Summary Of With The Old Breed

E.B. Sledge’s book, With the Old Breed, is a personal memoir of his time fighting with the US Marines in the Pacific theater during World War II. The book starts with Sledge's introduction to the Marines, continues with his training in boot camp and infantry school, and then describes his pre-combat deployment to Pavuvu. He was given the job as an assistant gunner on a 60mm mortar after he picked it as his choice of weapon. Sledge was deployed to the Pacific theater and assigned to the 1st Marine Division, 5th Regiment, 3rd Battalion, Company K (also known as K/3/5). K/3/5 was stationed at Pavuvu Island for training in amphibious assault techniques and tactics. The 1st Marine Division then deploys for the assault on Peleliu, and Sledge talks

Because the book is a memoir, there was less concern with overarching strategy and more with Sledge’s personal experience during the part of the war he fought in. The argument in Sledge’s book is how war wears on a soldier’s spirit, mind, and body. Because of the way that he describes the war, it allows the reader to personalize the war experience and imagine the feelings as if they were truly there. The description of war through a memoir can be used as an accurate telling of what war is on a personal level and this helps historians understand better when they are studying about war, but aren’t really there. Sledge discusses the traumatic experience of watching a marine use a flamethrower on a pillbox, a concrete dug-in guard post, occupied by Japanese soldiers. Sledge listened as the Japanese soldiers screamed with agony until there was silence because they were all dead. Such a horrifying experience undoubtedly shaped the rest of Sledge’s life and changed the person Sledge was before he entered the war. Sledge wrote his book about the brutality displayed by American and Japanese soldiers during the battles, and of the hatred that both sides harbored for each other. He did not just write about how the Japanese were brutal and how the Americans were justified, as one might assume an American soldier would write his

Regular history textbooks just discuss a war’s causes, courses, and consequences. This is okay for learning the politics and maneuvers of war, but doesn’t help people gain an idea of what the battlefield is like for a soldier in combat. So the ideal situation would be to learn of how war works politically, but then also read a book that shows what war is really like such as With the Old Breed. I enjoyed the book even though it was pretty gruesome at times. It was easy to immerse myself in the aspect of the book because of the detail of the first person narrative that Sledge wrote in. I recommend that you keep this book on the list for students to write papers on. I would recommend this book to people interested in history because they would enjoy the historical aspect of it and also learning more in depth about what WWII was like specifically in the Pacific theater. I would also recommend it to people who may not necessarily be fans of history. I think they would enjoy it as well because of how engaging the book is and how easy it is to get