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The Fighting First: The Untold Story Of The Big Red One On D-day

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When I met my Wife, her Grandfather was already in the late stages of Alzheimers. He could barely remember who he was, let alone share the millions of stories he must have had locked away in his mind. After his death, I wanted to know more about what he had seen and lived so I started reading just about anything I could on the 1st Infantry Division.

I found this book shortly before the 60th Anniversary of D-Day and read it non-stop. The book is largely a collection of interviews and letters from the soldiers themselves. The stories are fasicinating, heartfelt, and harrowing. I saw many personal accounts from his unit (18th Regiment, 1st Infantry Division) and started to get an idea of the hell this man lived. I even learned that one of the company commanders interviewed in the book was the Grandfather of one of my old childhood friends. I had hoped to learn a lot from this book, but I got much much more.

"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.

The Fighting First: The Untold Story Of The Big Red One On D-Day is the untold story of the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division's role in the D-Day invasion of France at Normandy. Drawing upon official records, interviews, unpublished memoirs of veterans, author and former U.S. army officer Flint Whitlock paints a crucial and unforgettable portrait of the storming of the beachhead, as well as their deadly battles in France, Belgium and Germany itself. Black-and-white photographs intersperse a personal touch to this often harrowing, but ultimately inspirational true story of immeasurable courage in dire times.

THE FIGHTING FIRST is an excellent book. There are many, many details of the 1st's actions in WWII. From the perspective of the soldier on the ground, you gain a true understanding of what they experienced during their campaigns. The D-Day section, in particular, contains many stories from the men on the beaches and in the hedgerows.

A must read for anyone desiring to understand the bravery of those who served to protect our freedom.

This is "The Untold Story of the Big Red One on D-Day" but so much more! This Big Red One story begins in North Africa and the Kasserine Pass where "The first Division stopped the famous 10th Panzer cold in two attacks." It goes on to Sicily where with Patton where they "suffered greatly." You'd think they had earned a rest but the only rest they got was back in England preparing for Omaha Beach. While there, Whitlock gives the reader some real insights into life for Americans in wartime England.

From there, it's on to Omaha Beach and Rommel's Atlantic Wall. Whitlock gives a lot of details of loading landing craft and of the actual landing where it was said by Corporal Michael Kurtz as reported in The Longest Day: "I want all of you Joes to keep your heads down. As soon as we are spotted, we'll catch enemy fire. If you make it, OK. If you don't, it's a hell of a good place to die. Now, let's go." Whitlock also tells of serious errors in the preparation of the Omaha beaches that led to this understated comment: "The beach area of Omaha Beach was almost unscarred. We did not have a single one of those gun emplacements or pillboxes knocked out. Not a good situation.

"Now, have they earned a break? No way. They are finally pulled off the line in December, 1944. Guess what was about to happen the morning of 16 December - The Battle of the Bulge! The Big Red One is called upon again!

I have often been asked why WWII GIs have waited to talk about their experiences till now and Korean War vets still aren't talking. Perhaps, Whitlock says it best: "Only with other veterans would a soldier speak of the unspeakable for only other veterans would know of the hardships, fear and tragedy, and, yes, even the exultation of combat."

This is one hellava book! Don't miss it.

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

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.

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!

despite the misleading title , the details of this book go far before and beyond the d-day invasion. a fantastic read for any WWII history buff!

If you like narratives on historical wars, this is written very well. It shares several in depth stories concerning these heros