Up Front

Bill Mauldin, who died recently, was a national treasure. His characters Willy and Joe (themselves a national treasure) form the crux of his cartoons from that era, and they embodied everyman in the heroes of the war. For his work he eventually won a Pulitzer prize. Mauldin claimed to be more of a cartoonist than a writer, but the writing is, in my opinion, at least the equal of the cartoons. For people who have never been exposed to the human level, front line realities of war, this book is vital for understanding the men who fight for the freedoms we enjoy.

This is a wonderful book, and I wish that every high school student was required to read it when they studied World War Two in Europe. I am so glad to see it back in print. While I cherish the copy that my Dad gave me many years ago it is now very fragile. I am grateful to have a new copy to thumb through on my bookshelf. If you read any one book this year on World War Two, this has to be it. It will make you proud to be an American, and proud of the men who fought for freedom sixty years ago.


Great war book about nothing but soldiers   March 4, 2001
Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States(cashbacher@yahoo.com))
13 out of 13 found this review helpful

Cartoonists have an incredible ability to capture human situations with simple drawings and a bit of text and Bill Mauldin was one of the most unique. He is best known for his drawings of Joe and Willie, two combat veterans slogging their way through WWII. In his drawings, you see the despair, fatigue and determination of dirty, tired men who always seem able to take the next objective and move one step closer to the end of the war. Whatever they are doing, there is a perpetual slump in their shoulders, clearly demonstrating an overpowering weariness with the war and what it all means.
Mauldin was drawing from personal experience, having spent a great deal of time on the bitterly contested Italian front, particularly at the Anzio landing. The book is a combination of narrative and cartoons that he drew while in the field. To his credit, Mauldin also ran afoul of some superior officers, which fortunately did little to alter his tactics. As one of his editorial superiors told him, "If you aren't making somebody mad, you're probably not worth reading."
This is a view of the war that is not about combat as much as the deprivation that the fighting foot soldiers endured. Days of being wet, eating cold food and sleeping in water were routine for the men who fought. His description of their joy in being able to bed down covered with hay in a barn is a classic definition of a simple pleasure.
Many books have been written about World War II in Europe and more continue to be published as additional material is released from the archives of nations. This is one that will not be improved upon as it does not involve decisions made by political or military leaders. It is about the simple soldiers who fought their way across Europe and endured because they had to.


Like It Was.   January 10, 2003
James H. Sutton (Des Moines, IA (USA))
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

Bill Mauldin writes as well as he draws. His writing tells it like it is; his cartoons are what he would like it to be. It was terrible, terrifying, ugly and uncomfortable fighting Germans; but Mauldin makes the experience intelligible to those who weren't there. I see why Eisenhower sent Mauldin to visit Patton. Ike hoped George would understand, finally, why no American general should treat G.I.s like peasants. Patton didn't get it and hated Mauldin for undermining the kind of authority that Patton loved and G.I.'s hated, authority for its own sake. Mauldin's writing and drawings keep a body from getting romantic about war or George Patton, and they ought to be visited by anyone planning to deploy troops.

NOTE: The hardcover book is an offset reprint. Make sure all pages are properly inked. Two pages in the one I saw first were inked too lightly to be read.