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The Beardless Warriors
In 1944, long before he wrote such classic novels as I Am Legend and What Dreams May Come, author Richard Matheson served as an eighteen-year-old replacement in the 87th Division during the latter part of the war in Europe. His tour of duty there inspired this acclaimed novel, The Beardless Warriors, about a group of equally young and inexperienced soldiers thrown into the fury of combat.The Beardless Warriors are a squad of teenage U.S. infantrymen fighting their way across Germany during the final weeks of the war. Under fire and in over their heads, the fresh-faced young men must grow up fast if they ever hope to see home again.Everett Hackermeyer is the latest soldier to join the squad, Hack, a troubled youth from a hellish family background, faces a new kind of inferno on the front lines, only to discover hidden reserves he never knew he possessed. Ironically, he doesn't come to value his own life until he runs the very real chance of losing it.
Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1960
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About the author
Richard Matheson
759 books4,809 followersBorn in Allendale, New Jersey to Norwegian immigrant parents, Matheson was raised in Brooklyn and graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1943. He then entered the military and spent World War II as an infantry soldier. In 1949 he earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and moved to California in 1951. He married in 1952 and has four children, three of whom (Chris, Richard Christian, and Ali Matheson) are writers of fiction and screenplays.
His first short story, "Born of Man and Woman," appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1950. The tale of a monstrous child chained in its parents' cellar, it was told in the first person as the creature's diary (in poignantly non-idiomatic English) and immediately made Matheson famous. Between 1950 and 1971, Matheson produced dozens of stories, frequently blending elements of the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres.
Several of his stories, like "Third from the Sun" (1950), "Deadline" (1959) and "Button, Button" (1970) are simple sketches with twist endings; others, like "Trespass" (1953), "Being" (1954) and "Mute" (1962) explore their characters' dilemmas over twenty or thirty pages. Some tales, such as "The Funeral" (1955) and "The Doll that Does Everything" (1954) incorporate zany satirical humour at the expense of genre clichés, and are written in an hysterically overblown prose very different from Matheson's usual pared-down style. Others, like "The Test" (1954) and "Steel" (1956), portray the moral and physical struggles of ordinary people, rather than the then nearly ubiquitous scientists and superheroes, in situations which are at once futuristic and everyday. Still others, such as "Mad House" (1953), "The Curious Child" (1954) and perhaps most famously, "Duel" (1971) are tales of paranoia, in which the everyday environment of the present day becomes inexplicably alien or threatening.
He wrote a number of episodes for the American TV series The Twilight Zone, including "Steel," mentioned above and the famous "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"; adapted the works of Edgar Allan Poe for Roger Corman and Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out for Hammer Films; and scripted Steven Spielberg's first feature, the TV movie Duel, from his own short story. He also contributed a number of scripts to the Warner Brothers western series "The Lawman" between 1958 and 1962. In 1973, Matheson earned an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his teleplay for The Night Stalker, one of two TV movies written by Matheson that preceded the series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Matheson also wrote the screenplay for Fanatic (US title: Die! Die! My Darling!) starring Talullah Bankhead and Stefanie Powers.
Novels include The Shrinking Man (filmed as The Incredible Shrinking Man, again from Matheson's own screenplay), and a science fiction vampire novel, I Am Legend, which has been filmed three times under the titles The Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth and once under the original title. Other Matheson novels turned into notable films include What Dreams May Come, Stir of Echoes, Bid Time Return (as Somewhere in Time), and Hell House (as The Legend of Hell House) and the aforementioned Duel, the last three adapted and scripted by Matheson himself. Three of his short stories were filmed together as Trilogy of Terror, including "Prey" with its famous Zuni warrior doll.
In 1960, Matheson published The Beardless Warriors, a nonfantastic, autobiographical novel about teenage American soldiers in World War II.
He died at his home on June 23, 2013, at the age of 87
http://us.macmillan.com/author/richar...
His first short story, "Born of Man and Woman," appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1950. The tale of a monstrous child chained in its parents' cellar, it was told in the first person as the creature's diary (in poignantly non-idiomatic English) and immediately made Matheson famous. Between 1950 and 1971, Matheson produced dozens of stories, frequently blending elements of the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres.
Several of his stories, like "Third from the Sun" (1950), "Deadline" (1959) and "Button, Button" (1970) are simple sketches with twist endings; others, like "Trespass" (1953), "Being" (1954) and "Mute" (1962) explore their characters' dilemmas over twenty or thirty pages. Some tales, such as "The Funeral" (1955) and "The Doll that Does Everything" (1954) incorporate zany satirical humour at the expense of genre clichés, and are written in an hysterically overblown prose very different from Matheson's usual pared-down style. Others, like "The Test" (1954) and "Steel" (1956), portray the moral and physical struggles of ordinary people, rather than the then nearly ubiquitous scientists and superheroes, in situations which are at once futuristic and everyday. Still others, such as "Mad House" (1953), "The Curious Child" (1954) and perhaps most famously, "Duel" (1971) are tales of paranoia, in which the everyday environment of the present day becomes inexplicably alien or threatening.
He wrote a number of episodes for the American TV series The Twilight Zone, including "Steel," mentioned above and the famous "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"; adapted the works of Edgar Allan Poe for Roger Corman and Dennis Wheatley's The Devil Rides Out for Hammer Films; and scripted Steven Spielberg's first feature, the TV movie Duel, from his own short story. He also contributed a number of scripts to the Warner Brothers western series "The Lawman" between 1958 and 1962. In 1973, Matheson earned an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his teleplay for The Night Stalker, one of two TV movies written by Matheson that preceded the series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Matheson also wrote the screenplay for Fanatic (US title: Die! Die! My Darling!) starring Talullah Bankhead and Stefanie Powers.
Novels include The Shrinking Man (filmed as The Incredible Shrinking Man, again from Matheson's own screenplay), and a science fiction vampire novel, I Am Legend, which has been filmed three times under the titles The Omega Man and The Last Man on Earth and once under the original title. Other Matheson novels turned into notable films include What Dreams May Come, Stir of Echoes, Bid Time Return (as Somewhere in Time), and Hell House (as The Legend of Hell House) and the aforementioned Duel, the last three adapted and scripted by Matheson himself. Three of his short stories were filmed together as Trilogy of Terror, including "Prey" with its famous Zuni warrior doll.
In 1960, Matheson published The Beardless Warriors, a nonfantastic, autobiographical novel about teenage American soldiers in World War II.
He died at his home on June 23, 2013, at the age of 87
http://us.macmillan.com/author/richar...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
April 11, 2011
This book, follows a small platoon during two weeks in December, 1944, through the eyes of Ernest Hackermeyer, an 18-year-old replacement, just over the French border in Germany. “Hack” soon shows an aptitude, or at least a recklessness, with regard to fighting, and Cooley, the platoon sergeant, a much older man takes Hack under his wing, soon promoting him to assistant squad leader after the death of his other corporal. It’s not fun: cold, wet, moving back and forth, seeing little of the big picture, seemingly fighting for the same area over and over, having nothing to do but clean weapons.
"Wish I was a crab sometimes," he said. "Nice and warm down here. Lots of places for houses too." Finally he sighed. "Aw, you can't catch them," he said. He grimaced and drew in a quick breath. "Look like real crabs though," he said."
"What exciting comestible do you prepare, Hackermeyer?" "Huh?" "What's cooking?" "Pork and egg yolk." Guthrie blew out smoke. "Baby poo," he said. Hackermeyer didn't know what he meant until he opened the can.”
The intermittent shelling and its effect on the troops is vividly portrayed.
"More shells exploded. Hackermeyer felt as if the deafening bursts would crush his skull in. Suddenly, he realized that the cotton had fallen from his right ear. He looked around for it, then gave up and jammed the end of a gloved finger into his ear instead. Overhead, the mortar shells screamed shrilly as they fluttered downward. Infrequently, one of them passed through the latticework of boughs and exploded on the ground. . . "Now he noticed the colorless slime that was dripping from the lacerated tree trunks. As if many men had blown their noses on them. Hackermeyer's gaze moved dumbly from tree to tree. He couldn't stop because he knew that he was looking at all that remained of Linstrom. His stomach started heaving as nausea bubbled in him. Abruptly he remembered what he'd said when Linstrom had asked how close the shells could come.”
