French MacLean, Author at The Fifth Field

About French MacLean

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So far French MacLean has created 267 blog entries.

This Date in History: March 20

Grave of Kinney Jones at the U.S. Oise-Aisne Military Cemetery

On Tuesday, March 20, 1945, Military Police officers First Lieutenant John W. Daschner, First Lieutenant William Vassil and Second Lieutenant Durey G. Ranck, the official executioners, hanged U.S. Army Private First Class Kinney Jones, Private John W. Taylor and Private John H. Mack at the Peninsular Base Section Stockade Number 1 located at Aversa, Italy for the crimes of murder. The remains of the condemned were later buried at the American Military Cemetery Oise-Aisne. (The Fifth Field: The Story of the 96 American Soldiers Sentenced to Death and Executed in Europe and North Africa in World War II)

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Hans Langsdorff

Hans Langsdorff, Navy Captain, born March 20, 1894 in Bergen auf Rugen, commander Graf Spee pocket battleship, winner of the Iron Cross 1st Class in World War I, fought British naval forces at the Battle of the River Plate and subsequently scuttled his ship in Montevideo harbor, committed suicide by gunshot December 20, 1939 in Buenos Aires, last words:

“I alone bear the responsibility for scuttling the Panzerschiff Graf Spee. I am happy to pay with my life to prevent any possible reflection on the honor of the flag. I shall meet my fate with firm faith in the cause and future of the nation and of my Führer. I am writing this letter to Your Excellency in the quiet of the evening, after calm reflection, in order that you may be able to inform my superior officers, and to counter any public rumors if this should become necessary.” (2,000 Quotes From Hitler’s 1,000-Year Reich)

This Date in History: March 20French MacLean2025-02-23T09:51:15-06:00

39th Infantry Regiment Opposition

An old military adage states that an army’s achievements in war must be measured in terms of the ferocity of its enemy. By that measure, the 39th Infantry Regiment faced tough units indeed:

10th Panzer Division — North Africa in Tunisia 1943. In combat since 1939: Poland, France, Russia. Part of the famed Africa Corps under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg in the unit until severely wounded on April 7, 1943. He later detonated the bomb that almost killed Hitler at Rastenburg on July 20, 1944.

15th Panzer Grenadier Division — Sicily in 1943. Later fought in Italy and on the Western Front at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. Commanded by Eberhard Rodt, winner of the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves.

Panzer Lehr Division — Normandy 1944 and Germany 1945. Quite simply, the most powerful unit in the German Army. Equipped with Panther and Tiger tanks; only German Army panzer division that could transport all its infantry in armored halftracks; all the others need some trucks. Most NCOs and Officers had extensive combat records and had taught tactics at various military schools; in many respects, the best of the best. Commanded at Normandy by Major General Hyacinth Graf Strachwitz von Gross-Zauche und Camminetz, who had a distinguished combat résumé even longer than his name. With the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds, he fought almost continuously since 1939, and been wounded twelve times. In Germany, the division was commanded by Colonel Paul Freiherr von Hauser, winner of the the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves.

3rd Fallschirmjaeger (Fallschirmjäger ) Division — Merode Castle 1944. Luftwaffe paratroop unit. Formed 1943 around a cadre consisting of the veteran 3rd Battalion, 1st Parachute Regiment that had ben in combat since 1939. Division was well equipped with 930 deadly MG42 machine guns. Each company had 20 MG 42s and 43 MP40 submachine guns, while each squad had 2 MG42s and 5 MP 40s.

91st Air Landing (Luftlande) Division — Army infantry division; air landing in name only. Normandy 1944. Commanded by Eugen König, winner of the the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves.

77th Infantry Division — Normandy 1944. Rated a first tier division, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel attempted to extricate the division from Normandy but was unsuccessful. Commanded by Rudolf Gustav Moritz , winner of the the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves.

