With the Old Breed, E.B. Sledge
With the Old Breed, E.B. Sledge
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With the Old Breed
At Peleliu and Okinawa

Author: E.B. Sledge

Narrator: George K. Wilson

Unabridged: 14 hr 35 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 04/23/2010

Synopsis

This modern classic of military history has been called "one of the most important personal accounts of war that I have ever read" by distinguished historian John Keegan. Author E.B. Sledge served with the First Marine Division during WWII, and his first-hand narrative is unsurpassed in its sincerity. Sledge's experience shows in this fascinating account of two of the most harrowing and pivotal island battles of the Pacific theater. On Peleliu and Okinawa the action was extremely fierce. Amidst oppressive heat and over land obliterated by artillery shells, the combat raged ferociously. Casualties were extreme on both sides, and by the time the Americans had broken through at Okinawa, more than 62,000 Japanese soldiers were dead. Against military policy, Sledge scribbled notes and jammed them into his copy of the New Testament. Those notes form the backbone of what Navy Times said "has been called the best World War II memoir of an enlisted man." The rich tones of narrator George Wilson enhance the drama of this frank and astonishing chronicle.

About E.B. Sledge

E. B. Sledge (1923-2001) was born in Mobile, Alabama. In late 1943 he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. After basic training, he was sent to the Pacific Theater, where he fought at Peleliu and Okinawa, two of the fiercest battles of World War II.

Following the Japanese surrender, Sledge served in China as part of the occupation force. Upon his return home, he obtained a PhD in biology and joined the faculty of Alabama College (later the University of Montevallo), where he taught until retirement.

Sledge wrote two books about his war experiences, With the Old Breed and China Marine.

Reviews

Goodreads review by J. on November 16, 2008

With the Old Breed should be required reading in our classrooms, for this is the brutal reality of war at its most horrific. No sensationalism here; E. B. Sledge merely tells it the way it was. There is no glory in war, in the shedding of another man's blood; in digging a foxhole in a torrential dow......more

Goodreads review by Lawyer on May 22, 2011

Eugene Sledge would seem an unlikely author of what I consider the most powerful memoir of war in the Pacific theater. The son of a Mobile, Alabama, doctor, Eugene began his military career as a candidate in an academic college program that would have made him an officer. However, he deliberately fa......more

Goodreads review by Tadas on March 23, 2025

A great book for both the history buff and the casual reader. Based on it, the series I watched twice - In The Pacific.......more

Goodreads review by Sweetwilliam on December 14, 2017

I would give it six stars if I could. This was gripping. I have been reading military history all my life but I have never read anything quite like PVT Sledge’s first-hand account of his war experience as a member of a front-line infantry unit in the 3rd battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division.......more

Goodreads review by 'Aussie Rick' on August 04, 2017

Not much can be added to the previous reviews of this excellent book. I have read many fine books covering the Pacific campaign during WW2 and so many referred to this book that I had to find a copy for myself. It was well worth the time and effort. I have since bought a copy for a friend here in Au......more

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