Cooley, Hack’s sergeant, is much older -- and wiser -- than the recruits, fresh as replacements, and he has a son in Guadalcanal so he despairs every time another 18-year-old replacement joins the platoon. He sees Hack has a son-figure, but worries that Hack, after only a week at the front, has become manic for killing Germans. Hack, who had lost his father at a young age, wants nothing better than to please Cooley, a sees him as a father figure, but then when Cooley orders him to do something, takes it as a criticism and he despairs of being unable to please the sergeant.
"Nope." Cooley shook his head once more. "I'll tell you what you got to relate, and it ain't weapons to the ground. It's one guy to another guy. You got to teach a man what he can expect from his buddies in combat. If he knows that, it don't matter if the ground ain't worth anything or if his weapon don't even work. He'll still know what the score is." Cooley picked up his new hand. "How do you teach soldiers human nature? . . . He paused. "Look, Hack," he said. "I know I told you it's your job to kill Krauts. It is-and you're doing a hell of a job. But ... well, you got to watch out you don't get so-fired up about it you can't stop. It's a job, Hack, not a way of life, if you know what I mean." Cooley spat to one side. "Let's face it, son," he said. "When we kill, we ain't men, we're animals.”
Matheson, before he began writing science fiction, served as a replacement infantryman and fifteen years after the war wrote this to document his experiences. This was his first novel and some of the characters seem stereotypical, but they work as seen through the eyes of Hack. Cooley is perhaps a bit almost too good to be true, the omnipotent and omnipresent sergeant, but his character fits also. The true horror is that we older folks send off children to fight our battles. Probably one of the most authentic appearing books to come out of WW II. I Would rank it up with the The Naked and the Dead.
"Wish I was a crab sometimes," he said. "Nice and warm down here. Lots of places for houses too." Finally he sighed. "Aw, you can't catch them," he said. He grimaced and drew in a quick breath. "Look like real crabs though," he said."
"What exciting comestible do you prepare, Hackermeyer?" "Huh?" "What's cooking?" "Pork and egg yolk." Guthrie blew out smoke. "Baby poo," he said. Hackermeyer didn't know what he meant until he opened the can.”
The intermittent shelling and its effect on the troops is vividly portrayed.
"More shells exploded. Hackermeyer felt as if the deafening bursts would crush his skull in. Suddenly, he realized that the cotton had fallen from his right ear. He looked around for it, then gave up and jammed the end of a gloved finger into his ear instead. Overhead, the mortar shells screamed shrilly as they fluttered downward. Infrequently, one of them passed through the latticework of boughs and exploded on the ground. . . "Now he noticed the colorless slime that was dripping from the lacerated tree trunks. As if many men had blown their noses on them. Hackermeyer's gaze moved dumbly from tree to tree. He couldn't stop because he knew that he was looking at all that remained of Linstrom. His stomach started heaving as nausea bubbled in him. Abruptly he remembered what he'd said when Linstrom had asked how close the shells could come.”
Cooley, Hack’s sergeant, is much older -- and wiser -- than the recruits, fresh as replacements, and he has a son in Guadalcanal so he despairs every time another 18-year-old replacement joins the platoon. He sees Hack has a son-figure, but worries that Hack, after only a week at the front, has become manic for killing Germans. Hack, who had lost his father at a young age, wants nothing better than to please Cooley, a sees him as a father figure, but then when Cooley orders him to do something, takes it as a criticism and he despairs of being unable to please the sergeant.
"Nope." Cooley shook his head once more. "I'll tell you what you got to relate, and it ain't weapons to the ground. It's one guy to another guy. You got to teach a man what he can expect from his buddies in combat. If he knows that, it don't matter if the ground ain't worth anything or if his weapon don't even work. He'll still know what the score is." Cooley picked up his new hand. "How do you teach soldiers human nature? . . . He paused. "Look, Hack," he said. "I know I told you it's your job to kill Krauts. It is-and you're doing a hell of a job. But ... well, you got to watch out you don't get so-fired up about it you can't stop. It's a job, Hack, not a way of life, if you know what I mean." Cooley spat to one side. "Let's face it, son," he said. "When we kill, we ain't men, we're animals.”
Matheson, before he began writing science fiction, served as a replacement infantryman and fifteen years after the war wrote this to document his experiences. This was his first novel and some of the characters seem stereotypical, but they work as seen through the eyes of Hack. Cooley is perhaps a bit almost too good to be true, the omnipotent and omnipresent sergeant, but his character fits also. The true horror is that we older folks send off children to fight our battles. Probably one of the most authentic appearing books to come out of WW II. I Would rank it up with the The Naked and the Dead.
June 16, 2014
Review for
*****
I have a fondness for World War II fiction, and this book by famed science fiction writer Richard Matheson has joined the ranks of my favourites like
,
and
. Based on personal experiences and written fifteen years after his service in WWII as an infantryman, Matheson takes us as close as you can get to the sights, smells, sounds and psychological turmoil that is circa 1944 battle- or any battle where men and boys of 18-the "beardless" warriors of the title, fight for every inch of ground, sometimes taken two or three times. Hackenmeyer, the main character, is an 18 year old raw recruit, sent as a replacement to one of the many Amercan units which were slogging through the German countryside, as the allies fought to overcome the Nazis on their own soil, in order to take Berlin. Hackenmeyer's Sergeant Cooley does not welcome him to his squad with open arms-not surprising given that mostly all replacement soldiers come with minimal training and no idea as to what they are about to face. Being a beardless warrior makes a young man much more susceptible to mistakes, which frequently have fatal consequences. This is a common issue in fiction set during this particular time period. In a similar situation in
, new infantrymen are ignored by the surviving members, simply because so many of them die so soon after arrival, that it is too difficult to invest any time or emotion in getting to know them, since they will be gone and replaced by another fresh-faced kid. There is another reason for Cooley's dislike of these young men given to him, not to be poignantly revealed until the closing chapters. As the book progresses, Hackenmeyer experiences countless waves of self doubt, guilt, rage, cowardice, and reckless bravado. He has no fond memories of a happy family life or a girl back home, to comfort him during lonely hours, as he quivers with fear and the cold, in his foxhole. He has had a terrible, loveless childhood, and is baffled by the various behaviours and personalities he encounters among his fellow beardless warriors. He does not know how to relate to his fellow soldiers. He lacks the necessary characteristic that most military fiction stresses is the glue that keeps those in combat alive-he has no sense of camaraderie, nor he is fighting for the guy sharing his foxhole. Nonetheless, having that feeling of belonging and a life to return to does not ensure survival, a message that becomes all too clear as Hackemeyer endures the two week period that is the novel's timeline. This is a powerful piece of fiction about the horror and terrible cost of war. It is bloody, horrifying, hard to read, very personal and seeps into the corners of your mind like the cold and mud despised by all infantrymen. I am so grateful that I discovered it.
*****I have a fondness for World War II fiction, and this book by famed science fiction writer Richard Matheson has joined the ranks of my favourites like
,
and
. Based on personal experiences and written fifteen years after his service in WWII as an infantryman, Matheson takes us as close as you can get to the sights, smells, sounds and psychological turmoil that is circa 1944 battle- or any battle where men and boys of 18-the "beardless" warriors of the title, fight for every inch of ground, sometimes taken two or three times. Hackenmeyer, the main character, is an 18 year old raw recruit, sent as a replacement to one of the many Amercan units which were slogging through the German countryside, as the allies fought to overcome the Nazis on their own soil, in order to take Berlin. Hackenmeyer's Sergeant Cooley does not welcome him to his squad with open arms-not surprising given that mostly all replacement soldiers come with minimal training and no idea as to what they are about to face. Being a beardless warrior makes a young man much more susceptible to mistakes, which frequently have fatal consequences. This is a common issue in fiction set during this particular time period. In a similar situation in
, new infantrymen are ignored by the surviving members, simply because so many of them die so soon after arrival, that it is too difficult to invest any time or emotion in getting to know them, since they will be gone and replaced by another fresh-faced kid. There is another reason for Cooley's dislike of these young men given to him, not to be poignantly revealed until the closing chapters. As the book progresses, Hackenmeyer experiences countless waves of self doubt, guilt, rage, cowardice, and reckless bravado. He has no fond memories of a happy family life or a girl back home, to comfort him during lonely hours, as he quivers with fear and the cold, in his foxhole. He has had a terrible, loveless childhood, and is baffled by the various behaviours and personalities he encounters among his fellow beardless warriors. He does not know how to relate to his fellow soldiers. He lacks the necessary characteristic that most military fiction stresses is the glue that keeps those in combat alive-he has no sense of camaraderie, nor he is fighting for the guy sharing his foxhole. Nonetheless, having that feeling of belonging and a life to return to does not ensure survival, a message that becomes all too clear as Hackemeyer endures the two week period that is the novel's timeline. This is a powerful piece of fiction about the horror and terrible cost of war. It is bloody, horrifying, hard to read, very personal and seeps into the corners of your mind like the cold and mud despised by all infantrymen. I am so grateful that I discovered it.