275th Infantry Division — Hürtgen Forest 1944. Formed 1943. Commanded by Major General Hans Schmidt, winner of the the Knights Cross. Schmidt has no problems court-martialing officers who lack enthusiasm in the attack.

353rd Infantry Division — Hürtgen Forest 1944.

3rd Panzer Grenadier Division — Elsenborn Ridge, Battle of the Bulge, 1944. Formed 1934. Fought at Leningrad, Moscow and Stalingrad. Commanded by Major General Walter Denkert, winner of the Knights Cross. Part of the Sixth SS Panzer Army under SS General Josef “Sepp” Dietrich.

39th Infantry Regiment OppositionFrench MacLean2025-03-18T18:04:39-05:00

Review: Should be required reading in every history class

This review of Dying Hard was submitted on February 26, 2025 on Amazon.com. The reviewer titled it: “Should be required reading in every history class.”

I just finished reading this amazing book. I bought it presale several months ago before it came out and it was well worth the wait. My father was in the 9th Infantry, 39th Regiment, the same as the author’s father, but like most men of this generation, he didn’t talk about his experiences much. We had to learn about it from others. I was able to retrace his path with the 9th Division all the way from the landing at Normandy through France, Belgium and Germany through the help of this historic account.

Although I was well aware that these men had it tough and many didn’t come home, I didn’t have a full appreciation of what these men went through on a day to day basis. Through the inclusion of actual battle reports and his personal conversations with the children and grandchildren of many of the men in B Company, the author brought their experiences to life. My only hope is that the sacrifices that these men made, and what they endured, will never be forgotten now that most of them are gone. I highly recommend reading this book and sharing it with everyone you know. We owe it to the Greatest Generation that gave us our freedom that we enjoy today. Thank you French MacLean for all the hard work and painstaking detail that went in to preserving this history and the memories of what these men did for us.

Review: Should be required reading in every history classFrench MacLean2025-03-13T19:40:36-05:00

Fabulous Photographs

A review of Dying Hard recently on Amazon.com commented on the photographs and maps. The reader obviously analyzed these by categories. I wish I had done that too!

Fabulous Photographs

As an Infantry combat veteran of the Vietnam War and the Gulf War, I can attest that Dying Hard is the most realistic portrayal of infantry combat I have ever read. The facts and easy writing are obviously the keys to the book’s accuracy and smooth flow, and the photographs and maps are excellent as well. 10 large well-done maps help you follow the unit’s progress and each is located close to the text it illustrates so you don’t have to page back and forth.

Of the 95 photographs, 5 are in color; 14 are combat shots (bazooka, machineguns, mortars, patrolling, etc.) 23 are from the National Archives (NARA) and I have only seen one that was previously published- you are going to view a great deal for the first time. Others show general infantry life and includes one of Paddy Flint, George Patton awarding a Silver Star to the 39th Infantry Regiment commander, a couple showing graves, one (from the archives) showing a piece of a mattress cover used to bury a sergeant in Company B (we ran out of wooden caskets), and a wartime shot of the famous Town Pump bar where hundreds of soldiers from the 9th and 82nd divisions battled it out in a bar fight.

But the heart of the photos are 56 individual- and one group-shot with 9 more, of identified soldiers in Company B. Combined with detailed background of many of the soldiers, you are going to feel that you actually know many of them personally. That is the beauty of Dying Hard. It puts you there.

Fabulous PhotographsFrench MacLean2025-03-18T18:07:24-05:00

Dying Hard — Sleep

This is a typical description in the School of the Soldier section at the end of most chapters.

Sleep – For many an infantryman he is always tired. Really tired; in fact, after the war, a Hürtgen veteran stated: “I saw men die under artillery fire because they were so tired that they were only able to scratch the outline of a foxhole in the dirt.” Move here; move there. Carry this; carry that; now carry some more. Dig a foxhole all day; now go out on patrol tonight. Then go back in your foxhole and spend half of the rest of the night awake on security. And tomorrow? Do it all over again.

