Together We Stand - North Africa 1942-1943 and Turning the Tide in West - James Holland

[NormanStewart]

@merdiolu

Following the Americans’ progress was Ernie Pyle. When he reached North Africa, his columns had been syndicated to forty-two newspapers throughout the USA. Such was his growing popularity, however, that figure was now over a hundred and twenty. Even in London, excerpts were being printed. He couldn’t understand it – as far as he was concerned he was doing little more than writing letters home. But at a time when there was no television, and little film coverage, his efforts to paint a picture of what their boys were up to brought it home to millions of Americans more clearly than any one else*.‘I love the infantry because they are the underdogs,’* he wrote. ‘They are the guys that wars can’t be won without.’ One day, during the Red Bulls’ assault on Hill 609, he watched a column of men returning from the front line, traipsing down a winding mountain track. ‘Their walk is slow,’ he noted, ‘for they are dead weary … Every line and sag speaks of their inhuman exhaustion. On their shoulders and backs they carry heavy steel tripods, machine-gun barrels, leaden boxes of ammunition. Their feet seem to sink into the ground from the overload they are bearing.’ He was shocked by their appearance. ‘Their faces are black and unshaven,’ he continued. ‘They are young men, but the grime and whiskers and exhaustion make them look middle-aged.’ His heart ached for them.

For anyone interesting in Pyle’s coverage of the war starting December 1942, check this thread out:

Roving Reporter, Ernie Pyle

The Pittsburgh Press (December 2, 1942) [pyle42] Roving Reporter By Ernie Pyle Ernie Pyle has arrived in North Africa to write a new series about U.S. troops abroad. This, the first, tells how the soldiers lived when they arrived in the new battle zone. WITH U.S. FORCES IN ALGIERS (Dec. 1, by wireless) – From now onward, stretching for months and months into the future, life is completely changed for thousands of American boys on this side of the earth. For at last they are in there figh…