October 25, 2023
An absolutely phenomenal book written by the author of I Am Legend. Before he was novelist, Richard Matheson was an 18 year old soldier drafted to serve in world war 2. This novel seems to be drawn from his experiences.
The story follows an 18 year old conscript in Germany who is allocated to a squad made up mostly of teenagers, to the dismay of the sergeant in charge. Although I'm not usually one for war novels, this book very much sucked me in, and this felt like a heartwrenchingly real account of a bunch of young men, who don't know what they're doing, struggling with the war effort. It's not at all glamorous, and each of the characters is realistically flawed.
This is pretty similar to All Quiet on the Western Front, but I preferred this book. It sucked me in much more.
The story follows an 18 year old conscript in Germany who is allocated to a squad made up mostly of teenagers, to the dismay of the sergeant in charge. Although I'm not usually one for war novels, this book very much sucked me in, and this felt like a heartwrenchingly real account of a bunch of young men, who don't know what they're doing, struggling with the war effort. It's not at all glamorous, and each of the characters is realistically flawed.
This is pretty similar to All Quiet on the Western Front, but I preferred this book. It sucked me in much more.
August 13, 2020
A war novel? No thanks. Ixnay. Verboten. Boy stuff. Well, at least the latter is true, for ninety percent of the characters in this novel are eighteen. Hence the title. And war? Well yes, there is plenty of that. But the brunt of the novel concerns a young kid from Brooklyn known as "Hack," short for Hackermeyer. Hack had a pretty miserable childhood: his mother died in childbirth, his drunken father foisted him on a sister and her drunken husband, the sister-aunt was forever remembering her own natural son who died when quite young . . . ah things didn't work out well. No wonder Hack volunteered to fight in World War II. So . . . this novel is really a coming of age story, with Hack going through almost every imaginable thing you'd expect of a boy his age--except any sexual escapades. Hard to get on the front line in Germany. Hack does however, undergo a brief bit of humorous homophobia. Along with an encounter with spirituality, cowardice, mania, cynicism and plenty of varying emotions. Nicely done. And for you sticklers for realism, the author was an eighteen-year-old who went through much of what Hack did, on the front line of the German invasion.
March 3, 2017
Germany. December, 1944: 18-year old Everett "Hack" Hackermeyer joins a squad of fellow beardless warriors during the assault on the Siegfried Line, only to find himself thrust into a maelstrom of death, carnage, and fear. Led by Sergeant Cooley, a grizzled proto-father, Hackermeyer and a band of ragtag youths race across war-torn enemy lines in an effort to capture a small stain on the map called Saarbach. While there are no assurances with war, one thing remains certain: every one of these young American boys will be forever changed as a result.
Having read Matheson's first six novels, including I Am Legend, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and A Stir Of Echoes, I feel comfortable in saying that The Beardless Warriors is my favorite of the lot, thus far. Not only is the character development exceptional when compared to Matheson's previous works, but there is also a level of refinement in his writing style that lends itself to this powerful story. Matheson's prose are quick and concise, offering little respite, and he makes the reader feel as though they are actually there amidst the riveting action. You can almost feel the reverberation of the mortar shells slamming into the ground from all around, and the zipping of bullets flying just overhead. Matheson's treatment of Hackermeyer's inner turmoil is compelling, and I thought it fitting how this inexperienced youth ultimately grows to become an assured leader, guiding a fresh batch of cherries into the bloody brotherhood of combat.
The horrors of war are real, as this book deftly reminds us, and Matheson (having served a tour of duty with the 87th Division in Europe at the tail-end of the war) masterfully details both the grim brutality of modern warfare and how it degrades us as human beings. Despite being a tad rough around the edges, The Beardless Warriors is a solid war novel, both engrossing and redemptive; a page-turning experience.
Having read Matheson's first six novels, including I Am Legend, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and A Stir Of Echoes, I feel comfortable in saying that The Beardless Warriors is my favorite of the lot, thus far. Not only is the character development exceptional when compared to Matheson's previous works, but there is also a level of refinement in his writing style that lends itself to this powerful story. Matheson's prose are quick and concise, offering little respite, and he makes the reader feel as though they are actually there amidst the riveting action. You can almost feel the reverberation of the mortar shells slamming into the ground from all around, and the zipping of bullets flying just overhead. Matheson's treatment of Hackermeyer's inner turmoil is compelling, and I thought it fitting how this inexperienced youth ultimately grows to become an assured leader, guiding a fresh batch of cherries into the bloody brotherhood of combat.
The horrors of war are real, as this book deftly reminds us, and Matheson (having served a tour of duty with the 87th Division in Europe at the tail-end of the war) masterfully details both the grim brutality of modern warfare and how it degrades us as human beings. Despite being a tad rough around the edges, The Beardless Warriors is a solid war novel, both engrossing and redemptive; a page-turning experience.
August 13, 2024
When you think of Richard Matheson, historical fiction is not the first, second or third genre to come to mind. I'm not sure how I stumbled on this one but I think Richard Matheson was an incredible writer and have loved nearly everything of his that I've read. I Am Legend and Other Stories remains as one of the best works of horror/dystopia there is. The movie versions of this incredible book always make me angry at how hard they miss the point.
I guess you could say this book provides some elements of horror. Apparently Matheson was a replacement soldier in WWII and this book pulls from his experiences during that time. Some of the things these 18 year old soldiers experienced were quite horrific. I feel like my words really can't do any of those experiences justice. The book centers around a squad of soldiers who have just entered Germany from the French border. Many of them are 18 years old and serving as replacement soldiers in the Fall/Winter of 1944. This book could easily have become a group of Upham's (Saving Private Ryan, I won't get into it but I hated Upham more than almost any movie character ever) but they didn't because the characters were created in the very capable hands of Matheson. Characters are something Matheson does quite well. They're well defined and it was hard not to develop emotional ties to all of them.
The action in this book was really easy to envision and in my opinion, really well written. It felt authentic and very much like he knew what he was writing about. I think what I was most impressed with in this book was how he was able to have these incredible action sequences that were perfectly balanced with the character's conflicts of being in a war and being a human being. We're not just natural killers. We come from different backgrounds with different ethics and values in place and he was able to represent all of that emotional turmoil and variety with his squad. Just incredible.
I don't think Matheson has ever written a bad book. This one is definitely a hidden gem within his collection. Highly recommend!
I guess you could say this book provides some elements of horror. Apparently Matheson was a replacement soldier in WWII and this book pulls from his experiences during that time. Some of the things these 18 year old soldiers experienced were quite horrific. I feel like my words really can't do any of those experiences justice. The book centers around a squad of soldiers who have just entered Germany from the French border. Many of them are 18 years old and serving as replacement soldiers in the Fall/Winter of 1944. This book could easily have become a group of Upham's (Saving Private Ryan, I won't get into it but I hated Upham more than almost any movie character ever) but they didn't because the characters were created in the very capable hands of Matheson. Characters are something Matheson does quite well. They're well defined and it was hard not to develop emotional ties to all of them.
The action in this book was really easy to envision and in my opinion, really well written. It felt authentic and very much like he knew what he was writing about. I think what I was most impressed with in this book was how he was able to have these incredible action sequences that were perfectly balanced with the character's conflicts of being in a war and being a human being. We're not just natural killers. We come from different backgrounds with different ethics and values in place and he was able to represent all of that emotional turmoil and variety with his squad. Just incredible.
I don't think Matheson has ever written a bad book. This one is definitely a hidden gem within his collection. Highly recommend!
September 18, 2024
I expected to love this book for a few reasons. One, it's historical fiction, which is my favorite genre. Two, it's set during World War II, which I always find engrossing. Three, it's written by one of my favorite authors, Richard Matheson, although it's not in the Science Fiction category we most associate with his titles. So why four stars?
