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    The Rise of the G.I. Army, 1940-1941: The Forgotten Story of How America Forged a Powerful Army Before Pearl Harbor
    Unavailable
    The Rise of the G.I. Army, 1940-1941: The Forgotten Story of How America Forged a Powerful Army Before Pearl Harbor
    Unavailable
    The Rise of the G.I. Army, 1940-1941: The Forgotten Story of How America Forged a Powerful Army Before Pearl Harbor
    Ebook675 pages10 hours

    The Rise of the G.I. Army, 1940-1941: The Forgotten Story of How America Forged a Powerful Army Before Pearl Harbor

    By Paul Dickson

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    The dramatic, untold story of how the American Army was mobilized from scattered outposts two years before Pearl Harbor into the disciplined and mobile fighting force that helped win World War II

    In September 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland and initiated World War II, a strong strain of isolationism existed in Congress and across the country. The U.S. Army stood at fewer than 200,000 men—unprepared to defend the country, much less carry the fight to Europe and the Far East. And yet, less than a year after Pearl Harbor, the American army led the Allied invasion of North Africa, beginning the campaign that would defeat Germany, and the Navy and Marines were fully engaged with Japan in the Pacific.

    The story of America’s astounding industrial mobilization during World War II has been told. But what has never been chronicled before Paul Dickson’s The Rise of the G. I. Army, 1940-1941 is the extraordinary transformation of America’s military from a disparate collection of camps with dilapidated equipment into a well-trained and spirited army ten times its prior size in little more than eighteen months. From Franklin Roosevelt’s selection of George C. Marshall to be Army Chief of Staff to the remarkable peace-time draft of 1940 and the massive and unprecedented mock battles in Tennessee, Louisiana, and the Carolinas by which the skill and spirit of the Army were forged and out of which iconic leaders like Eisenhower, Bradley, and Clark emerged; Dickson narrates America’s urgent mobilization against a backdrop of political and cultural isolationist resistance and racial tension at home, and the increasingly perceived threat of attack from both Germany and Japan.

    An important addition to American history, The Rise of the G. I. Army, 1940-1941 is essential to our understanding of America’s involvement in World War II.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAtlantic Monthly Press
    Release dateJul 7, 2020
    ISBN9780802147684
    Author

    Paul Dickson

    Paul Dickson is the author of more than forty books, including The Joy of Keeping Score, The Dickson Baseball Dictionary, Baseball's Greatest Quotations, and Baseball: The Presidents' Game. In addition to baseball, his specialties include Americana and language. He lives in Garrett Park, Maryland.

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    Reviews for The Rise of the G.I. Army, 1940-1941

    4.5/5

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    • 5/5
      An interesting look at how the United States Army evolved in the five or so years before the U.S. entered the war, with a particular look at the last eighteen months before Pearl Harbor. A lot of space is given over (rightfully so) to an analysis of the gigantic war games carried on in the Carolinas and Louisiana, and what effects that had on personnel, equipment and tactics. There is also a lot given over to the political wrangles of the time, including the decisive vote to extend draftees' military service in 1941, and the possible "OHIO" (over the hill in October [1941]) ramifications. Well written, and with a decent selection of photographs. I think some more maps would have been nice.