This book is so well known by WWII readers that it needs no comment from me. You are not getting the world leaders or over all commanders view here. With MacDonald you are out in the forest, down in the foxhole and in the captures structures moving a company forward into enemy fire. The leading edges of battle are the platoons that are carrying the fight forward and MacDonald is mostly right behind them and sometimes with them, directing their activity as much as it can be directed; often reluctantly, based on commands from the rear from a batallion commander that can't see the danger like he can but commands from a larger view. A complelling look at retail warfare! If you want to know about WWII, this is one of the books that MUST be on your reading list.

The author served as a company commander in the 23rd Infantry Regt (2nd Inf Div) from just before the Bulge to the end of the war in Czechoslovakia. Unlike many of the other memoirs I have read, MacDonald wrote his account straight after the war, his book being first published in 1947. He was therefore able to recall a lot of the dialogue that happened around the events he experienced and as an army historian he obviously 'kept his hand in' with military life in general. We have then a fairly detailed account of his combat experiences, which include a dramatic day at the start of the Bulge and somewhat more unique, working (fighting) his way through the big flak gun batteries near the industrial areas of Germany. These are honest and graphic - to a degree. He reveals his own fears, for himself and for his men and while casualties are suffered and inflicted, the book has less of the gore that more recent memoirs seem to have. I think this reflects the time it was written. Things were more genteel then. Another trait of the times is MacDonald's practice of giving his men their full name, home town and state - something which to me is quaintly American - but reflective of the importance these men had to him and obviously, it also helps to involve the reader in their stories.

Happily for MacDonald his war was not as horrendous as some of the others. His commands are spared the truly high casualties. Sometimes by good luck, other times because experienced NCOs and platoon officers stayed alive and kept their men alive with them. This said there is still a lot of being pushed time and again at German defences, without rest and food. You truly feel for MacDonald and his soldiers. The authors own involvement in direct combat is limited but his job was to command others and he certainly shared the hardships they did.

I rate this book on a par with Wilson's "If you Survive'. They have different feels/strengths/emphasis but I feel they compliment each other nicely. For some reason I kept on wishing I'd found this book when I was 15. I suspect I would have loved it then. As it is I like it. It is engaging and interesting. I recommend it as a 'good' read.

Company Commander: The Classic Infantry Memoir of World War II by Charles B. MacDonald. I highly recommend Company Commander: The Classic Infantry Memoir of World War II by Charles B. MacDonald. 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 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 waste 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, sleepless, hungry, dirty, stressful, and very dangerous. 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 army officers who seek to command at company-level and 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 list 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. Read and reviewed by Jimmie A. Kepler in June 2006.