Closing with the Enemy: How GIs Fought the War in Europe, 1944-45

This work offers a view of how the GI and his officers fought the war. The author sets out to demonstrate that the key to the US success was the flexibility and ingenuity of its soldiers. He points out that the most important element in overcoming the Germans was the intelligence of America’s front-line officers and troops, and their ability to make sound decisions on the spot. The author also shows the GI as an amateur who learned quickly and well and who, by the end of the war, had turned himself into a formidable enemy.