The book is extremely well written and I suspect highly autobiographical. The characters, especially the main protagonist, and deep and very well defined. In several ways it reminded me of All Quiet on the Western Front and Band of Brothers. Much of what Matheson explores is universal relating to the horrors of war, especially as they affect a young man who is pulled from placid civilian life into the hell of battle.
But I found it much too repetitive. The book is divided into sections call Assaults and then subdivided by dates. Something happens in the first section and it comes to an end. Then something very similar happens in the second section and it comes to an end. This pattern repeats with some heavy soul searching and character interactions in between. Perhaps this is what real life in the Army during the closing days of World War II in Germany was like, but to me it didn't make for engrossing reading.
I'm glad I read this novel, but I doubt I'll remember it for long. I'm still a huge fan of Richard Matheson, so no harm was done! I just think there are other, better historical novels set during this horrific conflict.
The book is extremely well written and I suspect highly autobiographical. The characters, especially the main protagonist, and deep and very well defined. In several ways it reminded me of All Quiet on the Western Front and Band of Brothers. Much of what Matheson explores is universal relating to the horrors of war, especially as they affect a young man who is pulled from placid civilian life into the hell of battle.
But I found it much too repetitive. The book is divided into sections call Assaults and then subdivided by dates. Something happens in the first section and it comes to an end. Then something very similar happens in the second section and it comes to an end. This pattern repeats with some heavy soul searching and character interactions in between. Perhaps this is what real life in the Army during the closing days of World War II in Germany was like, but to me it didn't make for engrossing reading.
I'm glad I read this novel, but I doubt I'll remember it for long. I'm still a huge fan of Richard Matheson, so no harm was done! I just think there are other, better historical novels set during this horrific conflict.
March 25, 2019
This novel was one of the two war novels I read this year. Much better imho only than the Vietnam novel, this was written in 1960 about World War II.
Richard Matheson was a well known writer of genre fiction--horror; science fiction; westers and war novels. I found his writing more enjoyable because he showed scenes of how it felt----not just whatv happened.
I will summarize an early scene. "Hack" the new replacement has arrived. He is told to stuff cotton in his ears and take cover. Our side is going to drop an artillary barrage on the enemy. So face down with only your overcoat between between you and the cold, west German ground; taking cover as best you can while the big guns fire over your position. For 16 minutes. Noise, dust and the fear that an innacurate round could land right on your section. (That does not happen in this novel but it occured in the war, fortunately not often).
I think I'd only be able to take that for 30 seconds. If that. Over the course of this novel, Matheson shows how it felt;the cold; the combat;bb short rations and other things. A short but well written and gripping novel.. Again, not for under 16 due to the scenes of violent combat.
Very highly recommended for anyone interest in a good war novel.
Richard Matheson was a well known writer of genre fiction--horror; science fiction; westers and war novels. I found his writing more enjoyable because he showed scenes of how it felt----not just whatv happened.
I will summarize an early scene. "Hack" the new replacement has arrived. He is told to stuff cotton in his ears and take cover. Our side is going to drop an artillary barrage on the enemy. So face down with only your overcoat between between you and the cold, west German ground; taking cover as best you can while the big guns fire over your position. For 16 minutes. Noise, dust and the fear that an innacurate round could land right on your section. (That does not happen in this novel but it occured in the war, fortunately not often).
I think I'd only be able to take that for 30 seconds. If that. Over the course of this novel, Matheson shows how it felt;the cold; the combat;bb short rations and other things. A short but well written and gripping novel.. Again, not for under 16 due to the scenes of violent combat.
Very highly recommended for anyone interest in a good war novel.
October 3, 2025
This book is hard to review because there were a lot of things I loved about it and one particular aspect that I really hated and spoiled the book for me.
I’m a lover of war novels and I’ve been trying to read more lately. I’m also a fan of Richard Matheson and have read several of his books and most of his short stories, so when I found out he wrote a war novel in 1960 inspired by his own experiences in WWII I was excited to read it. It was very well written and mostly felt like a believable and realistic depiction of frontline riflemen fighting in Germany in December 1944. The 18-year-old Hackermyer, with his brooding personality and troubled family background was an interesting character, as were the other soldiers as supporting characters. Overall I felt the book gave a good sense of the chaos and terror of war, which I feel is what a good war novel should do. For the first half I was enthralled and considering this the WWII Red Badge of Courage.
Then halfway through, while resting in a German pillbox, the paternalistic sergeant of the squad, Cooley, and another soldier have a weird discussion in which the sergeant authoritatively claims only 75% of the soldiers under his command ever fire their rifles at the enemy. Cooley also believes this is because most soldiers have an innate psychological aversion to killing and simply can’t morally bring themselves to pull the trigger when they see enemy soldiers. The other soldier agrees that 75% never fire but thinks it’s due to poor discipline rather than moral psychology.
This 75% statistic is clearly a reference to S. L. A. Marshall’s theory from his 1947 book Men Against Fire. Marshall was a military journalist who interviewed a lot of soldiers during WWII and one of his conclusions was that at least 75% of frontline soldiers didn’t fire their weapons at the enemy due to a natural moral aversion to killing. This theory became very popular and widely accepted during his lifetime from the 1950s-1970s, so much so that by the Korean War the US army adopted human shaped instead of bullseye targets for marksmanship training in the hopes this would make soldiers more comfortable with shooting enemy soldiers in battle.
The problem with this is that Marshall’s theory and research methodology have been seriously challenged since his death in 1977. He kept no systematic notes about firing rates from his interviews with soldiers and seems to have just estimated later what he thought firing rates were from memory based on his interviews. That 75% figure just felt right to him and indeed it must have felt right to actual WWII veterans like Matheson. It’s easy to say it must be correct then if it felt right to WWII veterans, but there are many good reasons to be skeptical of it. I won’t go into it all here but everyone should research this for themselves. Indeed, seeing an actual WWII veteran like Matheson agree with this gave me pause and caused me to consider Marshall’s thesis with a fresh and open mind. Considering all the evidence, I still think Marshall was mostly wrong but he was probably picking up on something real. It does seem likely that perhaps 25% of the boldest WWII soldiers did most of the shooting and led the action, while large numbers were sometimes hesitant to fire (hesitant, not completely unwilling) due to numerous reasons like confusion, fear of moving out of cover, not seeing a clear target, or wanting to conserve ammunition. However, simple moral reluctance to kill enemy soldiers actively trying to kill them (which Marshall claims was the primary reason) was probably extremely rare. But that hesitancy of many troops in contrast to the ferocity of a minority may have given veterans like Matheson a reason to think Marshall’s exaggerated theories and conclusions that became popular after the war were indeed accurate.
After the first conversation where Sergeant Cooley presents his (Marshall’s) thesis about only 75% of soldiers firing due to a moral aversion to killing, I tried to overlook it as just the opinion of one character in the book. Indeed, real army officers in WWII and WWI and even the American Civil War sometimes complained about troops being hesitant to fire (though they all said it was due to a lack of discipline rather than moral reluctance) and I can imagine a sergeant in the middle of war coming up with an exaggerated theory about it due to paranoia. But Sergeant Cooley is presented throughout as an authoritative and almost perfect paternal figure whose theories are of course correct. And the novel kept referencing how many soldiers don’t fire at enemy troops.
Finally, this reached an impossible to ignore climax in which the main character, Hackermyer, is sharing a foxhole with another 18-year-old soldier named Fearfeather when they are attacked by Germans. Hackermyer is from the very beginning shown to be a natural killer with no reluctance about killing German soldiers, which makes him stand out in the squad. Fearfeather, however, is one of these 75% non-firers, and when the Germans attack their foxhole he gives his rifle to Hackermyer and asks him to shoot for him. This happens as German soldiers are literally charging them with rifles and bayonets. Fearfeather doesn’t seem to be terrified or confused or suffering from anything else that would explain his behavior other than an incredibly steadfast moral pacifism. Even if someone felt reluctant to kill in principle, to not even attempt it in pure self-defense is incredibly hard to believe. This is an 18-year-old. Proving how fearless Fearfeather actually is, he then sacrifices himself by throwing himself onto the German soldier’s bayonet to save Hackermyer. Fearfeather would apparently rather jump in front of an enemy soldier’s bayonet to momentarily save Hackermyer than just shoot the enemy soldier to save him.
