Bookcover: A Machine-Gunner in France: The Memoirs of Ward Schrantz, 35th Division, 1917-1919

A Machine-Gunner in France: The Memoirs of Ward Schrantz, 35th Division, 1917-1919

vol. 16: North Texas Military Biography and Memoir Series

Jeffrey L. Patrick — editor.

April, 2019

Published

400

Pages

44 b&w illus. 4 maps. Notes. Bib. Index.

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$34.95

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About Patrick's A Machine-Gunner in France

This is the WWI memoir of Ward Schrantz, a National Guard officer and machine gun company commander in the Kansas-Missouri 35^th^ Division. He extensively documents his experiences and those of his men, from training at Camp Doniphan to their voyage across the Atlantic, and to their time in the trenches in France’s Vosges Mountains and ultimately to their return home. He devotes much of his memoir to the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, in which the 35^th^ Division suffered heavy casualties and made only moderate gains before being replaced by fresh troops. Schrantz also describes the daily life of a soldier, including living conditions, relations between officers and enlisted men, and the horrific experience of combat.

Editor Jeffrey Patrick combines his narrative with excerpts from a detailed history of the unit that Schrantz wrote for his local newspaper, and also provides an editor’s introduction and annotations.

About the Editor

JEFFREY L. PATRICK is the librarian at Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield in Republic, Missouri. He holds a master’s degree in history from Purdue University and is the editor of Guarding the Border: The Memoirs of Ward Schrantz, U.S. Army, 1912-1917.

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