Name: A.J. Liebling
ISBN: 9781598530186

Pete Hamill

World War II Writings (Library of America)

A.J. Liebling

Andrew John Kinney

I am so happy to have stumbled onto the the essays of A.J. Liebling. Liebling was a correspondent for the New Yorker magazine from the 1930's until the 1960's, and he was their war correspondent in WW2. Despite this book being a collection of war-related writing, Liebling's essays cover so much more than the war; because of his deep understanding of France and Europe he understood what was happening more clearly than most Americans, including most government officials. Part of what makes his writing so relevant, 80 years later, is his layman's view of military operations, which invests the descriptions of the battles and campaigns he witnessed with a freshness which is absent from much contemporary war-time writing. His account of being strafed by German aircraft in Africa becomes a humorous monologue about one's thoughts when it appears death is nigh, and his description of riding a landing craft in to the beach on D-Day, while filled with the pathos of seeing young men die, is lightened by his self-deprecating humor about trying to stay behind objects that were solid enough to stop bullets.

Through all this, Liebling is quite clear in his mind about the moral aspect of the war. His conviction that the system of Nazi totalitarianism had to be destroyed informed his love for the men who were fighting and dying to defeat the Germans. He saw the Nazi regime for what it was, a great kleptocracy, in which the thieving impulse percolated down even to private soldiers, and especially to the SS types, who were stealing as much as possible from the "conquered peoples". Liebling gives multiple examples of the Germans looting French villages, filling their trucks with all that they could carry of the French villagers' possessions. Liebling was a Francophile who had studied for a year in France and who had traveled extensively in Normandy, so the invasion to liberate France brought him a personal joy, as he returned to his "second country".

Liebling divides his WW2 writings into three parts, which he calls "The World Knocked Down", "The World on One Knee", and "The World Gets Up", using boxing terms; he was a sports writer in addition to his other work. The early essays deal with the preamble to the Battle of France. I found Liebling’s description of the “Phony War”, and then the Battle of France itself to be remarkably clear-sighted, as compared to many military histories I have read of the same period. To paraphrase him, he said of the French High Command that hope appeared to be their main strategy. Liebling, the non-specialist, called out in lucid prose the many deficiencies of the French armed forces before the fighting started. Liebling interviewed Gamelin, the French Chief of Staff just before the Battle of France began, and he came away thinking, “how can that little man be so calm?” Liebling spent a good amount of time with the French Army at the battalion and company level where he found the French soldiers motivated and dedicated to defending their country. His verdict was that “the leaders were not worthy of the people”. And so it turned out.

His account of the debacle of June 1940 from his post in Paris was suspenseful and gives one the sense of having been present at the events, as a good writer’s work should do. While he despaired at the failures of the French government and Army leaders to competently defend the country, he never forgot the moral component of the unfolding tragedy he was witnessing. As he pointed out, the Germans were in the wrong in every possible way, from shamelessly invading their neighbors with theft in their hearts, to persecuting minorities, to terror-bombing civilians. He was dismayed, as an American, that the US did not provide more support, and he had zero patience for those who pontificated about the “moral failings” of the French people, as if the French had somehow "gotten what they deserved" from the Germans. To paraphrase, he said “how is it the fault of the man whose house is broken into by a burglar that his house was burgled?” Liebling followed the government to its final stop in Bordeaux, where Petain assumed leadership, and at that point Liebling knew all was lost, because Petain would seek an armistice. It was surprising to me to learn from Liebling that many, if not most French people he talked to assumed the government would move to Algeria and continue the fight with Germany from the (then) province of France. I knew De Gaulle advocated that, but I did not know that it was more generally accepted as the logical next step. Liebling heard De Gaulle’s famous Appel du 18 Juin, because he commented on it favorably, especially as compared to Petain’s typical hectoring speeches in which he blamed the defeat on the French people’s “lack of character”.

Liebling then recounts his somewhat fraught journey out of France, through Spain to Lisbon where he awaited a seat on the Pan Am Clipper flying boat to New York. His sense of loss in leaving a defeated France, was captured poignantly in his comment, that about a week after arriving in Lisbon he was sitting down to lunch, and he realized he had not thought of France all morning, and felt ashamed. It was as if, he said, one has left the hospital where one’s wife is being treating for a serious illness, and after walking about four blocks, you catch yourself whistling.

Liebling’s description of the political mess that was the initial Allied invasion of North Africa is the best I have read anywhere. He calls out the craziness of the Allies making a deal with Admiral Darlan, the Vichy governor of North Africa, who was a clear Nazi supporter. The Allies were saved from their own bad judgment by the assassination of Darlan by a young man who was probably a Free French agent. Liebling’s articles about the men of the US First Division in the battles in North Africa is wonderful writing which gives a clear sense of what it was like to be there, and it is nothing like the movie, "Patton". The number of unconventional soldiers who won the battles there is worth noting, General Terry Allen being first on the list.

Liebling went on board a landing craft on D-Day, and his account of the work done that day by the men involved is the best first-person narrative I’ve read about D-Day. He never lets you forget the moral side of the story, and it makes the reader proud all over again of the way the Western Democracies rose in unison to crush a truly despicable regime. He soon joined the troops in Normandy, and he described their fighting, but also he spoke to many Frenchmen and women about their experiences under the occupation, and those stories bear listening to, because they explain how all totalitarian regimes treat conquered countries; from Hitler to Putin there is little difference in the brutality meted out.

The remainder of the book, after the liberation of Paris, is a collection of stories that were written, but not published. They are the weakest part of this collection, but there is still a great deal of fine writing interspersed.

A shorter excursion into Liebling's writing is possible for those who want to sample his wares; the "Molly" story was published separately, as was, I think, his early writing on the Phony War and the Battle of France. I will in future be looking for his non-war-related writing, because he was just such a likeable, cultured man who wrote beautifully, and I have enjoyed getting to know him.

A.J. Liebling World War II Writings (Library of America)