Customer Reviews:
Captivating!.......2007-09-05
I recently read Low Level Hell, and I want to say it was one of the best books I've ever read!! Hugh does a great job of captivating the reader from the first chapter to the very end. Every chapter has you on the edge of your seat, taking you through the drama of fighting in Vietnam. I honestly felt as if I was flying with him! At times I was howling in laughter and others crying at the loss of fellow officers. Hugh's last chapter sent chills down my spine. I honestly cannot think of a better read on one man's experience in Vietnam. Great job Hugh!
Angie Chirnside
for all helicopters pilots...a must read.......2007-07-27
absolutely a must read if you love flying helicpoters and enjoy the action of combat flying in the nam....could not put it down...scout pilot flying in vietnam had to be the most intense and insane mission that one could imagine...loved every minute of this read.
one of the best.......2007-02-13
this book puts you in the pilot's seat with the crew. you feel the bullet impacts, hear the noise and smell the smoke. at the very top of my list with chickehalk. i could not put it down.
Adrenalin inducing - Great read.......2007-02-12
A few summers ago my work required daily helecopter transport (Hughs 500) into some heavily forested areas of Alaska. On one end-of-the-day flight back to camp I asked the pilot if he ever read "Chickenhawk" by Robert Mason (a "Huey" pilot in Vietnam). He replied it was manditory reading for pilots. Moments later he says if I really want a good read to pick up "Low Level Hell" by Hugh Mills. For the remainder of the flight he kept talking about this book. So on his advice I picked it up. He was right on...what a read. Mills writing really puts you into the thick of it...to the point where I had to put the book down about a half-hour before turning the lanterns off for the night...to let the adrenalin subside. The book is well written, humorous at times, terribly sad at others, and a real page turner. Even if this is not your typical read, pick it up. The book leaves a lasting impression and understanding. PS. the pilot was from Sweden and just came back for flying relief missions in Bosnia and talked about taking small arms fire while trying to deliver supplies to the needy.
Loach Ace.......2007-01-10
This whole book takes you directly in the chopper above the battlefield. So be ready for a captivating account of flying and fighting with the smallest helicopter used in South-Vietnam. The pace is so fast depicting many different combat situations. What these crews achieved is simply stunning. These actions were all conducted using direct eye vision, before night-vision devices, laser beams and helo-borne radars. Mr. Mills, we want more please.
Book Description
Greenhill's GI Series is the definitive guide to the history of the American soldier, his uniform and his equipment and has so far covered the full range of American history from Custer and the role of American Indians in the Civil War to a detailed examination of the technical innovation displayed in the equipment used by GIs during the Gulf War. Every volume is fully illustrated with original contemporary photographs and includes eight pages of color pictures. This volume covers The Big Red One, one of the finest American divisions ever to have existed. The unit was hastily assembled in April 1917, after Woodrow Wilson declared war on Imperial Germany and its Allies. The division became known as the Big Red One, because of the insignia of a red numeral one. The nickname also gave rise to the phrase, "If you gotta be one, be a Big Red One". Christopher Anderson expertly tracks the development of the division from its formation, through garrison and peacetime routine, to its role in World War II, where it was selected for one of the most difficult missions of the D-Day landings at Omaha beach. The story continues through to its deployment in Vietnam and eventual return back to US as Fort Riley.
Book Description
From acclaimed military historian Flint Whitlock, the untold story of the Big Red One, the heroic and infamous 1st Infantry Division, from its assault on Nazi forces at Omaha Beach, to the Battle of the Bulge
The Fighting First recounts the untold story of the 1st Infantry Division's role in the invasion of France at Normandy. Using primary sources, official records, interviews, and unpublished memoirs by the veterans themselves, Flint Whitlock has crafted a riveting, gut-wrenching, personal story of courage under fire. Operation Overlord-the Allied invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944-was the most important battle of World War II, and Omaha Beach was the hottest spot in the entire operation. Leading the amphibious assault on the "Easy Red" and "Fox Green" sectors of Omaha Beach was the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division-"The Big Red One"-a tough, swaggering outfit with a fine battle record. The saga of the Big Red One, however, did not end with the storming of the beachhead, but continued across France, Belgium, and into Germany itself, where the division fought in the battles for Aachen, the Huertgen Forest, and the Battle of the Bulge. The Fighting First is an inspiring, graphic, and often heart-breaking story of young American soldiers performing their missions with spirit, humor, and determination.
