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Assignment to Hell: The War Against Nazi Germany with Correspondents Walter
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Assignment to Hell: The War Against Nazi Germany with Correspondents Walter Cronkite, Andy Rooney, a .J. Liebling, Homer Bigart, and Hal B Paperback - 2013

by Timothy M. Gay

Those who reported on World War II were not spared by the enemy. These are the compelling true stories of five war correspondentsNWalter Cronkite, Andy Rooney, A.J. Liebling, Homer Bigart, and Hal BoyleNwho witnessed the war against Hitler's forces firsthand.


Summary

THEIR WORK ON THE FRONT LINES MADE HEADLINES

In February 1943, a group of journalists—including a young wire service correspondent named Walter Cronkite and cub reporter Andy Rooney—clamored to fly along on a bombing raid over Nazi Germany. Seven of the sixty-four bombers that attacked a U-boat base that day never made it back to England. A fellow survivor, Homer Bigart of the New York Herald Tribune, asked Cronkite if he’d thought through a lede. “I think I’m going to say,” mused Cronkite, “that I’ve just returned from an assignment to hell.”

Assignment to Hell tells the powerful and poignant story of the war against Hitler through the eyes of five intrepid reporters. Cronkite crashed into Holland on a glider with U.S. paratroopers. Rooney dodged mortar shells as he raced across the Rhine at Remagen. Behind enemy lines in Sicily, Bigart jumped into an amphibious commando raid that nearly ended in disaster. The New Yorker’s A. J. Liebling ducked sniper fire as Allied troops liberated his beloved Paris. The Associated Press’s Hal Boyle barely escaped SS storm troopers as he uncovered the massacre of U.S. soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge.

This book serves as a stirring tribute to five of World War II’s greatest correspondents and to the brave men and women who fought on the front lines against fascism—their generation’s “assignment to hell.”

From the publisher

"A book every modern journalist--and citizen--should read."--Tom Brokaw, Author of The Greatest Generation In February 1943, a group of journalists--including a young wire service correspondent named Walter Cronkite and cub reporter Andy Rooney--clamored to fly along on a bombing raid over Nazi Germany. Seven of the sixty-four bombers that attacked a U-boat base that day never made it back to England. A fellow survivor, Homer Bigart of the New York Herald Tribune, asked Cronkite if he'd thought through a lede. "I think I'm going to say," mused Cronkite, "that I've just returned from an assignment to hell." Assignment to Hell tells the powerful and poignant story of the war against Hitler through the eyes of five intrepid reporters. Cronkite crashed into Holland on a glider with U.S. paratroopers. Rooney dodged mortar shells as he raced across the Rhine at Remagen. Behind enemy lines in Sicily, Bigart jumped into an amphibious commando raid that nearly ended in disaster. The New Yorker's A. J. Liebling ducked sniper fire as Allied troops liberated his beloved Paris. The Associated Press's Hal Boyle barely escaped SS storm troopers as he uncovered the massacre of U.S. soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge. This book serves as a stirring tribute to five of World War II's greatest correspondents and to the brave men and women who fought on the front lines against fascism--their generation's "assignment to hell."

Details

  • Title Assignment to Hell: The War Against Nazi Germany with Correspondents Walter Cronkite, Andy Rooney, a .J. Liebling, Homer Bigart, and Hal B
  • Author Timothy M. Gay
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Reprint
  • Pages 528
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Dutton Caliber
  • Date 2013-05-07
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Bibliography, Illustrated, Index, Maps, Price on Product - Canadian, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780451417152 / 0451417151
  • Weight 1.1 lbs (0.50 kg)
  • Dimensions 8.8 x 6 x 1.3 in (22.35 x 15.24 x 3.30 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: 1940's
  • Library of Congress subjects World War, 1939-1945 - Campaigns - Europe, World War, 1939-1945 - Campaigns - Africa,
  • Dewey Decimal Code 070.449

Media reviews

“A book every modern journalist—and citizen—should read.”—Tom Brokaw, author of The Greatest Generation

“A sprightly synthesis of literature and history… unique [and] engaging.”—Kirkus Reviews

“If one can say that reading a book titled Assignment to Hell was a delight, I say it now. The stories are so vivid and alive all these years later that I felt I was there with the legendary correspondents of World War II as they wrote their way from France to Germany.”—David Maraniss, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author of They Marched into Sunlight

About the author

Timothy M. Gay is the author of Satch, Dizzy, & Rapid Robert: The Wild Saga of Interracial Baseball before Jackie Robinson and Tris Speaker: The Rough-and-Tumble Life of a Baseball Legend. His essays and op-eds on American history, politics, public policy, and sports have appeared in the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, USA Today, and many other publications. A graduate of Georgetown University, where he majored in American history, Tim lives in Virginia with his wife and children.
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