Member Reviews
“Battle of Arnhem: Snapshots of War” eBook was published in 2017 and was written by Victor Gregg. Mr. Gregg has published 7 works.
I categorize this short story as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story tells of how the author went from being a rifleman to a paratrooper during World War II. Tales of his actions during operation Market Garden are included.
I thought that this was an interesting hour read of World War II History. The cover art gives a World War II feel to the story. I give this short story a 4 out of 5.
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In what might be too short to even be called a novella, a veteran of the battle recounts his experience, filled with death, destruction, stupidity, and black humor. There’s tons of tiny details, some of them incredibly interesting.
“It was explained that, when we arrived, we would most likely be disappointed as all the fun would be over.” Wonder how often soldiers have heard that.
For such a short story, there’s a ton of detail. There’s also more to it than just the battle, as after his capture the author was taken to Dresden, along with 500 other prisoners, and was there for the famous firebombing.
But more than anything it gives you the grit and emotion of being that close to an enemy who’s trying to kill you just as bad as you’re trying to kill them. This is exceedingly rare in modern warfare; even as a former Marine I find it hard to imagine what these soldiers went through.
But some things never change, like the incompetence of staff officers, whom he disses over and over.
3.5 pushed up to 4/5
Book received from NetGalley.
This is a very quick read. It's a look at part of the life of author Victor Gregg while he was serving in World War II. I thought it was a great story, it felt like I was sitting next to an uncle who was telling about his time in the war. He tells it how it was, how he felt after parachuting in, the horror of seeing most of his comrades shot and killed around him, and knowing those that survived had an extremely small chance of getting out alive. He didn't try to gloss over or romanticize what happened, he explains how the dead around him looked once rigor mortis set in, he tried to explain what he heard, saw and smelt. I will definitely be reading more of his books.