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YOU CAN’T GET MUCH CLOSER THAN THIS
Combat with Company H, 317th Infantry Regiment, 80th Division
A.Z. Adkins, Jr. and Andrew Z. Adkins, III
Andrew Z. Adkins, Jr., graduated from The Citadel in May 1943 and
immediately attended the U.S. Army Officer Candidate School, where
he was commissioned and sent on to the 80th Infantry Division, then
undergoing its final training cycle in the California-Arizona desert.
Upon reaching the division, 2d Lieutenant Adkins was assigned as an
81mm mortar section leader in Company H, 2d Battalion, 317th Infantry
Regiment.
When the 80th Infantry Division completed its training in December
1943, it was shipped in stages to the United Kingdom and then on to
Normandy, where it landed on August 3, 1944. There, Lieutenant
Adkins and his fellow soldiers took part in light hedgerow fighting that
served to shake the division down and familiarize the troops and their
officers with combat.
The first real test came on August 20, 1944, when the 2d Battalion,
317th Infantry, attacked high ground near Argentan during the Allied
drive to seal huge German forces in the Falaise Pocket. While
scouting for mortar positions in the woods, Andy Adkins ran into a
group of Germans and shot one of them dead with his carbine. This
baptism in blood taught him the answer to a question every novice
combatant wants to hear: He was cool under fire, capable of killing
when facing the enemy. He later wrote, "It was a sickening sight, but
having been caught up in the heat of battle, I didn't have a reaction
other than feeling I had saved my own life."
Thereafter, the 2d Battalion, 317th Infantry, took part in a succession
of bloody battles across France. Ineptly led through the tenures of
several battalion commanders, the unit suffered grievous losses even
as it took hills and towns away from brave and well-led German
veterans. In the course of fighting graphically portrayed in this soldier's
memoir, Andy Adkins acted with remarkable skill and courage, placing
himself at the forefront of the action whenever he could. His extremely
aggressive delivery of critical supplies to a cutoff unit in an embattled
French town earned him a Bronze Star Medal, the first such award in
his battalion.
You Can't Get Much Closer Than This is at heart a young soldier's
story of war. In vibrant, piercing terms, a junior officer's coming of age
in battle is the compelling focus of page after page of action
sequences that add up to a solid description of what modern warfare
is really all about. Before his death in 19--, Andy Adkins was able to
face his memory of war as bravely as he faced the war itself. He set it
all down on paper, honest, unflinching, and straightforward. In 1944
and 1945, young Lieutenant Adkins did his duty to his men and his
country, and much later he did his duty to his readers. Indeed, you
really can't get much closer than this.
Hardcover, 6 x 9, 256 pages, 16 with b/w photos - maps
$32.95
Combat with Company H, 317th Infantry Regiment, 80th Division
A.Z. Adkins, Jr. and Andrew Z. Adkins, III
Andrew Z. Adkins, Jr., graduated from The Citadel in May 1943 and
immediately attended the U.S. Army Officer Candidate School, where
he was commissioned and sent on to the 80th Infantry Division, then
undergoing its final training cycle in the California-Arizona desert.
Upon reaching the division, 2d Lieutenant Adkins was assigned as an
81mm mortar section leader in Company H, 2d Battalion, 317th Infantry
Regiment.
When the 80th Infantry Division completed its training in December
1943, it was shipped in stages to the United Kingdom and then on to
Normandy, where it landed on August 3, 1944. There, Lieutenant
Adkins and his fellow soldiers took part in light hedgerow fighting that
served to shake the division down and familiarize the troops and their
officers with combat.
The first real test came on August 20, 1944, when the 2d Battalion,
317th Infantry, attacked high ground near Argentan during the Allied
drive to seal huge German forces in the Falaise Pocket. While
scouting for mortar positions in the woods, Andy Adkins ran into a
group of Germans and shot one of them dead with his carbine. This
baptism in blood taught him the answer to a question every novice
combatant wants to hear: He was cool under fire, capable of killing
when facing the enemy. He later wrote, "It was a sickening sight, but
having been caught up in the heat of battle, I didn't have a reaction
other than feeling I had saved my own life."
Thereafter, the 2d Battalion, 317th Infantry, took part in a succession
of bloody battles across France. Ineptly led through the tenures of
several battalion commanders, the unit suffered grievous losses even
as it took hills and towns away from brave and well-led German
veterans. In the course of fighting graphically portrayed in this soldier's
memoir, Andy Adkins acted with remarkable skill and courage, placing
himself at the forefront of the action whenever he could. His extremely
aggressive delivery of critical supplies to a cutoff unit in an embattled
French town earned him a Bronze Star Medal, the first such award in
his battalion.
You Can't Get Much Closer Than This is at heart a young soldier's
story of war. In vibrant, piercing terms, a junior officer's coming of age
in battle is the compelling focus of page after page of action
sequences that add up to a solid description of what modern warfare
is really all about. Before his death in 19--, Andy Adkins was able to
face his memory of war as bravely as he faced the war itself. He set it
all down on paper, honest, unflinching, and straightforward. In 1944
and 1945, young Lieutenant Adkins did his duty to his men and his
country, and much later he did his duty to his readers. Indeed, you
really can't get much closer than this.
Hardcover, 6 x 9, 256 pages, 16 with b/w photos - maps
$32.95
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