Customer Reviews:
D-Day the First Division.......2007-05-19
My Dad, Donald Gurdison, a 5th Engineering Special Brigade soldier, landed with the 1st Divison on D-Day in the 5th wave. There are special monmuments for these two units on Omaha Beach just outside the side gate of the American Cemetery fence. This book filled in the gaps of the story after my visit. And I recognized many of the names from the exhibits. If you're heading to Normandie and you can, read this first. It's a wonderful account of some very brave people who saw the atrocities of war and served our country proudly
Good solid book, but not excellent.......2007-02-17
In the past, the 1st Division's role on D-Day has not been written about in as much detail as their fellow D-Day Omaha Beach invasion comrades the 29th. This book is therefore long overdue, however as another reviewer said the title of the book is misleading, D-Day is indeed the central basis of the book, but it also covers North Africa, Sicily and the campaign after D-Day in NW Europe. For me this book certainly explains the battles of the Big Red One in decent detail, but it lacks the "little bit extra" that some other D-Day books have. Indeed Balkoski's classic Beyond the Beachhead about the 29th is an absolute classic. Of course Flint Whitlock's book was written nearly 15 years later, a period of time that has taken a huge toll on the members of the Greatest Generation - there simply are not that many veterans left to interview!!
So I think Mr Whitlock has done a good job with the material available, sure it falls short of being a major classic, but I've spoken to a number of Big Red One veterans and they like the book - so if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me.
D-Day and The Fighting First.......2006-03-21
Wow! This is a fantastic story about one of the most important days in the history of the world. The amphibious assult on the beaches of Normandy, truly inspriational and abolutely worth reading. If you see a WWII Vet, shake their hand and thank them!
Still Untold.......2006-01-16
The author says THE FIGHTING FIRST is supposed to be the untold story of THe Big Red One on D-Day. That would have been very interesting; too bad that's not the book the author wrote.
Instead, THE FIGHTING FIRST is a very rough history of the 1st Infantry Division during World War II, emphasizing June 6th, 1944. We have to go through North Africa and Sicily first, and the first soldier doesn't even hit Omaha Beach until page 144. Less than a hundred pages later, D-Day is over, and we go on until the end of the war.
Furthermore, much of the time the focus isn't even on The Big Red One -- we get higher level planning, the enemy point of view, British civilians. There are long, long quotes from very familiar secondary sources -- Ryan, Ike, Bradley, Pyle, Butcher -- that only tangentially relate to the 1st ID.
The research was limited. The author did 18 interviews, and looked at monographs on file at the Center for Military History. Then the aforementioned secondary sources. The index, even on a very quick check (TR, Jr., for examples), contains errors.
Then there's the writing. Yes, the fighting on D-Day was confusing, and we tend to become emotional when we consider the sacrifices the young men hitting the beaches that day made. But that doesn't mean you have to write about it in a confusing, overwrought manner. Whitlock does not produce a coherent narrative; for all his verbage, many other authors have written much better about what the Big Red One Did on D-Day.
And after that, it just gets worse. The final third of the book, from June 7th to V-E Day, is little more than a collection of personal remenisces and Medal of Honor citations, with little sense about what the division was actually doing. The "Where Are They Now" Epilogue is very poorly written -- the interviewees deserved better.
Here's the problem when you run across poor writing and limited research -- they raise questions. In one spot, Whitlock gives us the story of a 1st Division soldier who was at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii on December 7th, 1941. It has his telling about shooting a cal. .50 at Japanese planes, and watching the battleships at Pearl Harbor get hit. But you can't see Pearl from Schofield! So we have three options: (1) Whitlock doesn't know enough geography and history to know this isn't right, or (2)Whitlock let inaccuracy stand because it made for a good story, or (3)Whitlock is a poor writer who mixes up the soldier's narrative. All three are unaccpetable, and with a book like THE FIGHTING FIRST, it is impossible to tell which (or maybe all) is the case.
Good D-Day story; better WWII story.......2005-02-23
"The Fighting First: The Untold Story of the Big Red One on D-Day" is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in World War II. It is a well-written and readable tribute to the sacrifices made by the Big Red One on that fateful day in June 1944.