I just can’t buy it. I think a good war novel at minimum has to realistically portray human nature and the psychological reactions of soldiers to combat. This book sadly fails in that in some important instances. There are certainly a huge diversity of psychological reactions to combat but this calm, collected, “innate pacifism” as portrayed here based on Marshall’s theories is not realistic in my opinion—and certainly not for 75% of soldiers.
Other than that whole aspect, I’d rate the book a solid 5/5 for its otherwise very immersive and realistic-seeming portrayal of WWII combat.
I’m a lover of war novels and I’ve been trying to read more lately. I’m also a fan of Richard Matheson and have read several of his books and most of his short stories, so when I found out he wrote a war novel in 1960 inspired by his own experiences in WWII I was excited to read it. It was very well written and mostly felt like a believable and realistic depiction of frontline riflemen fighting in Germany in December 1944. The 18-year-old Hackermyer, with his brooding personality and troubled family background was an interesting character, as were the other soldiers as supporting characters. Overall I felt the book gave a good sense of the chaos and terror of war, which I feel is what a good war novel should do. For the first half I was enthralled and considering this the WWII Red Badge of Courage.
Then halfway through, while resting in a German pillbox, the paternalistic sergeant of the squad, Cooley, and another soldier have a weird discussion in which the sergeant authoritatively claims only 75% of the soldiers under his command ever fire their rifles at the enemy. Cooley also believes this is because most soldiers have an innate psychological aversion to killing and simply can’t morally bring themselves to pull the trigger when they see enemy soldiers. The other soldier agrees that 75% never fire but thinks it’s due to poor discipline rather than moral psychology.
This 75% statistic is clearly a reference to S. L. A. Marshall’s theory from his 1947 book Men Against Fire. Marshall was a military journalist who interviewed a lot of soldiers during WWII and one of his conclusions was that at least 75% of frontline soldiers didn’t fire their weapons at the enemy due to a natural moral aversion to killing. This theory became very popular and widely accepted during his lifetime from the 1950s-1970s, so much so that by the Korean War the US army adopted human shaped instead of bullseye targets for marksmanship training in the hopes this would make soldiers more comfortable with shooting enemy soldiers in battle.
The problem with this is that Marshall’s theory and research methodology have been seriously challenged since his death in 1977. He kept no systematic notes about firing rates from his interviews with soldiers and seems to have just estimated later what he thought firing rates were from memory based on his interviews. That 75% figure just felt right to him and indeed it must have felt right to actual WWII veterans like Matheson. It’s easy to say it must be correct then if it felt right to WWII veterans, but there are many good reasons to be skeptical of it. I won’t go into it all here but everyone should research this for themselves. Indeed, seeing an actual WWII veteran like Matheson agree with this gave me pause and caused me to consider Marshall’s thesis with a fresh and open mind. Considering all the evidence, I still think Marshall was mostly wrong but he was probably picking up on something real. It does seem likely that perhaps 25% of the boldest WWII soldiers did most of the shooting and led the action, while large numbers were sometimes hesitant to fire (hesitant, not completely unwilling) due to numerous reasons like confusion, fear of moving out of cover, not seeing a clear target, or wanting to conserve ammunition. However, simple moral reluctance to kill enemy soldiers actively trying to kill them (which Marshall claims was the primary reason) was probably extremely rare. But that hesitancy of many troops in contrast to the ferocity of a minority may have given veterans like Matheson a reason to think Marshall’s exaggerated theories and conclusions that became popular after the war were indeed accurate.
After the first conversation where Sergeant Cooley presents his (Marshall’s) thesis about only 75% of soldiers firing due to a moral aversion to killing, I tried to overlook it as just the opinion of one character in the book. Indeed, real army officers in WWII and WWI and even the American Civil War sometimes complained about troops being hesitant to fire (though they all said it was due to a lack of discipline rather than moral reluctance) and I can imagine a sergeant in the middle of war coming up with an exaggerated theory about it due to paranoia. But Sergeant Cooley is presented throughout as an authoritative and almost perfect paternal figure whose theories are of course correct. And the novel kept referencing how many soldiers don’t fire at enemy troops.
Finally, this reached an impossible to ignore climax in which the main character, Hackermyer, is sharing a foxhole with another 18-year-old soldier named Fearfeather when they are attacked by Germans. Hackermyer is from the very beginning shown to be a natural killer with no reluctance about killing German soldiers, which makes him stand out in the squad. Fearfeather, however, is one of these 75% non-firers, and when the Germans attack their foxhole he gives his rifle to Hackermyer and asks him to shoot for him. This happens as German soldiers are literally charging them with rifles and bayonets. Fearfeather doesn’t seem to be terrified or confused or suffering from anything else that would explain his behavior other than an incredibly steadfast moral pacifism. Even if someone felt reluctant to kill in principle, to not even attempt it in pure self-defense is incredibly hard to believe. This is an 18-year-old. Proving how fearless Fearfeather actually is, he then sacrifices himself by throwing himself onto the German soldier’s bayonet to save Hackermyer. Fearfeather would apparently rather jump in front of an enemy soldier’s bayonet to momentarily save Hackermyer than just shoot the enemy soldier to save him.
I just can’t buy it. I think a good war novel at minimum has to realistically portray human nature and the psychological reactions of soldiers to combat. This book sadly fails in that in some important instances. There are certainly a huge diversity of psychological reactions to combat but this calm, collected, “innate pacifism” as portrayed here based on Marshall’s theories is not realistic in my opinion—and certainly not for 75% of soldiers.
Other than that whole aspect, I’d rate the book a solid 5/5 for its otherwise very immersive and realistic-seeming portrayal of WWII combat.
June 27, 2013
Stephen King wrote a brief article on Richard Matheson after his passing, in which he called out the novel The Beardless Warriors as an unknown treasure.
On his advice, I found a copy on Amazon, and I was not disappointed. A fantastic story, with a perpective aided by Matheson's own time in Europe during the second world war.
If you have any appreciation for World War II history, this is a must read. I truly enjoyed it.
On his advice, I found a copy on Amazon, and I was not disappointed. A fantastic story, with a perpective aided by Matheson's own time in Europe during the second world war.
If you have any appreciation for World War II history, this is a must read. I truly enjoyed it.
May 28, 2014
If you have ever wondered what it would be like to be in combat, Mr. Matheson will tell you. And you will not soon forget it. You'll also be very happy it's only a book and that you can put it down. The only problem is, you can't, put the book down that is. It's brilliant!
June 14, 2021
Very good
August 29, 2011
I liked this book alot, It was kind of like Holden Caulfield Goes to war.
July 10, 2021
Too limited to be considered a great war novel, The Beardless Warriors is still a solid addition to the 'war is hell' genre. It comes from the able pen of Richard Matheson (better known for I Am Legend and other inventive horror/sci-fi fare, including some of the best Twilight Zone episodes) and draws on his own experiences as an infantryman in World War Two, so you know it won't be a waste of time.
It charts ten days on the front line as America's citizen soldiers fight through into Germany in the cold winter of 1944. Told from the perspective of a green draftee, Private Hackermeyer, The Beardless Warriors is essentially a sensory experience. The following two paragraphs are very much typical of the content of the book:
"Shells came in endless waves. The slope jerked and shuddered. Earth was torn apart – soil, roots, rocks and grass spraying up in dark fountains. Waves of concussion flooded across the ground in turbulent coils. A suffocating pall of smoke began to cover everything like night returning, dry and reeking of ammoniac cordite. For sixteen everlasting minutes the slope was a leaping, choking, deafening inferno.
Then sudden, pressing silence… Gray smoke drifting over Hackermeyer's foxhole… Behind him, someone crying out in agony, "Medic! Medic!" Abruptly, Cooley's voice commanding them: "Get ready." Immediately thereafter, the wildfire crackle of machine guns, the bark of rifle fire…" (pg. 142)
If you can handle that for 250 pages – ceaselessly – then you might get some worth out of the book. It is like a blow-by-blow narration of a single-player Call of Duty mission: every command, every explosion, every piece of mortar or shrapnel, every pause or crouch or footstep forward. Every sight, smell and sound. It is a good account, mind, but many readers will feel starved of plot.
