Customer Reviews

The Other Side of Time: A Combat Surgeon In World War II

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Other Side of Time, is, along with Paul Fussell's Wartime, one of the best books ever written about World War II. Brendan Phibbs was a combat surgeon drafted into the Army in 1942 who saw service in Europe later in the war. The book is written from the diaries he kept at the time and re-read years later. Some of the passages in this book are incredibly beautiful, the first
story, about the burial of an ordinary soldier named Wally is
fantastic. The book pulls no punches, Phibbs talks about the anti-semitism of his fellow doctors, the incompetence of many US military officers, the evil of the Germans and the stupidity of our Department of State in repatriating Russian POWs and displaced persons back to Stalinist Russia after the war. These stories make it hard to read, you want to weep when you read about the indifference of American medical authorities to the suffering of death camp inmates and gnash your teeth at the incompetence of our officers who sent inferior American tanks into head to head battles with the superior German panzers, only to see them destroyed. But despite these stories the heroism of the soldiers that Phibbs served with shines through. I really wish that they would reprint this book, or that HBO would do a series based on it as they did on Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers.

This book deserves the accolades all of the reviews to date have given it. It is simply a great book, and no review can do justice to Phibbs' story and the way he tells it. This is a different take on war, from a surgeon who was 'there' but not fighting, at the end, as the Allies raced across Europe to cross the Rhine and end the bloody mess. Phibbs was like a fly on the wall in the command tents, and the things this fly saw were truly amazing. A poignant and beautifully told memoir of the horror of it all.

This book should be required reading for every human being on the planet. The author not only paints pictures with words, he makes you feel the emotion of the moment in your own heart. Wait until you read about the girl playing the piano and you will know what I mean.

Enough said.

Dr. Phibbs has documented in superb detail all the frustations, rewards and horrible reality of the frontline surgeon detailed to ground troops. This book should be read by anyone now in the US Army Medical Corps, and will remind those of us not in active service how demanding and shocking is the real work of the Battlion Surgeon. He has also shown clearly the delicate threads that make up the fabric of the combat soldier's brotherhood.

One of my all-time favorite books, this is a beautifully written account of what WWII was actually like for US Infantry in western Europe. Unlike many WW II books in which the men who did the actual fighting are reduced to footnotes, the ordinary soldier is the "hero" of this book. These men come across in Phibb's book as what they were: ordinary Americans who overcame mind-numbing horror and fatigue in order to force the Nazis back into their holes. Steven Spileberg should have made this book into a movie instead of "Saving Private Ryan" if he had wanted to show what the war in western Europe was really like for ordinary soldiers.

Unsentimental autobigraphical account of the infantry in Europe in World War II. Very well written. Like the author Paul Fussell both were there and both depart from the saccharine look at WWII. This book should be required reading for the military. Similiar to the movie, "When Trumpets Fade".

this is an honest, in-your-face account of front line fighting in Europe during WWII. it exposes the military hierarchy in a way that should make all US citizens never miss the chance to vote. his accounts of the medical problems amaze this practicing physician of 20 years. this should receive the same accolades as The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw. Dr. Phibbs needs to continue to write in his incomperable style.

Forget "Saving Private Ryan"--this is the real deal, the front lines story written by a combat surgeon without any of romantic claptrap. A bracing, funny, terrifying read--a classic of the genre. Granted, there are moments when the writing is a tad florid, but the reader quickly forgives these tangents--the core of the book holds your attention like few other books. If everyone read this book, there'd be far fewer wars.

"The Other Side Of Time" by Brendan Phibbs; sub-titled: "A Combat Surgeon In World War II. Little, Brown, and Company, Boston, 1987.

The writing in this book is superb. The insight equals the writing. Dr. Brendan Phipps was training as a surgeon when the Second World War interfered with his life. Some forty years later, after the death of his wife and after his children "scattered", he sat down with a box, full of notebooks ("...one stained with long-oxidized blood) , reports, a German soldier's paybook and a "...few pages of military jargon", to write his memoirs. He did a great job.

His book covers the end of the war in Europe, when American forces were advancing into Germany and it was becoming clear that the war was over. His comments hit the highpoints of many other books: "...they (the Germans) have dumber generals than we have". (Page 91). "An elderly Irishman ... (stated) ... that Germans learned slower than pigs at their Latin." (Page 90). American Sherman tanks burn: "Bitter commentary on American engineering. American slavish addition to high-octane gasoline; diesel-fueled , heavily armored German tanks keep right on coming." (Page 152). But, throughout it all, he is able to put a human face on the horror and terror that they experienced. Because of his ability in French and German, Dr. Phibbs also brings some of the other side into his book, as when he describes how the collaborators were dealt with in the so-called Colmar Pocket in France.

This book is, perhaps, one of the best-written memoirs of World War II. His last sentence in the Preface:
"Please, young people, listen to us before we leave."

I have an old paperback copy of this book that I have passed from friend to friend. Mr. Phibbs is one of those rare writers that can paint pictures with words. The book should be added to college reading lists. The author writes about his life as a combat surgeon during WW II. It is a classic.