This book would serve as an interesting prelude to Atkinson's "The Making of an Army. It was written by an embedded journalist observer. following an early WW2 battle in Africa. It is a candid, naive but compelling view of US soldiers as they changed from citizens to soldiers. His rather bleak end notes demonstrate his serious concerns about the possibility of Germany winning and dominating Europe. ( )

Ralph McAllister Ingersoll was a famous person before the war: The publisher of a (failed) self-consciously liberal newspaper called PM. After the events described in this book, he worked his way into a job in the crucially important apparatus responsible for Allied military deception. (Along with a surprising number of other famous people: best-selling travel writer Peter Fleming, brother of Ian; popular novelist Dennis Wheatley; movie star Douglas Fairbanks Jr.). Read about it in The Deceivers by Thaddeus Holt.

A very interesting account of the battle for El Guettar in North Africa written by Ralph Ingersoll, a 42 year old trained journalist and soldier. He acts in both capacities during the preparations, arduous march and actual battle. Officially he was an "officer-observer" on assignment with a company of engineers in the First Infantry Division. We get very good descriptions of what exactly an engineer company does. We learn all about water points where the engineers work to supply clean drinking water and we learn about mine disposal and the engineer's job to remove all other barriers that prevent an army from moving where it wants to go. There is a didactic tone to the book as Ingersoll explains in detail how various other units of the army all contribute to the over-all performance of the larger goals. This is done, however, in a manner that is interesting and understandable to the general public, the audience he wanted to reach. All of this leads up to the battle itself where he gives an almost technical account of fear, the body's reaction to a 15 mile march over rocky hills and finally vignettes from the battle and ensuing counter-attack. Although he carried a gun and helped the company commander in various ways, the working of his journalist mind was continually taking apart the scenes to later describe the actual mechanics of what was happening. The book was written immediately after this assignment while Ingersoll was on leave and when the outcome of the war was still in doubt. ( )