From Anzio to the Alps: An American Soldier's Story

This compelling work is Lloyd M. Wells’s firsthand account of World War II based on a journal he kept during the war, letters he sent home, and personal records, as well as recollections of people and events.

In June 1941, the twenty-one-year-old Wells was drafted into the army. He was commissioned second lieutenant after he attended O.C.S. and was later promoted to first lieutenant with the First Armored Division. He saw action in North Africa, Italy, and Germany and was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge, the Purple Heart, and the Bronze Star.

Wells offers the reader information that has never before been provided. He tells exactly what happened to 2/7 Queens on the night of February 21, 1944, when the troops came up to “the caves” at Anzio. He also depicts what happened during the last offensive in Italy and what armored infantry troops experienced on the perimeter of the attack. This book, however, is not just a story of battle actions. It is a personal story about the “old Army” and how young soldiers were transformed by it during one of the greatest upheavals in world history.

Wells’s goal in writing this book was to leave behind “an account of a simpler time and of the funny, sad, terrorizing, and tender moments of a war which, with the death of each man or woman who lived through it, recedes just a little bit further into the nation’s past.” He accomplished that and so much more.

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From Anzio to the Alps: An American Soldier's Story

This compelling work is Lloyd M. Wells’s firsthand account of World War II based on a journal he kept during the war, letters he sent home, and personal records, as well as recollections of people and events.

In June 1941, the twenty-one-year-old Wells was drafted into the army. He was commissioned second lieutenant after he attended O.C.S. and was later promoted to first lieutenant with the First Armored Division. He saw action in North Africa, Italy, and Germany and was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge, the Purple Heart, and the Bronze Star.

Wells offers the reader information that has never before been provided. He tells exactly what happened to 2/7 Queens on the night of February 21, 1944, when the troops came up to “the caves” at Anzio. He also depicts what happened during the last offensive in Italy and what armored infantry troops experienced on the perimeter of the attack. This book, however, is not just a story of battle actions. It is a personal story about the “old Army” and how young soldiers were transformed by it during one of the greatest upheavals in world history.

Wells’s goal in writing this book was to leave behind “an account of a simpler time and of the funny, sad, terrorizing, and tender moments of a war which, with the death of each man or woman who lived through it, recedes just a little bit further into the nation’s past.” He accomplished that and so much more.

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From Anzio to the Alps: An American Soldier's Story

From Anzio to the Alps: An American Soldier's Story

by Lloyd M. Wells
From Anzio to the Alps: An American Soldier's Story

From Anzio to the Alps: An American Soldier's Story

by Lloyd M. Wells

Hardcover

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Overview

This compelling work is Lloyd M. Wells’s firsthand account of World War II based on a journal he kept during the war, letters he sent home, and personal records, as well as recollections of people and events.

In June 1941, the twenty-one-year-old Wells was drafted into the army. He was commissioned second lieutenant after he attended O.C.S. and was later promoted to first lieutenant with the First Armored Division. He saw action in North Africa, Italy, and Germany and was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge, the Purple Heart, and the Bronze Star.

Wells offers the reader information that has never before been provided. He tells exactly what happened to 2/7 Queens on the night of February 21, 1944, when the troops came up to “the caves” at Anzio. He also depicts what happened during the last offensive in Italy and what armored infantry troops experienced on the perimeter of the attack. This book, however, is not just a story of battle actions. It is a personal story about the “old Army” and how young soldiers were transformed by it during one of the greatest upheavals in world history.

Wells’s goal in writing this book was to leave behind “an account of a simpler time and of the funny, sad, terrorizing, and tender moments of a war which, with the death of each man or woman who lived through it, recedes just a little bit further into the nation’s past.” He accomplished that and so much more.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780826215376
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
Publication date: 07/28/2004
Pages: 272
Product dimensions: 6.13(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range: 14 Years

About the Author

Lloyd M. Wells (1919-2000) was Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He was the coauthor of The Supreme Court and Public Opinion.

Table of Contents

Prefaceix
Statement "In Memoriam"xiii
Chronology: The Italian Campaign: 1943-1945xv
1.In the Beginning There Was Basic Training1
2.Ninety-Day Wonder12
3.Innocent Abroad22
4.Mt. Porchia: The Legacy of a Battle33
5.Cassino--January 194444
6.Anzio: The German Counterattack--February 194454
7.Anzio: Stalemate--March-April 194476
8.Anzio: Breakout and Holiday92
9.Pontedera: Close Encounters of a Dangerous Kind129
10.Bombiana and Porretta Terme143
11.Winter 1945163
12.Holding the High Ground173
13.The Last Offensive: Eight Days in the Mountains191
14.The Last Offensive: Twelve Days in the Valley206
15.That Italian Spring--May-June 1945225
16.The End of Everything238
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