Military Review English Edition January-February 2015 | Page 139

BOOK REVIEWS

members of the British Special Operations Executive
(SOE), roughly equivalent to the Office of Strategic
Services (OSS) in the United States.
Subsequently, Fermor spent several years in Crete
aiding the Cretan partisans in reclaiming their beloved
island from the Nazis. Davis’ story builds to an exciting
climax as Fermor and his band of SOE irregulars hatch
a plot to turn the Nazi occupiers on their heads. The
success of this plot seems constantly in doubt as the
story progresses. By the end you feel like you have just
gotten off a roller coaster ride.
Partisan warfare was very important to the Allies
in many of the territories occupied by the Nazis. The
Ariadne Objective is an important narrative of this
part of World War II that is often overlooked, and
Fermor’s small piece of this irregular fight is interesting to say the least. The mythological character
Ariadne makes frequent appearances symbolically
throughout Davis’ fast-paced narrative and is an important detail that helps provide insight into the character and personality of the Cretan people. Adriadne
ultimately helps Theseus destroy the Minotaur, and
clearly the stories of Fermor’s exploits in Crete closely
mirror this centuries old mythological tale. I think
this is a great read and recommend it to anyone interested in World War II history.
Lt. Col. Jeffrey W. Kilgo, U.S. Army, Retired,
Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

THEY CALLED THEM SOLDIER BOYS:
A Texas Infantry Regiment in World War I
Gregory W. Ball, University of North Texas Press,
Denton, Texas, 2013, 352 pages

T

hey Called Them Soldier Boys is an excellent
social and military history of the 7th Texas
Regiment. The book describes in detail the
story of the unit from its inception, through its training, to its deployment to France in World War I. Then
the author traces aspects of the soldiers after their
return to postwar life.
As the United States entered World War I, many
young men in Texas were encouraged to volunteer for
the 7th Texas Regiment on the assumption they would
be able to fight alongside their neighbors and not be
MILITARY REVIEW  January-February 2015

drafted into the Regular Army. Like many other tales
from recruiters, this turned out to be not entirely true.
As the 7th Texas soldiers became part of the U.S. Army
prior to deployment to France, they were combined
with the 1st Oklahoma and reflagged as the 142nd
Infantry Regiment (in the 71st Brigade of the 36th
Division). Ball describes in detail the rural backgrounds
and social lives of the young men who volunteered for
the regiment. He presents many demographic statistics,
including ages, educational backgrounds, the number of
soldiers with dependents, and their occupations.
On their arrival in France, the regiment was not
incorporated into the American Expeditionary Forces
under then Maj. Gen. John J. Persh