So, soldiers learn how to sleep in conditions that seem impossible to others. They are ingenious in staying dry enough to fall asleep, when water is dripping from overhanging trees, or oozing up from the wet ground below. Loud noises, causing civilians to wake up startled, are seemingly ignored by soldiers apparently slumbering in infant bliss. Once you get used to a few mortar rounds falling in your general vicinity, you can get used to almost anything. But don’t give in to the urge to sleep in captured bunkers; the straw inside is full of fleas and lice.

As to sleeping surfaces, GIs appear can almost levitate to be comfortable – curling around large rocks, avoiding sharp jutting roots, and steering clear of ground that might appear dry now, but will be damp by morning. Louis Benoist wrote about sleep: “You know you have seen pictures of infantrymen sleeping wherever they hit the ground. It can be done – I do it. After so long a time you have to get used to it. Not so bad when you do. After your hips get tough the ground gets pretty soft.” Some soldiers even claim they can slip into a sleeplike trance while walking – trudging one foot ahead of the other in thousands of repetitions – all the while staying the proper distance behind the trooper in front of him.

After the war, former combat soldiers – now fathers and grandfathers – can seemingly take a short catnap anywhere: the sofa; the ballgame; outside in the backyard, at the beach; listening to the wife, all while the kids and grandkids are running around screaming, crashing into furniture, playing tag, lighting fireworks, and causing general auditory mayhem.

Dying Hard — SleepFrench MacLean2025-03-02T08:00:20-06:00

Not Just Another War Book

Dying Hard is not just another war book. It is also about how Americans lived back in the World War II years. For example, you’ll read how soldiers back then scrounged and liberated alcohol, because, “No one is more creative than American service members at obtaining booze. They drink to celebrate; they drink to reduce stress; they drink to relieve boredom; they drink to avoid facing the images of terror slinking through the dark recesses of their minds; and they drink just to get gassed.”

Even General George Patton got in the act, writing home to his wife about a special Old Fashioned cocktail, that he had helped create. If he made it with his favorite bourbon, it went as follows: I.W. Harper’s Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey; “melt up a teaspoon of orange marmalade in a glass; add whiskey and stir; then add ice and drink; it is swell. You put a little water in first to melt the marmalade it [doesn’t] melt well in whiskey.”

You’ll read about the boxing fight for the heavy-weight championship of the world between American Joe Louis and German Max Schmeling. And how that was so important in society. 70 million people listened to the fight on radio in the US, as did a further 100 million around the world. Because there was no TV back then. You had to visualize in your mind what was going on.

And you’ll see how America’s most well-known Big Band leader, Glenn Miller, ended up in the US Army instead of the US Navy.

Then there’s baseball and its impact on America in this era. And Company B got into that act as well, when prior to the war, the future Company B first sergeant, Joe Gravino, signed a Major League contract to play for the St. Louis Cardinals — not a farm team, but on the big club under Billy Southworth in St. Louis!

Just another war book? Not hardly. But you will read about how Bob Hope got his start, and how his USO show wasn’t just entertainment — although that was really important. But more significantly, Bob Hope passed on what he sees overseas to the loved ones of these soldiers – who viewed his visits as vicarious travels they cannot make: “I was there. I saw your sons and your husbands, your brothers, and your sweethearts. I saw how they worked, played, fought, and lived. I saw some of them die. I saw more courage, more good humor in the face of discomfort, more love in an era of hate and more devotion to duty than could exist under tyranny.”

Not Just Another War BookFrench MacLean2025-03-18T18:09:29-05:00

A Distinguished Soldier’s View of Dying Hard

The following review comes from quite a remarkable US Army Infantry officer:

“I just finished Dying Hard. Wow! What a great read. You have captured the visceral feel of what the charter members of the Greatest Generation were so silent about. Your research is evident on every page and it makes the reading interesting, informative, and enjoyable. I do my reading in the last hour and a half every night. I found myself looking forward to that time during the day and in a few cases, like today, I cheated and read during the day.