Insofar as there is a plot, it concerns Hackermeyer's drastic change in character over the ten days of combat. Put through the wringer, he goes from a taciturn and nervous greenhorn, through bewilderment and disenchantment and towards combat effectiveness and finally, fatalism. This jars at first, given the short timespan, but Matheson then begins to chart it ably enough. The characters never leap from the page, but Hackermeyer's burgeoning father-son relationship with Sergeant Cooley works well, and at the end of the novel you find yourself wanting them to live. Sensory but never sensationalized, Matheson's war-is-hell document is dependable but don't expect it to transcend itself.
It charts ten days on the front line as America's citizen soldiers fight through into Germany in the cold winter of 1944. Told from the perspective of a green draftee, Private Hackermeyer, The Beardless Warriors is essentially a sensory experience. The following two paragraphs are very much typical of the content of the book:
"Shells came in endless waves. The slope jerked and shuddered. Earth was torn apart – soil, roots, rocks and grass spraying up in dark fountains. Waves of concussion flooded across the ground in turbulent coils. A suffocating pall of smoke began to cover everything like night returning, dry and reeking of ammoniac cordite. For sixteen everlasting minutes the slope was a leaping, choking, deafening inferno.
Then sudden, pressing silence… Gray smoke drifting over Hackermeyer's foxhole… Behind him, someone crying out in agony, "Medic! Medic!" Abruptly, Cooley's voice commanding them: "Get ready." Immediately thereafter, the wildfire crackle of machine guns, the bark of rifle fire…" (pg. 142)
If you can handle that for 250 pages – ceaselessly – then you might get some worth out of the book. It is like a blow-by-blow narration of a single-player Call of Duty mission: every command, every explosion, every piece of mortar or shrapnel, every pause or crouch or footstep forward. Every sight, smell and sound. It is a good account, mind, but many readers will feel starved of plot.
Insofar as there is a plot, it concerns Hackermeyer's drastic change in character over the ten days of combat. Put through the wringer, he goes from a taciturn and nervous greenhorn, through bewilderment and disenchantment and towards combat effectiveness and finally, fatalism. This jars at first, given the short timespan, but Matheson then begins to chart it ably enough. The characters never leap from the page, but Hackermeyer's burgeoning father-son relationship with Sergeant Cooley works well, and at the end of the novel you find yourself wanting them to live. Sensory but never sensationalized, Matheson's war-is-hell document is dependable but don't expect it to transcend itself.
March 12, 2025
“With love, for my sons RICHARD and CHRISTIAN. May the reading of this story be the closest they ever come to war.”
-Richard Matheson
Richard Matheson is an outstanding writer that’s dabbled in fiction of all sorts. Horror, Science Fiction, and in this case, historical fiction. This is a first time read for me, I love Matheson’s work in I AM LEGEND & HELL HOUSE as well as various short stories.
But this novel is yet another masterpiece by Matheson that is somehow severely overlooked. In fact, this might be the most underrated novel out of his bibliography. It’s historical fiction written by a veteran of the Second World War and so man passages have this earnest tangibly that writers wished they could emulate. For a novel written in 1960, I was honestly shocked at just how graphic the violence was and it dealt with themes of PTSD, Depression, Anxiety, Abuse, Broken homes, and much more. Lots of great characters in this story with complex backstories but also there are characters who tragically don’t get a backstory. Some characters are introduced and pages later they may wind up dead. It’s tragic, sudden, but hey, that’s war, ain’t it?
THE BEARDLESS WARRIORS is an anti-war story that’s way ahead of its time and I think it is well worth the read. Full of great characters, a moving central story and gripping scenes that leave you wondering which characters will make it out to the other side. I recommend it highly.
I’ll leave you with my favorite passage from the novel:
“The trouble with killing -wholesale.” Cooley said, “is -well, the guy who does it hurts himself more than the krauts he’s knocking off. Maybe I should’ve said this before. I guess I just didn’t think about it. But a guy who kills for a living, Hack -and that’s what we’re doing here, ain’t it? Killing for a living? -A guy who does that…he don’t feel like he wants to be friends. He sticks to himself. He don’t want anybody around. Maybe I’m wrong but…I got a hunch you sort of been like that all your life anyway. And -Well, maybe killing’s making it worse. That’s why I want you to watch it.”
-Richard Matheson
Richard Matheson is an outstanding writer that’s dabbled in fiction of all sorts. Horror, Science Fiction, and in this case, historical fiction. This is a first time read for me, I love Matheson’s work in I AM LEGEND & HELL HOUSE as well as various short stories.
But this novel is yet another masterpiece by Matheson that is somehow severely overlooked. In fact, this might be the most underrated novel out of his bibliography. It’s historical fiction written by a veteran of the Second World War and so man passages have this earnest tangibly that writers wished they could emulate. For a novel written in 1960, I was honestly shocked at just how graphic the violence was and it dealt with themes of PTSD, Depression, Anxiety, Abuse, Broken homes, and much more. Lots of great characters in this story with complex backstories but also there are characters who tragically don’t get a backstory. Some characters are introduced and pages later they may wind up dead. It’s tragic, sudden, but hey, that’s war, ain’t it?
THE BEARDLESS WARRIORS is an anti-war story that’s way ahead of its time and I think it is well worth the read. Full of great characters, a moving central story and gripping scenes that leave you wondering which characters will make it out to the other side. I recommend it highly.
I’ll leave you with my favorite passage from the novel:
“The trouble with killing -wholesale.” Cooley said, “is -well, the guy who does it hurts himself more than the krauts he’s knocking off. Maybe I should’ve said this before. I guess I just didn’t think about it. But a guy who kills for a living, Hack -and that’s what we’re doing here, ain’t it? Killing for a living? -A guy who does that…he don’t feel like he wants to be friends. He sticks to himself. He don’t want anybody around. Maybe I’m wrong but…I got a hunch you sort of been like that all your life anyway. And -Well, maybe killing’s making it worse. That’s why I want you to watch it.”
February 19, 2022
1944, battaglia di Bastogne, la giovane recluta diciottenne, Everett Hackermeyer, viene accorpata alla "Compagnia C", comandata dal sergente Cooley, di stanza nei pressi della città di Saarbrücken.
Lì vivrà il suo battesimo del fuoco.
"I ragazzi della morte", scritto da Richard Matheson e pubblicato nel 1960, è un furioso e vibrante romanzo di guerra.
Un racconto ruvido, sporco, violento ma che sa entrare nell'intimo non solo del giovane protagonista che vivrà, nei quindici giorni vissuti nel romanzo, un profondo cambiamento, quanto anche in quello degli innumerevoli compagni che lo circondano.
L'azione si offre al lettore in maniera febbrile, rapida e con tutta la brutalità che si puó ritrovare in una guerra vera, sangue, morte, disperazione, ansia, gesti eroici, cameratismo e tutte le emozioni possibili in cui i soldati possono incappare, sono mirabilmente descritte in questo racconto.
L'autore, che fece anch'egli effettivamente parte di un battaglione, riesce, alternando le fasi convulse delle azioni di guerra a quelle in cui i protagonisti, trincerati, possono rilassarsi e riposare, a ritmare mirabilmente il dipanarsi del racconto.
I personaggi, ben sviluppati e capaci di creare empatia nel lettore, si muovono in scenari altrettanto ben descritti e realistici.
Un racconto di guerra crudo ma anche capace di svelare emozioni positive.
Lì vivrà il suo battesimo del fuoco.
"I ragazzi della morte", scritto da Richard Matheson e pubblicato nel 1960, è un furioso e vibrante romanzo di guerra.
Un racconto ruvido, sporco, violento ma che sa entrare nell'intimo non solo del giovane protagonista che vivrà, nei quindici giorni vissuti nel romanzo, un profondo cambiamento, quanto anche in quello degli innumerevoli compagni che lo circondano.
L'azione si offre al lettore in maniera febbrile, rapida e con tutta la brutalità che si puó ritrovare in una guerra vera, sangue, morte, disperazione, ansia, gesti eroici, cameratismo e tutte le emozioni possibili in cui i soldati possono incappare, sono mirabilmente descritte in questo racconto.
L'autore, che fece anch'egli effettivamente parte di un battaglione, riesce, alternando le fasi convulse delle azioni di guerra a quelle in cui i protagonisti, trincerati, possono rilassarsi e riposare, a ritmare mirabilmente il dipanarsi del racconto.
