Book Description

Excerpt from History of the 89th Division, U. S. A: From Its Organization in 1917, Through Its Operations in the World War, the Occupation of Germany and Until Demobilization in 1919 With Maps, Photographs, Official Reports, Honor and Casuality Lists, Etc The author is conscious that for thousands of men, including himself, life reached its climax in the acts related in this history; that for thousands of others, whose hearts were with loved ones in the fighting line while their bodies must perforce remain at home, these events, dimly perceived at the time through the veil of the censorship and even as yet only partially known, evoked emotions which will never die away. He is aware that even among the actual participants, including himself, a very limited knowledge of the great whole was ever possible to any one man. His attempt has been to present a connected view of the division, not only of its parts in relation to each other, but in the division's relation to the great war, to the entire body of the American Expeditionary Forces and to the enemy. He has endeavored to tell his story simply, avoiding fulsome praise and the attempt to be eloquent, yet not shrinking from the narration of dis agreeable incidents nor from making criticism which he deemed just. He has, to the utmost of his ability, reconciled conflicting reports of the same opera tion or event, has weighed the available evidence and stated the result as it appeared to his impartial judgment. He has striven for accuracy above all things else. He is conscious of many shortcomings in execution, but of none in desire to do justice to his subject. Necessarily his viewpoint is that of the division as a whole. Exploits of individuals and accomplishments of the separate organizations within the division have been used as typical incidents illustrating the general narrative. But for anything like a complete account of such details, reference must of necessity be made to the histories of the various organizations, some of which have already been published. In dealing with such subjects the historian was limited by availability of information. He could tell only what he knew from his own experience-or from data which came into his hands in the form of military reports or personal anecdotes. The lack of such information was especially felt in respect to the Artillery Brigade, the Trains and special units. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.