I hope somehow that the children and descendants of the solders you write about know about the book. What joy and pride it would / will bring to them when they read it. I know the effort it must have taken to get the firsthand accounts and the diligence it took in your research to mine such great information and personal detail.

Your history of the company during the Battle of the Bulge gave the reader a great feel for the frustration and challenges leaders at the squad, platoon, and company level had to endure. The constant rotation of soldiers in and out of the company must have been frustrating and disheartening to leaders at every level. Reading Jack Dunlap’s detailed daily reports lays out exactly what junior leaders had to overcome to get the even simplest things done.

I recently read, Antony Beevor’s Ardennes 1944. Dying Hard gives a much better view of what that battle was like for the common soldier, not just the fighting but the challenges of everyday life as a grunt. Dying Hard introduced me to Paddy Flint. What a hero and great leader who understood how to inspire his entire unit with his lead from the front and deeds not words leadership.

I very much enjoyed the School of the Solder. It brought back many memories. This 30 veteran learned some things I did not know about the gear that I carried for three decades. It’s funny, my Dad gave the same advice about not playing cards with Sergeants. I caught myself several times wiping a tear from my eye as I read about the great soldiers lives during and after the war. They truly were the Greatest Generation and the Silent Generation.

I am glad that you have written a book about one of the many units that were not elite or famous. These were the yeoman units that really won the war but unfortunately got very little press, praise, or recognition. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed Dying Hard. You have helped me decide on what to buy my son for Christmas. The research is exceptional, and the writing is wonderful. It stands among the very best WWII reads I have had.”

A Distinguished Soldier’s View of Dying HardFrench MacLean2025-01-08T16:08:13-06:00

Dying Hard — Selected Quotations

Below are a few captions that accompany some of the excellent photos in the book, so you know what to expect!

The Town Pump – Fayetteville 1942. The fights, brawls, and near-riots here involving soldiers of the 9th Infantry and 82nd Airborne proved that the US Army had found its “hard core of scrappers.” Note 9th Infantry patch on bottom center soldier.

Company B sprinted across the Remagen bridge under heavy fire on March 10, 1945. “When we got to the end we found a captain and his driver in a jeep burning like an inferno, a direct hit.”

When the Army issued a few beers to soldiers off the line, such as to the 9th Infantry in November 1944, it was just bowing to the inevitable, because no one is more creative than American service members at obtaining booze.

Private Snafu – goofy, ignorant, and obnoxious; star of 25 episodes of short US War Department black and white films instructing soldiers what not to do. One of the best was “Episode 5 – The Infantry Blues.” Most were written by Theodor Geisel, later author of children’s books under the pen name of Dr. Seuss.

Colonel Harry “Paddy” Flint outside his headquarters, England in 1944. The 39th Infantry took on his fighting spirit and trademark AAAO. The black handkerchief? Paddy explained, “It’s the pirate in me!”

Front gate Merode Castle. Bouncing Betty landmines, barbed wire, machine guns and snipers could not prevent First Battalion from storming the castle.

39th Infantry medics transfer wounded from sled to jeep and Weasel near Höfen January 31, 1945.

First photo of American forces liberating Stalag VI G April 13, 1945. Unit chaplains organize a religious service for the prisoners.

Major General Joseph Lawton “Lightning Joe” Collins during Merode attack. When the corps commander is watching your attack, you know you’ll get plenty of supporting artillery.

Dying Hard — Selected QuotationsFrench MacLean2024-11-30T14:44:27-06:00

Initial Thoughts on Dying Hard

An initial review from an “old” US Army Infantry colonel after reading Dying Hard:

I just finished Dying Hard. Wow! What a great read. You have captured the visceral feel of what the charter members of the Greatest Generation were so silent about. You research is evident on every page and it makes the reading interesting, informative, and enjoyable. I do my reading in the last hour and a half every night. I found myself looking forward to that time during the day and in a few cases, like today, I cheated and read during the day.