I personaggi, ben sviluppati e capaci di creare empatia nel lettore, si muovono in scenari altrettanto ben descritti e realistici.
Un racconto di guerra crudo ma anche capace di svelare emozioni positive.
May 5, 2017
What a gem!
I read I Am Legend and some of Matheson's horror shorts when I was a teen and on a whim decided to buy some of his older works to read, starting with The Beardless Warriors. Such a great way to start this Matheson binge – his writing style is so easy and fluid, and he has this wonderful ability to bring to life realistic characters.
I read The Beardless Warriors slower than I usually do because it's been a busy month but it was so easy to pick back up at any time and fall right back into the story. The last chapter really pulled this from 4 stars to 5 for me. It pulled together the story in such a wonderful way. I'm grateful I discovered this and I can't wait to read more of his work.
I read I Am Legend and some of Matheson's horror shorts when I was a teen and on a whim decided to buy some of his older works to read, starting with The Beardless Warriors. Such a great way to start this Matheson binge – his writing style is so easy and fluid, and he has this wonderful ability to bring to life realistic characters.
I read The Beardless Warriors slower than I usually do because it's been a busy month but it was so easy to pick back up at any time and fall right back into the story. The last chapter really pulled this from 4 stars to 5 for me. It pulled together the story in such a wonderful way. I'm grateful I discovered this and I can't wait to read more of his work.
November 22, 2018
Un romanzo molto struggente e realistico sull'esprerienza di guerra durante la Seconda Guerra Mondiale, che Matheson, appena diciottenne, visse di persona. Tanto maturo quanto fragile per un ragazzo della sua età, Hack racconta i suoi primi giorni da soldato. I giovani al fianco del protagonista si susseguono, muoiono, restano feriti, e quasi il lettore fatica a ricordarli, se Hack non tornasse indietro ogni tanto a chi gli è stato accanto, anche solo per un giorno. Quasi sembra incredibile di aver letto solo pochi giorni di trincea... Forse, però, è proprio questo il messaggio di Matheson, l'impressione che vuole lasciare: pochi giorni di guerra possono durare una vita così come le persone che ci sfiorano possono essere un soffio di vento in grado di toccare la nostra esistenza. Il contatto costante con la morte trasforma Hack, apre la sua mente e la sua coscienza, lo cambia per sempre. Da parte mia, Hack e Cooley, il suo sergente, non riuscirò mai più a dimenticarli.
September 3, 2025
Disappointed. There's something sanitised about this. Matheson did serve in the US Army in Europe as an 18 year old - this book wasn't published until 1960 but it wasn't the delay which has robbed the book of its immediacy and intimacy. The troops featured in this tale see a lot of action - Matheson had been there, had seen action ... it just seems a bit sanitised.
Maybe the US Army is more polite, but my experience in the British Army is that troops swear a lot, think of sex all the time, and complain ... constantly. He describes a grenade as exploding with a "deafening roar firing shrapnel in all directions" - grenade explosions are really crisp, and what really impresses itself on your memory is the whirring sound of the baseplate, which always sounds as if it has flown back past your left ear.
The book is just too gung-ho, too Audie Murphy movies. It's sensational, action packed, it lacks the intimacy of terror, inexperience and naivety. I don't buy into it.
Maybe the US Army is more polite, but my experience in the British Army is that troops swear a lot, think of sex all the time, and complain ... constantly. He describes a grenade as exploding with a "deafening roar firing shrapnel in all directions" - grenade explosions are really crisp, and what really impresses itself on your memory is the whirring sound of the baseplate, which always sounds as if it has flown back past your left ear.
The book is just too gung-ho, too Audie Murphy movies. It's sensational, action packed, it lacks the intimacy of terror, inexperience and naivety. I don't buy into it.
February 15, 2025
Very gritty first novel by the author of several well-known novels ("I am Legend," "Hell House," "What Dreams May Come"). The book reflects his World War II experiences and are similar to "Gardens of Stone" and "Matterhorn" (about Vietnam) and "Band of Brothers," both the book and the series. The writing is very choppy and the character development sparse (understandable given the violent actions in the book). I suspect that the author was haunted by his wartime experiences, much like Kurt Vonnegut.
November 19, 2025
Good war novel, realistic and beyond the topic subjects of violence, flowing also around the traumas and psicological impact on eighteen agers who find themselves overnight carrying weapons at war. A surprising approach of Matheson to war away from sci-fi and his well known twilight zone stories. Well written and easy to follow albeit I read it en english, not my lenguage.
February 16, 2018
Perhaps the best war novel I’ve read so far. Certainly the most action-packed book of any genre I’ve come across. Very well done, and a lovely ending!
January 12, 2019
So it turns out war really is hell.
November 8, 2019
Very good story about a squad of young infantrymen is the closing days of WWII. Richard Matheson did a great job; I actually felt wet, cold, filthy, sick as hell, and exhausted.
November 26, 2015
Before Matheson became a prolific writer of science fiction stories, novels, Twilight Zone episodes, and films, he served as a replacement infantryman in World War II. Some fifteen years later, he set down his experiences as a novel about a teenager sent to the front lines for the Allied advance into Germany. The story covers the first two weeks of Private Everett Hackermeyer's war, as he joins an understrength squad under the leadership of a grizzled Sergeant who acts as a father figure. But having been abandoned by his drunk father to be raised by his nasty uncle, Hackermeyer has no conception of what a father figure is, or really of what it means when people are nice to him. The result is that when thrown into the tight camaraderie of small unit combat, Hackermeyer is often confused, and retreats into his head to analyze the meaning behind every gesture and phrase directed at him.
He survives his initial baptism by fire, and accidentally discovers that he has an actual talent for killing the enemy. The question becomes, will he be able to operate as a good soldier, or will his inner demons lead him into increasingly risky and bloodthirsty acts? He's a bit of a stock character, the poor kid raised by wolves and never given a chance, who blossoms under a firm and wise guiding hand. But his mental issues keep him from becoming the kind of everyman hero common to World War II stories. His fellow privates are also somewhat stock figures: the sardonic joker/college boy from California, the bumbling idiot, the religious nut, and so on. The Sergeant is an incredibly cliche figure, who even offers Hackermeyer a job on his ranch, should they ever make it back home. These character deficiencies aside, the book is notable for its ability to put the reader in the middle of the terror and tedium that was World War II. The descriptions of shelling are truly horrific, and the chaos of small scale combat really comes to life. Matheson clearly pulls no punches in his description of what it meant to be on the front line, and the fear that inspired.
I read this at the same time as watching the "Band of Brothers" miniseries, and found it very complementary. Both do an excellent job at showing the mix of boredom and horror that infantrymen faced, however this book emphasizes how utterly alone each man is on the battlefield, while the miniseries (per its title), emphasizes the camaraderie. Ultimately the book is somewhat cliche across the board, but still well worth reading if you're interested in World War II.
He survives his initial baptism by fire, and accidentally discovers that he has an actual talent for killing the enemy. The question becomes, will he be able to operate as a good soldier, or will his inner demons lead him into increasingly risky and bloodthirsty acts? He's a bit of a stock character, the poor kid raised by wolves and never given a chance, who blossoms under a firm and wise guiding hand. But his mental issues keep him from becoming the kind of everyman hero common to World War II stories. His fellow privates are also somewhat stock figures: the sardonic joker/college boy from California, the bumbling idiot, the religious nut, and so on. The Sergeant is an incredibly cliche figure, who even offers Hackermeyer a job on his ranch, should they ever make it back home. These character deficiencies aside, the book is notable for its ability to put the reader in the middle of the terror and tedium that was World War II. The descriptions of shelling are truly horrific, and the chaos of small scale combat really comes to life. Matheson clearly pulls no punches in his description of what it meant to be on the front line, and the fear that inspired.
I read this at the same time as watching the "Band of Brothers" miniseries, and found it very complementary. Both do an excellent job at showing the mix of boredom and horror that infantrymen faced, however this book emphasizes how utterly alone each man is on the battlefield, while the miniseries (per its title), emphasizes the camaraderie. Ultimately the book is somewhat cliche across the board, but still well worth reading if you're interested in World War II.
July 14, 2015
“How do you beat your enemy unless you fire your weapon at him? You fire and you advance--hell, that’s combat, that’s it.”
