difference. The emphasis here, to a large degree, is on the American soldier as skeptical grouser keeping a wary eye out for ``the brass'' who at times seem as threatening as the Germans. This GI Joe has little use for Gen. George ``Blood and Guts'' Patton (``His guts, our blood'' was the saying of the time) and is not particularly surprised when Army doctors offer to amputate toes as treatment for trench foot, nor when he is reprimanded for giving a German general he captures the bum's rush. This GI is capable of feeling disgust at the obsequious behavior of liberated European civilians and is capable as well of brutality. Throughout this fast-paced narrative, Hoyt skillfully depicts how foot soldiers gradually evolved from an original state of confused ineptitude into disciplined warriors. The book is unblinkingly realistic and scrupulously unsentimental. Photos.