This book, however, will not offer any additional insights into D-Day. In the spirit of Cornelius Ryan's "The Longest Day" and Stephen Ambrose's "D-Day: June 6, 1944," this work is based primarily on firsthand accounts of the battle. "The Fighting First" is much more narrowly focused than either of the other two books, telling only the D-Day story of the assault on Omaha Beach. It does not have the breadth of research and interviews that Ryan's or Ambrose's works have, and, although this is certainly a product of the slow dying out of the Greatest Generation, the story seems to revolve around only a handful of soldiers. Anyone who has read "The Longest Day" or "D-Day: June 6, 1944" will not find any new insights or experiences in the pages of this book.
There were a few omissions that would have strengthened this book. The author tells the personal story of the initial assault onto Omaha Beach well, but he fails to give a good operational overview of the attacking companies and battalions. This is one detail that most D-Day books lack, even Adrian Lewis' excellent "Omaha Beach: A Flawed Victory." The author never gives an overall accounting of the total number of casualties suffered on D-Day or during the Normandy campaign, a basic fact that is needed to tell the story. The book also has a few factual inaccuracies and questionable assertions. (For example, he says that the tide was rising one foot every 8 minutes, when the tidal range on Omaha on D-Day was 18 feet. There is also an unexamined claim by a veteran that the Germans were using wooden bullets.) These should have been corrected or explained better by the author.
Additionally, although the book is billed as the "Untold Story of the Big Red One on D-Day," only about 100 pages of the book's 350 pages tell the story of D-Day. Another 80 or so pages describe the Big Red One's training for and SHAEF's planning for Operation Overlord. The rest of the book tells of the Big Red One's fighting in North Africa, its post-D-Day pursuit across France, the terrible fighting around Aachen and in the Hürtgen Forest, the fighting at the northern shoulder of the Bulge, and the finals days of the war in the spring of 1945. It is this short history of the Big Red One, more than the telling of the D-Day story, that sets this book apart: the story of the Big Red One in World War Two, which fought in North Africa, Sicily, France, Belgium, Germany, and even Czechoslovakia, is hard to find. Fortunately, it can be found in this book.
The bottom line, though, is that the book is well written and tells its story very well. It includes plenty of maps (no military history book can have too many maps, although unfortunately most have too few) and photographs of many of the soldiers, including photographs and descriptions of every Medal of Honor winner. I would recommend it to any World War II buff.
Book Description
BradyGames’ Call of Duty 2: Big Red One Official Strategy Guide includes the following:
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A complete walkthrough of the entire game.
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Detailed listing of controls, weapons and vehicles.
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Exhaustive data entries on every enemy and their tactics.
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Unbeatable online tactics for each mode of gameplay.
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Ariel recon images help to pinpoint enemy locations.
Platform: PS2, Xbox and GameCube
Genre: Action/Adventure
This product is available for sale worldwide.
Customer Reviews:
COD 2 Bradygames Guide.......2006-02-25
This guide helped me to really enjoy the game. I have several Bradygames Guides and all are first class.
As useful as an empty ammo clip.......2005-11-23
Since I had never played a WWII shooter before, I thought it would be a good idea to pick this up when I bought Call of Duty 2. I've gotten hooked on strategy guides in recent years anyway and generally find the maps and other info very helpful. Unfortunately, the Call of Duty 2 Official Strategy Guide is the first one I've ever purchased that I consider a total waste of money.
To begin with, the game itself is actually very straightforward and easy to figure out. The strategy required to finish a given scenario is generally obvious. While I often died during missions, I knew what to try next in order to succeed.
On those few occasions when I felt more challenged, I found the book to be no help at all. They tend to give a very general walk through of the mission along with maps that were very difficult to follow. There was never enough detail to be of any real help. In the end, I figured out how to survive and complete all of the missions on my own just as I would have without the book.
In the final analysis, this book will not justify the money you would spend on it. Call of Duty 2 is challenging in its own way, but it is not a game that demands a clue book. The manual itself is attractive but is ultimately filled with useless filler. Save the money and use it to buy the expansion pack for Call of Duty 2 that will doubtless be released in the coming months.
Average customer rating:
|
The Big Red One
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: 0553127055 |
Product Description
The magnificent saga of WWII's incredible first infantry division. Fiction.
