Invasion Diary

“Tregaskis has a personal intimate sort of way of telling his story that made Guadaicanal Diary hugely popular. He is himself very much part of the story he is telling, not because he is using other people's experiences to build himself up, but because he is actually right in the fight -- and this time came off badly with a serious head wound, paralysis of the right side, etc. One feels that one goes right along with him, -- in this case on flights across the newly invaded Sicily, then actually with the men at various parts of the Sicilian front -- sometimes even ahead of invasion forces; then at Balerno, and on towards the ill-starred Caino, which at that time seemed within grasp. He writes in highlighted diary form, day by day happenings, anecdotal, human interest bits, but not in the Ernie Pyle behind the lines sense, but rather a close-up, photographic, phonographic record of the front. One gets a feeling of a new sort of war, as different from the Guadal campaign as that was from previous fighting, a war where the front is seemingly a scattering of men, scarcely seen -- but where death is sudden and violent and impersonal.” —Kirkus Reviews, 1944.