Longshore Soldiers

Book excerpt: Longshore Soldiers chronicles the wartime experiences of port battalion veterans, part of the US Army's Transportation Corps. This battalion, along with all others of the Corps, were responsible for ensuring military materiel was delivered to the front line, allowing the fighting to continue without delay; an essential part of the Allied war effort. Andrew Brozyna, grandson of one of the veterans, traces the stories of the veterans from training in the United States to supplying the British at El Alamein, dock work in Antwerp, supplying the beaches of Normandy as part of D-Day and finally to deactivation. While this is a subject that might not be as instantly recognizable for most military history fans, Brozyna offers a compelling narrative, packed with first-hand accounts and personal histories, of an overlooked aspect of the Second World War. Longshore Soldiers examines the logistics of the European theatre and how these veterans vitally kept the Allied armies moving as they marched into the Reich.