Into the Mountains Dark: A WWII Odyssey from Harvard Crimson to Infantry Blue

Rating:
Summary: Realities of War: Naïve Machismo, Clear-Headed Fear, Heroism
Review: "Into the Mountains Dark - A WWII Odyssey from Harvard Crimson to Infantry Blue" by Franklin L. Gurley is a wonderful memoir of an infantry grunt (lowly buck-Pvt) that paints one of the most realistic and unembellished pictures of war I have ever read. The story on its own is compelling but Gurley's ability to tell a story with literary style makes this book an extremely enjoyable read, one I found hard to put down. A rare combination of gifted writer and battle-aged dogface that experienced the facts described!

"Into the Mountains Dark" is not a one-man story steeped in combat history accumulated over periods of months or years (as contrasted to another Aberjona Press book, "Black Edelweiss" by Johann Voss - which is a great book in its own right), but rather a book chronicling a young mans transformation from a naïve Boston high school kid (and then Harvard freshman) to an aged 19-year old man shaggy in appearance but wise in the ways of life-and-death as taught him by the field of battle over little more than a month in the Vosges Mountains of Eastern France. The first third of the book details Gurley's experiences late in childhood through his time as an ASTPer (Army Specialized Training Program) and finally his call-up to active duty and training for deployment to the Continent. The remainder of the book is dedicated to Gurley's time from debarkation in late September '44 to the end of his unit's (1st Battalion, 399th Regiment, 100th Infantry Division) time in the Vosges Mountains, late November '44. Both parts of the book are fascinating and highly detailed. The latter trait is derived from the fact that this book, while compiled and published 60-odd years after the events, was taken nearly verbatim from Gurley's personal diaries and notes written at the time of the events discussed. We thus see the "action" - whether dealing with anti-Semitism within his ASTP group while at Ohio University, his trials and tribulations of earning the Expert Infantryman Badge at Ft. Bragg, or negotiating the near vertical climb up to "Bloody Knob" during the final stages of the battle for Hill 462.8 - not through the tainted-glass of time but from the perspective of someone living through the experience without either hindsight or particular foresight. In this regard "Into the Mountains Dark" is a truly unique reading experience with respect to most books about WWII.

How does the "writing from the moment of experience" play out? One clear example is the frantic picture Gurley paints of his emotions as he moves through the experiences. This is done only with the hindsight of days or weeks at most between the jotting of one passage to the next, and thus it is not sanitized to remove his initial naïve machismo as he trained for deployment and debarked to Europe or the real fear he felt once faced with the reality of combat. It's all here! Gurley's discussion of life on the "line" is one of the most clear and honest I have read (another good example, for different reasons, is "Foot Soldier" by Roscoe Blunt). For example, Gurley talks about his many foxholes dug over the month in the Vosges as if they were each a new vaulted-ceiling split-level condo in a posh Boston neighborhood. Only a man who has lived the experience of enemy shelling at the front lines can speak of a 5 ft deep water-saturated hole in the rock and mud with such passion. You can "see" all of the different permutations of his holes as the critical life sustaining shelter and home-away-from-home they were. An infantry dogface's life on the line is not a constant expenditure of ammunition, but rather periods of digging homes and wanting for food and water, to emotionally and physically draining periods of close order combat. Gurley neither adds or removes anything - you can experience a foot soldier's life as it was.

This is a fabulous book both for content and readability. I give it a hearty 5 stars!!! Highly recommended for novices and professionals alike.

Rating:
Summary: A Detailed Autobiography of an Infantryman in WW 2
Review: Mr. Gurley's new book comes in a wave of books in this genre. What distinguishes his book is the obscure battle location - the Vosges mountains and the incredible amount of detail given within his platoon and company. The author must have kept a very complete diary to accomplish this feat. Also, the discussion of the ASTP program for training officers was new to me as well as the fact it was dissolved because of excessive casualties in the ETO. In retrospect, it seems a travesty that so many of America's best and brightest were shipped to the ETO as so much cannon fodder to serve in line companies in the infantry. This is a intensely personal account by the author and gives an in depth account of what it was like to serve in one of the late arriving divisions to the ETO - the 100th division. Description of training, transport, and eventual combat are excellent. The author seems quite proud of his service in the infantry - the real bloodletters in any war - as he quite deservedly should be. This is the story of real men, nonprofessional soldiers, in their journey through the hell of war and how they handled it (or didn't). These men are not glorified in this, but their story is the way it was, both the good and the bad. I would reccommend this book highly to someone wanting to gain insight into the day to day life of a combat infantryman in WW 2. This person could be your father or grandfather now and it would make you proud of the sacrifice they made for us and freedom.

Rating:
Summary: One to read!
Review: This book is not your typical WWII memoir! It has many unique facets that distinguish it from all other memoirs. The previous words may make it seem I am the paid publicist (I am not) - so let me explain my unadulterated praise.

First, the story is one seldom heard. The 100th Infantry division missed all the famous battles - so this is a new story for most of us. The story takes Gurley from training in the USA, through a boat ride to Marseilles, and finally a month of combat in France's Vosges mountains.

The descriptions of the events are more detailed and interesting that most accounts. The author is a writer by profession and that skill produces a well-penned account. In addition, he has written about his unit in the past, giving him a wealth of material from which to draw.

But there are a couple of additions which make this book remarkable. The first is that we get an overview of the "big picture". Most personal accounts only present, appropriately, the view from the rifleman. But in this book we are given overviews of why each battle was fought and the tactics used to win the battle. Thus, the accounts are woven into a larger, more understandable whole rather than the usual series of fights for anonymous towns or patches of woods. Finally, the author has a graphic in the book showing the names of all members in his platoon and where they belonged in the organization. I greatly appreciated being able to place a name into the overall unit. Usually, you can understand who the authors friends are, but can seldom understand how all the non-coms and many enlisted men peripheral to a story fit in.

This book is outstanding in describing Gurley's battle experiences. This is possible through great writing and additional touches that allow the reader to really understand the whole story.