Product Description
The oldest continuously serving division in the U.S. Army, the 1st Infantry Division, called the "Big Red One" because of the red numeral "1" on the uniform shoulder patch, was the first regular army division organized in June 1917 to fight in France with the Allied armies. More than 28,000 men-including soldiers with very familiar names like George C. Marshall, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. and Lesley J. McNair-served with the division in World War I. The Big Red One was redesignated on 15 May 1942 as an infantry division of nearly 15,000 men. It was selected for participation in Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa, landing in Algeria on 8 November 1942. It then fought through Sicily, leaving the theatre to train for the invasion. It was part of the forces that landed on D-Day and then fought with distinction through Europe. 1st Infantry Division's battle honors are Tunisia, Sicily, Normandy, the Bulge, Germany. Postwar, the division served in Europe, Vietnam, Desert Shield, Desert Storm and Bosnia. It's currently based in Germany.
Book Description
The oldest continuously serving division in the U.S. Army, the 1st Infantry Division, called the "Big Red One" because of the red numeral "1" on the uniform shoulder patch, was the first regular army division organized in June 1917 to fight in France with the Allied armies. More than 28,000 men-including soldiers with very familiar names, like George C. Marshall, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. and Lesley J. McNair-served with the division in World War I.
The Big Red One was redesignated on 15 May 1942 as an infantry division of nearly 15,000 men. It was selected for participation in Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa, landing in Algeria on 8 November 1942. It then fought through Sicily, leaving the theatre to train for the invasion. It was part of the forces that landed on D-Day and then fought with distinction through Europe. 1st Infantry Division's battle honors are Tunisia, Sicily, Normandy, the Bulge, Germany. Postwar, the division served in Europe, Vietnam, Desert Shield, Desert Storm and Bosnia. It's currently based in Germany.
Customer Reviews:
Mostly ignores First Division's history prior to WWII.......2004-08-24
My great-grandfather was a combat veteran with the "Big Red One" in World War I. I bought this book, and several others, because I wanted to learn more about what he experienced as a solider in the "Great War". This book is devoted almost exclusively to the First Division's history from World War II onward. Even the "clothing and equipment" sections are of WWII vintage. There are only a few pages devoted to the First Division's formulation in 1917 and their major campaigns of WWI. What content does appear for WWI is a high-level summation of events. I hope that the other books that I purchased about the "Big Red One" provide a more complete history "from day one". My rating of this book is lower than usual due to to absence of detailed information about the First Division prior to WWII.
Good precis.......2004-07-25
A good overall look at the "Big Red One". Much better than the now dated Osprey Vanguard title on the 1st Infantry Division; some good photos and brief historical section, plus some nice surprises. The price is right as well. The Spearhead series is doing some good work, hope to see many more titles in future!
Book Description
Describing Sam Fuller as a cult legend and a celluloid genius would be like describing Muhammad Ali as a boxer or Jimi Hendrix as a guitar player. He was a singular American visionary, a giant of independent filmmaking, and a king of bruised-knuckle cinematic poetry.
The Big Red One is his masterpiece. Twenty years in the making, both the novel and the film are based on Fuller’s own experiences with the Army’s First Infantry Division ("the Big Red One") in World War II. The story centers on the friendship of five soldiers and follows them from the arid landscapes of Vichy French Africa to Europe to the beaches of Normandy on D-Day and onward into Germany. Excruciating scenes of suffering and brutality are juxtaposed against heartbreaking scenes of compassion and selflessness. In Fuller’s vision the lines between heroism and villainy are blurred—"the only glory in war is surviving"—but The Big Red One also provides an epic adventure steeped in the true history of World War II.
Customer Reviews:
A Must For Understanding the Master.......2005-09-23
You've probably heard the name Sam Fuller mentioned by the likes of Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch, and Quentin Tarantino. His name comes up whenever you want to talk about war movies, or truth in cinema. He manages, in all his films, to get at the core truth about violence: that it is always terrible and sometimes unavoidable. In "The Big Red One" he manages to make that most curious thing: a film about the horrors of war in general that convinces you of the necessity of one war in particular, WWII, the war to end all wars. This film is the pinnacle of Sam Fuller's career, the purest expression of what he clearly felt to be a an urgent message, and the novel is an even more intense and complete exposition of the themes of the film.
All his potent visual sense comes across in the rough-hewn language and tight, electric imagery. Soldiers are "dogfaces" and nobody has time for any nonsense. Nearly every line is quotably tough and full of clearly authentic details.
