Men of Company K, The [Mass Market Paperback]

Harold P Leinbaugh (Author), John D. Campbell (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Company K of the 84th Division reached Europe in early November 1944, five months after D-Day, and was quickly ordered to Germany, where the Allied armies were advancing against furious resistance. Two members of the company present a vivid picture of the fierceness of front-line fighting in WW II as they follow the unit from Geilenkirchen through the battle for Wurm, back to Geilenkirchen and through the Battle of the Bulge to occupation duty. The authors avoid sentimental cliches in their depiction of a group of triumphant citizen-soldiers. Readers who are not veterans of Company K, however, may find the final chapters, about the post-war lives of these ex-GIs, anticlimactic. Photos not seen by PW. 35,000 first printing; $35,000 ad/promo. November 11
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This is the true account of a World War II rifle company. Formed of men from all parts of the country, Company K, 333rd Infantry, 84th Division saw more than one hundred days of combat, through the Battle of the Bulge to the Elbe River. Thirty-six men died, and nearly two hundred more were casualties by the time the war ended. Unusually well written, this account, as told in the words of the survivors, shows the side of war at which Keith Winston's V . . . Mail: letters of a World War II combat medic ( LJ 9/15/85) could only hint. The authors, former company officers, have drawn the battle and postwar experiences of these men and their families into one smooth, flowing narrative. Highly recommended for most collections. George F. Scheck, Naval War Coll. Lib., Newport, R.I.
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Bantam (December 1, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553262726
• ISBN-13: 978-0553262728
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #675,563 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars WW2 In-Depth account of Day to Day operations in war, March 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Men of Company K (Hardcover)

This book is excellent, sometimes rambling from one person in the story to another, this makes the book seem alive. The story is about a WW2 Infantry Company that is put into combat (green) and looses many men from wounds, cold and combat fatigue. Overall a very realistic and moving book of the realities of war and the interaction of Officer and Men as they fight the European theatre.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb account of European ground warfare, September 5, 2001

By 

David Honish (Austin,TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Men of Company K, The (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a moving account of the combat experience of one rifle company as told by the commanders. What makes this book so special is all the personal recollections that are compiled. The men of company K get their first battle after D Day in Holland. They continue east through the battle of the bulge, the crossing of the Rhine, and occupation duty in the conquered Germany. The little personal touches are on every page. One man defines REMFS as "any sob behind my foxhole." A future mathematics professor uses geometry and a map to plot a German rocket launching site. The description of their Christmas Eve 1944 battle in the bulge, and how a Belgium village renamed their main street to honor this battle brings goosebumps to my arms as I recall it. One man blinded in this battle by tank gun fire was happy to know that his dreadful wound was his Christmas gift of survival and evacuation to the rear. Others recall the blinded soldier crawling over them to the rear without a guide and wishing them all "Merry Christmas" as he groped his way to the medics miles behind the battle. It was a battle in which company K fixed and held a numerically superior armored force with only rifles and grenades. In one captured German city with still working phones, a German speaking GI got a call through to German Army HQ in Berlin to tell them to "expect company K in about two weeks." This book is full of personal accounts of horror and humor, terror and triumph. This book evokes visualization by the reader like no other account of infantry combat in Europe. I only wish that the publisher would put it back in print! It should be required reading for high school U.S. History classes. Not because it is a historical text, but rather for the personal context it gives to such a critical point in history.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning history brought to life, May 3, 2002

By 

J. Remington "John Remington" (Adams, Oregon USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Men of Company K, The (Mass Market Paperback)

It is almost tragic that this excellent, personal, detailed and brutally honest, heroic and even quietly poetic memoir has fallen out of print. This, perhaps one of the finest histories ever written about WWII, tells the story of the front line soldier from the first person.

Long before Saving Private Ryan inspired Tom Brokaw and the rest to capitalize on the rightfully named "Greatest Generation", Cambell and Leinbaugh's book captured the harrowing narrative of combat that so many men of that era are sadly taking to the grave with them. This book personlizes the story in a voice that appears to have been culled from a combat veteran reunion. The Men of Company K willingly recountsthe horror of battle as a permanent record. A warning really as to what freedom ultimately costs. May we be damned should we ever forget.

As a historical document, it boils in as much action and tension as any Clancy novel.

Ambrose frequently has used The Men of Company K as a carefully cited reference in his longer works. This alone may be a testament to its greatest. Please search this fine work out.