Publisher's Synopsis
Two commanders. Two voices. One war seen from inside the belly of the beast - Firsthand accounts from the 304th Tank Brigade in World War I.
In this remarkable volume, War Diary 1918, by George Patton and Ranulf Compton, readers are given a rare, day-by-day window into the brutal birth of modern armored warfare. From September 1918 through the final days leading to the Armistice, Patton-then commander of the 304th Tank Brigade-documents his experiences in the first U.S. tank operations at St. Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne.
But this book offers more than just Patton's perspective.
It also includes the war diary of Ranulf Compton, one of Patton's battalion commanders-and the man who took charge of front-line tank operations after Patton was wounded in late September. Compton's entries begin earlier, in mid-August, and extend well into October-covering some of the most intense combat of the war with unflinching candor.
Inside these pages:
Patton's driven, strategic entries-full of insight, urgency, and personal investment in the tank's success
Compton's lesser-known but critical perspective-candid, practical, and often more skeptical of early tank warfare
A dual narrative that contrasts vision with experience, ambition with boots-on-the-ground reality
Rare firsthand accounts of America's first armored battles, including the fog, frustration, and flashes of brilliance that shaped modern combat
For military historians and Patton admirers alike, this is an essential addition to the canon-a unique double-voice account of how tanks changed the battlefield forever.
Patton believed in the tank. Compton had to make it work.
The inside story of America's first tank battles-told by the men who lived them.
