Military Review English Edition May-June 2014 | Page 83

REVIEW ESSAY

the 110th Infantry was reduced to 57 men even after
being reinforced. Losses degraded the 112th Infantry from 2,200 to 300. In less than three months,
six U.S. Army infantry divisions were engaged
in the Hürtgen Forest, plus an armored brigade, a
Ranger battalion, and sundry other units. In total,
120,000 soldiers sustained 33,000 casualties. It is
little wonder that commanders and soldiers became
unhinged by constant war, mounting casualty
figures, and the innumerable atrocities they came
across. At Natzweiler, American soldiers overran
their first concentration camp. Most of the 17,000
inmates were still alive, but clear evidence of atrocity remained—a sobering sight that was telegraphed
quickly across the First Army. Atkinson observes
that as the campaign progressed, enemy prisoners
were beaten to obtain intelligence, captured villages were rampaged, and for some, the question of
killing ceased to be a moral dilemma. More of the
enemy were killed, and fewer prisoners were taken.
Atkinson quotes one Canadian soldier, “When the
Jerries came in with their hands up, shouting ‘Kamerad,’ we just bowl them over with bursts of Sten
[gun] fire.” A lieutenant in the 15th Infantry wrote
in his diary, “Some of our best men are the most
murderous.” The horrors of war make for compelling, if unsettling, reading.
Atkinson also notes that in addition to casualties from enemy action, soldiers’ foot problems
plagued the American war effort in Europe. Combat
boots fitted in warm weather were often too tight
to accommodate more than a single pair of socks.
Trench foot—a crippling injury—became epidemic
as winter approached and freezing autumn rains set
in. Atkinson posits that the United States was unprepared for winter ca mpaigning in 1944. In November
and December, trench foot and other cold weather
health problems hospitalized 23,000 men—nearly all
of them infantrymen. By late November, trench foot
accounted for a quarter of all hospital admissions. It
could be argued that almost nothing relating to clothing and equipment had been learned from campaigning in the Atlas Mountains of Tunisia in 1942 or the
Apennines of Italy in 1943. However, while the Army
had failed to pull through the lessons of cold weather
injuries, it had learned to deal with combat exhaustion. Atkinson recalls, “Most patients were treated
as temporarily disabled and kept close to the front,
to preserve their self-respect and emotional links to
MILITARY REVIEW

May-June 2014

their unit.” However, despite such an approach, most
experts concluded that the soldiers were “worn out
for good” after 200 to 240 days of battle.
Atkinson also uncovers another interesting facet
of the war as the balance of persuasion and power
transitioned over the course of the campaign.
After D-Day, proportions of Allied forces changed
rapidly. By May 1945, the United States predomi-

America emerged from World
War II, Atkinson notes, with
extraordinary advantages that
would ensure prosperity for
decades.
nance was about three to one. Atkinson posits
that “Britain’s stature and influence seemed to
diminish with each new arrival of a Liberty ship
jammed with GIs; the empire’s future was uncertain at best …” Militarily, the United States was
evolving from trainee status at war to full-blown
professional. By war’s end, the Americans had
provided more than two-thirds of Eisenhower’s
91 divisions and half of the Allies’ 28,000 combat
aircraft. “Thirteen U.S. divisions in Europe suffered at least 100 percent casualties—five more
exceeded 200 percent …” The United States
also shipped 18 million tons of war material to
Europe. Despite the cost—roughly $4 trillion in
2012 dollars—America emerged from World War
II, Atkinson notes, with extraordinary advantages
that would ensure prosperity for decades. The
Russians, too, were growing in power, reach, and
influence. Having quickly rolled the Eastern Front
back toward Berlin, Marshal Joseph Stalin was
very much at the top table during the infamous
meeting at the Crimean resort of Yalta, alongside
Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. Each
head of state shared native shrewdness, political
acumen, and a conviction that his nation was about
to become a superpower—but only two would
emerge from the war with this status. This was to
be the end of the period of European supremacy
and the British Empire.
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