Dying Hard gives a much better view of what that battle was like for the common soldier, not just the fighting but the challenges of everyday life as a grunt. Dying Hard [also] introduced me to Paddy Flint. What a hero and great leader who understood how to inspire his entire unit with his lead from the front and deeds not words leadership. I want to learn more about him. His letter to Gen. Bradley was prophetic.

I very much enjoyed the School of the Soldier. It brought back many memories. This 30 veteran learned some things I did not know about the gear that I carried for three decades. It’s funny, my Dad gave the same advice about not playing cards with Sergeants. I caught myself several times wiping a tear from my eye as I read about the great soldiers lives during and after the war. They truly were the Greatest Generation and the Silent Generation.

One of the big surprises to me was the number of times solders were wounded, many 2-3 times. Some used the wound to get out of the war, but the number who just wanted to get back to B company is a testament to the kind of men we bred back then.

I am glad that you have written a book about one of the many units that were not elite or famous. These were the yeoman units that really won the war but unfortunately got very little press, praise, or recognition. I particularly enjoyed following your father’s story line in the book. His story is fascinating. To survive the combat and then the Stalag was quite an accomplishment.

I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed Dying Hard. You have helped me decide on what to buy my son for Christmas. I have and will recommend it to all my friends as a must read.

Dying Hard stands among the very best WWII reads I have had. The research is exceptional, and the writing is wonderful.

Initial Thoughts on Dying HardFrench MacLean2024-12-28T15:04:26-06:00

Dying Hard — Table of Contents

The American Army

Foreword – The American Soldier

Introduction – “Things Ain’t What They Used To Be”

Preface/Acknowledgments

Chapter 1 – Long Ago and Far Away, Ft. Bragg

Includes: Marksmanship Training; The Letter; Goldbricking; Mess Halls

Chapter 2 – The Old Reliables, Algeria, Tunisia, Sicily & England

Includes: Your Helmet; Private Snafu; Combat Fatigue; Mustangs; Officers & Sergeants; Combat Infantryman Badge; Bob Hope; The Army Way; Wounds

Chapter 3 – The Americans are coming! Across France & Belgium

Includes: Medics; Bazooka; Hooch; Sleep; Krauts, Jerries, Huns, Heinies & Fritz; IV-Fs & Jody; Tiger Tank; Guardian Angel

Chapter 4 – The Hell of the Hürtgen

Includes: May Hosiery Mill; Navigating through the Woods; C-Rations & K-Rations; German Discipline; M1s & BARs; Mortars; Maps; Pneumonia; Sounds

Chapter 5 – The Hohes Venn, Elsenborn Ridge (1), Merode Castle

Includes: Trench Foot; Unit Call Signs; Latrines; Gas Masks; Deuce and a Half; Foxholes; Booby Traps; The Uniform; Foraging, Scrounging & Looting; Radios; Infantry Tactics; Penicillin; Malmedy

Chapter 6 – Battle of the Bulge, Elsenborn Ridge (2), Kalterherberg

Includes: Glenn Miller; Hey Joe. Whaddya know?; Spam; Continental Stockade; Barbed Wire; Fruitcake; Victory Mail

Chapter 7 – Mac’s War Stalag VI G

Includes: Dog Tags; Missing in Action; Typhus

Chapter 8 – Dying a Man at a Time

Includes: Repple Depots; Silver Star; Snipers; Beware Traitor…the Werwolf Watches

Chapter 9 – “Show Me the Way to Go Home”

Includes: Operation Downfall

Conclusion – “I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me”

Includes: where every soldier who died in the final year of the war is buried

Epilogue – The Silent Generation

Includes: postwar information on many of the soldiers who survived

Appendix: Company B Personnel

Includes: name, service number, rank, duty positions, medals received, dates became casualties

Endnotes & Bibliography

Dying Hard — Table of ContentsFrench MacLean2024-10-25T12:04:05-05:00