A Ramble Through My War: Anzio and Other Joys

A fluent German speaker, Marshall was assigned to the intelligence section of the U.S. Army's Sixth Corps. He wound up in the hellhole of Anzio, entered liberated Rome, took part in the August 1944 invasion of southern France and followed the advance through Alsace and across the Rhine into Germany. Throughout it all, Marshall kept the clandestine diary that forms the basis of this book. Marshall's task was to assess captured German documents; often, his detachment actively explored liberated villages and towns, searching for papers that would shed light on the German army. His men also interrogated prisoners of war and integrated all their information into daily reports. (Readers will learn the refined techniques developed to glean important details from prisoners who did not know they were helping their captors.) Marshall was able to read Erwin Rommel's letters and reports and was the first to interview his widow; in the process, the young American learned the truth about Rommel's death and about the subsequent cover-up. He developed a rapport with Lucie Rommel and, after the war, interviewed her and the general's staff, finally publishing Discovering the Rommel Murder in 1974. Conversations with generals, descriptions of concentration camps and vignettes of soldiers and civilians also figure into this engrossing, perceptive memoir. Includes b&w photos from the author's private collection. (Dec.)