The novel, as Schickel's informative introduction tells you, was not in fact based on the film, and thus suffers from none of the novelized-movie corniness of most books of that genre. It does, however, share the movie's vividness -- you can almost smell the smoke and the sweat, and the point that WWII was a just war, one that truly should have ended all wars, is driven home again and again. This is not a postmodern fable in which nothing means what it seems to -- this is pure, clear realism.
A GREAT READ!.......2005-09-13
Sam Fuller, the seminal film director and writer, directed the movie of the same title, THE BIG RED ONE. Though the book and the movie differ, both share haunting images of both horror and beauty, sin and redemption. Sam Fuller ought to know as he fought in many of the major battles of WWII that most of us (younguns) just read about. I am so glad the book was reissued, now let's hope the movie gets released again in theaters--or maybe a remake will happen?
Grit and greatness.......2005-08-25
It's wonderful having a new edition of this book because, other than Norman Mailer's The Naked and The Dead, it may be the best and truest novel of combat in World War II. Like Mailer, Fuller made use of his experience with the subject to create a work that's gritty, provocative and rewarding. This covers the length and breadth of the war against Germany, but its focus on a small group of soldiers makes it hit home. Highly recommended.
Book Description
This electronic book on CD-ROM contains information and material about the U.S. Army Infantry Division (the Big Red One). Since 1917, the 1st Infantry Division "The Big Red One" has lived, fought and served according to its motto: "No mission too difficult, no sacrifice too great, Duty First!" On order, 1ID (Mechanized) deploys and conducts combat or peace operations as part of V (US) Corps, or a designated force headquarters, transitions to a follow-on mission and, on order, on redeploys. The Big Red One is the oldest continuously serving division in the United States Army. The First Division was enacted into the U.S. Army as Headquarters, First Expeditionary Division on May 24, 1917 and officially organized June 8, 1917 under the command of Brig. Gen. William L. Sibert. Today the Division is headquartered at Leighton Barracks, Wuerzburg, Germany. The Big Red One consists of more than 14,000 soldiers. Major weapons systems for the Division include Abrams Tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, Apache Attack Helicopters, 155 mm Howitzers, Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, and the M109A6 Paladin.
Contents include: 1st Infantry Division U.S. Army; The Big Red One; Duty First!; 1st ID in World War I, World War II, Vietnam, Cold War, Desert Storm, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Iraq; Photos from Iraq; Soldier's Handbook to Iraq; Big Red One Weapons Systems. Coverage featuring dramatic color photography includes: Command Group; Command Current News; Photos from Iraq; Policy Letters; Command Sergeant Major Corner; Division Safety; Organization; Units-coverage of each Unit; Equipment; History; Veterans; Letters from Home; Soldier's Handbook to Iraq; News Releases 2001-2003; Band; Provost Marshal; Inspector General; Commandant; Comptroller; Fire Support; Engineer; Chemical; Air Defense; Big Red One Medal of Honor Recipients; Apache; HUMVEE; MLRS; Abrams Tank; Paladin; Bradley Fighting Vehicle; Maintenance in the Desert; Malfunctions Involving Ammunition and Explosives; Risk Management; numerous Color Photo Galleries.
In addition to the title-specific material, there is a substantial bonus collection of Army documents and information: ARMY PUBLIC AFFAIRS - News and information about current events in the Army. ARMY CAMPAIGN PLAN (The Way Ahead) - The Campaign Plan provides direction for detailed planning, preparation, and execution of the full range of tasks necessary to provide landpower to the Nation. Plus four short video clips in QuickTime MOV format.
This CD-ROM has about 13,000 pages reproduced using Adobe Acrobat PDF software - allowing direct viewing on Windows and Macintosh systems.
Our news and educational CD-ROM and DVD-ROM discs are privately compiled collections of official public domain U.S. government files and documents - they are not produced by the federal government. They are designed to provide a convenient user-friendly reference work, utilizing the benefits of the Adobe Acrobat format to uniformly present thousands of pages that can be rapidly reviewed, searched by finding specific words, or printed without untold hours of tedious research and downloading. Vast archives of important public domain government information that might otherwise remain inaccessible are available for instant review no matter where you are. This book-on-a-disc format makes a great reference work and educational tool. There is no other reference that is as fast, convenient, comprehensive, thoroughly researched, and portable - everything you need to know, from the federal sources you trust.
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