It’s December, 1944, and within the span of twenty days, an eighteen-year-old boy turns from green combat replacement into battle-hardened veteran. The things he sees, the actions in which he engages, forever change Private Everett Hackermeyer. The young American questions life, questions death, and questions just what the hell he’s doing mere miles outside the fictional German town of Saarbach.
It’s been awhile since I’ve read a book that chokes me up, but as I neared the end of The Beardless Warriors, it took some effort to hold back the tears. Richard Matheson, probably best known for his science fiction work (I Am Legend as well as writing for film and television), strung together the right words to cement the gravity of the material.
Young Hackermeyer joins a squad of fellow beardless warriors, each with their own distinct personalities, fears, and backgrounds. We see some fall to appendicitis and exploding mortars. We also see some make it through, though hardly unscathed. One thing is for certain: everyone is remade by the events.
The relationship between Hackermeyer and his proto-father, Sergeant Cooley, is one that will be hard to forget. Maybe it sparked thoughts of my relationship with my own father (a Vietnam veteran), or reflections of my journey into fatherhood. Whatever the reason, even as I write this review, the power of Matheson’s story still haunt me. I can only imagine experiencing what these soldiers did, and I hope that I will only have to imagine it. I’m no longer of that ripe combat age, but it does make me nervous for my son’s future.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a pacifist and neither is Matheson, but the horrors of war are real and it may be that The Beardless Warriors is the author’s way of spreading his own experiences to those who may be privileged enough to live far from those realities. It did, after all, take him fifteen years after his own experiences to write this.
If you’re looking for a breezy read, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere. But this book was powerful. I can’t recommend it enough for those that want a page-turning, fictional experience.
It’s December, 1944, and within the span of twenty days, an eighteen-year-old boy turns from green combat replacement into battle-hardened veteran. The things he sees, the actions in which he engages, forever change Private Everett Hackermeyer. The young American questions life, questions death, and questions just what the hell he’s doing mere miles outside the fictional German town of Saarbach.
It’s been awhile since I’ve read a book that chokes me up, but as I neared the end of The Beardless Warriors, it took some effort to hold back the tears. Richard Matheson, probably best known for his science fiction work (I Am Legend as well as writing for film and television), strung together the right words to cement the gravity of the material.
Young Hackermeyer joins a squad of fellow beardless warriors, each with their own distinct personalities, fears, and backgrounds. We see some fall to appendicitis and exploding mortars. We also see some make it through, though hardly unscathed. One thing is for certain: everyone is remade by the events.
The relationship between Hackermeyer and his proto-father, Sergeant Cooley, is one that will be hard to forget. Maybe it sparked thoughts of my relationship with my own father (a Vietnam veteran), or reflections of my journey into fatherhood. Whatever the reason, even as I write this review, the power of Matheson’s story still haunt me. I can only imagine experiencing what these soldiers did, and I hope that I will only have to imagine it. I’m no longer of that ripe combat age, but it does make me nervous for my son’s future.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a pacifist and neither is Matheson, but the horrors of war are real and it may be that The Beardless Warriors is the author’s way of spreading his own experiences to those who may be privileged enough to live far from those realities. It did, after all, take him fifteen years after his own experiences to write this.
If you’re looking for a breezy read, you’ll probably want to look elsewhere. But this book was powerful. I can’t recommend it enough for those that want a page-turning, fictional experience.
October 18, 2024
I first read this novel when I was 12 or 13 and it instantly became one of my favorites, driving me to re-read it multiple times over the years.
I think the two main elements to making this a great novel are:
1) The battle scenes. Matheson drew on his own experience as a young infantryman in World War II and it shows. The battle scenes are intense and engrossing. They present chaos of combat in a way that still allows us (the readers) to understand what's going on. This is especially true, I think, in the climatic battle in the streets of Saarbach. It's a cliche to describe scenes in a book as drawing you in and making you feel like you are there, but that is exactly true in "The Beardless Warriors."
2) The characters. The protagonist, Hackermeyer, is the product of an abusive home and literally has no idea how to interact with other people or even recognize things like friendship or loyality when he encounters it. As Sgt. Cooly gradually becomes a father-figure to him, he at first is confused by the process and he undergoes an often painful emotional rollar coaster has he figures out how to deal with--not just being a solider--but being a human being. He is, I think, one of the most real characters I've ever encounted in fiction and his emotional growth within the context of the horrors of combat are completely believable to me.
The other squad members all have distinctive personalites and are also competely believable as "real" people. I think it is the squad members as much as the viceral descriptions of combat that draws the reader so completely into the story.
I think the two main elements to making this a great novel are:
1) The battle scenes. Matheson drew on his own experience as a young infantryman in World War II and it shows. The battle scenes are intense and engrossing. They present chaos of combat in a way that still allows us (the readers) to understand what's going on. This is especially true, I think, in the climatic battle in the streets of Saarbach. It's a cliche to describe scenes in a book as drawing you in and making you feel like you are there, but that is exactly true in "The Beardless Warriors."
2) The characters. The protagonist, Hackermeyer, is the product of an abusive home and literally has no idea how to interact with other people or even recognize things like friendship or loyality when he encounters it. As Sgt. Cooly gradually becomes a father-figure to him, he at first is confused by the process and he undergoes an often painful emotional rollar coaster has he figures out how to deal with--not just being a solider--but being a human being. He is, I think, one of the most real characters I've ever encounted in fiction and his emotional growth within the context of the horrors of combat are completely believable to me.
The other squad members all have distinctive personalites and are also competely believable as "real" people. I think it is the squad members as much as the viceral descriptions of combat that draws the reader so completely into the story.
March 21, 2012
Everett Hackermeyer is an 18 year old young man from Brooklyn who ends up fighting off bullets in the France border in Germany during WWII. This happened because they had to be drafted as a requirement, but they were told by the army that they would not be sent to combat, yet they were still sent. This made many of the young infantry soldiers feel uncomfortable with the army because they had tricked them. These young warriors saw horrible ground warfare conditions that older soldiers had more experience dealing with. They dug and lived in foxholes,ate tin food rations, drank cold coffee and tried desperately to keep dry and warm. Richard Matheson's novel has an outstanding hook and a great overall story line. It was very unique because it was so in depth, straight forward and interesting. I really liked how the story was from the rookie soldiers point of view because there aren't many stories that give opinions in the same position as the main character. I felt that the characters had the same characteristics as some people in my life who are brave, smart, funny, and overall good. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is into WWII.
March 17, 2012
I like Matheson.
This is a terribly violent story of a callow, alienated 18-year-old who drops in as a replacement in December 1944. It's gory and violent, sure, but it's really about the damage that just being in the war does. What they used to call a "psychological" novel, I think. Apparently, it's autobiographical. I think it would have to be... I think it would be hard to write that way about a soldier in combat and the shock and trauma of it without having been fairly close to it yourself. Someone said, "It's impossible to make an unromantic war movie." This one is about as unromantic as I can imagine.
This is the first time in fiction I've read about soldiers who don't shoot their weapons. Apparently it's pretty common in war for some soldiers never to shoot at all. I'd read about it in S.L.A. Marshall's book, but I hadn't seen anything about it in fiction. That's what I mean... I think you had to have been in it to write this unromantic a book.
This is a terribly violent story of a callow, alienated 18-year-old who drops in as a replacement in December 1944. It's gory and violent, sure, but it's really about the damage that just being in the war does. What they used to call a "psychological" novel, I think. Apparently, it's autobiographical. I think it would have to be... I think it would be hard to write that way about a soldier in combat and the shock and trauma of it without having been fairly close to it yourself. Someone said, "It's impossible to make an unromantic war movie." This one is about as unromantic as I can imagine.
This is the first time in fiction I've read about soldiers who don't shoot their weapons. Apparently it's pretty common in war for some soldiers never to shoot at all. I'd read about it in S.L.A. Marshall's book, but I hadn't seen anything about it in fiction. That's what I mean... I think you had to have been in it to write this unromantic a book.
August 25, 2014
Odd that the cover art for a book about an American squad of teenage U.S. infantrymen fighting their way across Germany during the final weeks WWII in Europe should have a red coated British Royal Guardsman drawing and a photo of a U.S. Marine scrambling for cover on Okinawa. An interesting and exciting read of what war on the Western front was like for these young soldiers. A very good read. I liken it to A Red Badge of Courage.
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