This past month I reread "Company Commander: The Classic Infantry Memoir of World War II" by Charles B. MacDonald. I highly recommend the book.
At just 21 years of age, Captain Charles B. MacDonald first commanded I Company, 3 Battalion 23rd Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division from October 1944 to January 1945 and later G Company, 2 Battalion 23rd Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division from March to May 1945.
This memoir was written in 1947 when recollections were still sharp. It resulted in a very detailed account of what it was like to take command of a line infantry company and lead it into battle.
The book gives us a template for writing a personal military memoir. It is by far the finest memoir of any junior officer in World War II.
Charles MacDonald does a great job of keeping his focus on his own experiences. He does not speculate or wastes my time by giving conjecture on the big picture. We only have first-hand information from the events of his personal participation.
He sticks to what life was like for a junior officer in command of an infantry company. We share his sleepless nights, hunger, the dirt and filth from lack of personal hygiene, stressful situations, and dangers. He takes us from the Siegfried Line in the Ardennes, through the Battle of the Bulge, and to the end of the war in the Czechoslovakia.
This book is a must-read for all US Army junior officers who seek to command at company-level. It is informative for military historians as well. It is still required reading at West Point and on the company level officer (second lieutenant, first lieutenant, and captain) recommended reading lists by the U.S. Army today.
Upon this book's publication in 1947, Charles B. MacDonald was invited to join the U.S. Army Center of Military History as a civilian historian, the start of a career during which he wrote three of the official histories of World War II in Europe and supervised the preparation of others.
The book is simply the best. You will be turning the pages and feel as if you are there.
