No Mission Too Difficult!: Old Buddies of the 1st Division Tell All about World War II

One of the most honored of modern military units, the U.S. Army 1st Division (dubbed the Big Red One) experienced 443 days of combat in WWII: 89 in North Africa, 36 in Sicily and 318 in Western Europe. This gathering of recollections by 14 of the unit's veterans--among them is the author's husband--captures the drama of its campaigns. Their first-person accounts of the North African action offer new material about the disaster at the Kasserine Pass and the confrontation with Italian troops at El Guettar. The division faced its sternest test at Omaha Beach on D-Day (most of the 14 men served as officers with the 16th Infantry Regiment, one of the units spearheading the Normandy landings) and played a prominent role in the liberation of France and Belgium and the subsequent drive across Germany. This oral history conveys small-unit action in graphic detail, each section well supported by explanatory passages that provide historical context. Photos. (Nov.)