Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

12-1996

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

History

Major Professor

Charles Johnson

Committee Members

Russell Buhite, John Muldowny, Ed Caudill

Abstract

Utilizing almost exclusively primary sources, this dissertation is dedicated wholly to the study of the American combat soldier in World War II. The first section, “The World of the Combat Soldier,” examines what it was like to be one of those comparetively few Americans who fought World War II on the ground. Within this section are chapters discussing food, equipment and weapons employed by American combat soldiers in World War II; the kind of conditions they experienced both in Europe and the Pacific; how they went about fighting the enemy; and what becoming a casualty entailed. The second section of this study, “The Soul of the Combat Soldier,” examines commonly held attitudes, motivations, and opinions of combat troops including how they felt about their German and Japanese enemies; as well as how they felt about non-combat troops, civilians and replacements. The most important argument which drives this entire study is that American combat soldiers, despite varying backgrounds and ideas, shared a “brotherhood” which enabled them to fight very effectively and which also enabled them to endure the horror of modern industrial age warfare.

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