A Footsoldier for Patton Quotes

“We had also learned many simple things about combat that war games and training can’t teach you, but can only be acquired from experience. We now knew exactly what an artillery shell sounded”
― Michael Bilder, A Footsoldier for Patton: The Story of a "Red Diamond" Infantryman with the U.S. Third Army

“like when it was falling on our position. We learned that mortar rounds come in silently, and their use against us would only become evident after the first incoming round exploded. We also knew the fearful sound of a bullet whizzing by our ears and the dreaded thwack it makes when it hits a human being. We developed an instinct that enabled us to drop down to the ground at the first inkling of trouble, but then to adapt and move ahead as quickly as possible. And now, in just three short weeks, we had learned just how well, and how dirty, the Germans could fight.”
― Michael Bilder, A Footsoldier for Patton: The Story of a "Red Diamond" Infantryman with the U.S. Third Army

“Timing was something I had learned about as well. Early on in the fighting, we were moving on a German machine gun nest and I was assigned to throw grenades to keep the Germans’ heads down while”
― Michael Bilder, A Footsoldier for Patton: The Story of a "Red Diamond" Infantryman with the U.S. Third Army

“For instance, we had learned that the Germans were booby-trapping everything, and that you didn’t touch anything you couldn’t be sure of. We had learned how to fight in hedgerows. We had learned that the Germans had snipers everywhere. We had learned that we had to walk, not on the road, or even on the side of the road, but on the very edge of the road, since it was the only area where the Germans couldn’t plant a land mine. We learned how to dive into ditches when enemy tanks or planes suddenly appeared.”
― Michael Bilder, A Footsoldier for Patton: The Story of a "Red Diamond" Infantryman with the U.S. Third Army