Into Dust and Fire: Five Young Americans Who Went First to Fight the Nazi Army

by Rachel S. Cox

Overview

“A moving, beautifully-written tale… Rachel Cox has produced a masterpiece of storytelling, infused with romance, danger, adventure, humor, and heartbreaking loss. It is, hands down, the best description of the transformation of untested young men into soldiers that I have ever read.” — Lynne Olson, New York Times Bestselling Author of Last Hope Island
 
The untold story of five young American friends who left the ivory towers at Harvard and Dartmouth to take on Rommel's Panzers under the blazing sun of North Africa.
 
In the spring of 1941, with Europe consumed by war and occupation, Britain stood alone against the Nazi menace. The United States remained wary of joining the costly and destructive conflict. But for five extraordinary young Americans, the global threat of fascism was too great to ignore.
 
Six months before Pearl Harbor, these courageous idealists left their promising futures behind to join the beleaguered British Army. Fighting as foreigners, they were shipped off to join the Desert Rats, the 7th Armoured Division of the British Eighth Army, who were battling Field Marshal Rommel’s panzer division. The Yanks would lead antitank and machine-gun platoons into combat at the Second Battle of El Alamein, the twelve-day epic of tank warfare that would ultimately turn the tide for the Allies.
 
A fitting tribute to five men whose commitment to freedom transcended national boundaries, Into Dust and Fire is a gripping true tale of idealism, courage, camaraderie, sacrifice, and heroism.

INCLUDES PHOTOS
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101579978
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/03/2012
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	593,454
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Rachel S. Cox writes regularly for the Washington Post and CQ Researcher. Her articles have appeared in AARP Bulletin, Preservation, Landscape Architecture, and other national magazines. She was formerly an editor of Preservation magazine, and as a writer/editor at Time-Life Books, she wrote for the Civil War and Fighting Jets series. A resident of Washington, D.C., she holds a BA cum laude in English from Harvard. Inspired by the experience of her uncle, Rob Cox, Into Dust and Fire is her first book.

Table of Contents

Author's Note xiii

Prologue 1

Part 1 Celebrity Soldiers

1 Decision 7

2 Convoy 30

3 Riflemen 54

4 Officers 87

Part 2 Around the Cape of Good Hope

5 Interlude Dona Aurora 119

6 Lost in the Honeycomb 139

7 Interlude Duchess of Atholl 157

Part 3 Desert Rats

8 Into the Blue 171

9 El Alamein 196

10 Recovery 219

11 Spring 240

12 Home 275

Acknowledgments 301

Sources 307

Notes 313

Index 329

What People are Saying About This

Douglas Brinkley

“Rachel S. Cox's Into Dust and Fire is an inspired saga about a group of young Americans who hated Nazi totalitarianism to the core. Their rash bravery is the stuff of legend. This is an important new contribution to our growing World War II must-read library.”

Thomas Powers

“Rachel Cox's book achieves a kind of miracle—bringing to startling life the story of five young Americans who volunteered to fight for Britain in North Africa while the United States was still sitting out the war behind the Atlantic Ocean. Cox is a vigorous, intelligent writer, and her book is a dramatic tale of war, love, hardship, suffering and loss.”

James Holland

“Into Dust and Fire is a beautifully-written book that evokes World War II in North Africa in a way that has rarely—if ever—been bettered. Touching, moving, and thought-provoking, this is a wonderful, exquisitely crafted book.”

Lynne Olson

“A moving, beautifully-written tale of five young Ivy Leaguers, romantics and idealists all, who left their privileged lives in peacetime America to join the British Army in its pre-Pearl Harbor struggle against the Nazis. In her quest to trace the wartime experiences of her uncle, Rob Cox, and his four colleagues, Rachel Cox has produced a masterpiece of storytelling, infused with romance, danger, adventure, humor, and heartbreaking loss. It is, hands down, the best description of the transformation of untested young men into soldiers that I have ever read.”

Ken Gormley

“An elegantly-written story of five unheralded American heroes who left the security of their Ivy League schools to fight the war against Nazi Germany—before the rest of the nation joined the battle. Rachel Cox has written an inspiring, richly-documented historical account that captures the essence of American valor. Into Dust and Fire fills in an essential piece of World War II history that will last for the ages.”

Editorial Reviews

A multifaceted, moving story… extraordinary… terrific… A unique take on the war, from the point of view of the young, idealistic and foolhardy.”—Kirkus

“Rachel S. Cox's Into Dust and Fire is an inspired saga about a group of young Americans who hated Nazi totalitarianism to the core. Their rash bravery is the stuff of legend. This is an important new contribution to our growing World War II must-read library.”—Douglas Brinkley, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Wilderness Warrior

“Rachel Cox's book achieves a kind of miracle—bringing to startling life the story of five young Americans who volunteered to fight for Britain in North Africa while the United States was still sitting out the war behind the Atlantic Ocean. Cox is a vigorous, intelligent writer, and her book is a dramatic tale of war, love, hardship, suffering and loss.”—Thomas Powers, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author of The Killing of Crazy Horse

“Into Dust and Fire is a beautifully-written book that evokes World War II in North Africa in a way that has rarely—if ever—been bettered. Touching, moving, and thought-provoking, this is a wonderful, exquisitely crafted book.”—James Holland, Author of The Rise of Germany, 1939-1941

“A moving, beautifully-written tale of five young Ivy Leaguers, romantics and idealists all, who left their privileged lives in peacetime America to join the British Army in its pre-Pearl Harbor struggle against the Nazis. In her quest to trace the wartime experiences of her uncle, Rob Cox, and his four colleagues, Rachel Cox has produced a masterpiece of storytelling, infused with romance, danger, adventure, humor, and heartbreaking loss. It is, hands down, the best description of the transformation of untested young men into soldiers that I have ever read.”—Lynne Olson, author of Citizens of London and Troublesome Young Men

“An elegantly-written story of five unheralded American heroes who left the security of their Ivy League schools to fight the war against Nazi Germany—before the rest of the nation joined the battle. Rachel Cox has written an inspiring, richly-documented historical account that captures the essence of American valor. Into Dust and Fire fills in an essential piece of World War II history that will last for the ages.”—Ken Gormley, Dean and Professor of Law at Duquesne University

From the Publisher

An elegantly-written story of five unheralded American heroes who left the security of their Ivy League schools to fight the war against Nazi Germany—before the rest of the nation joined the battle. Rachel Cox has written an inspiring, richly-documented historical account that captures the essence of American valor. Into Dust and Fire fills in an essential piece of World War II history that will last for the ages.

Ken Gormley

Into Dust and Fire is a beautifully-written book that evokes World War II in North Africa in a way that has rarely—if ever—been bettered. Touching, moving, and thought-provoking, this is a wonderful, exquisitely crafted book.

James Holland

Rachel Cox's book achieves a kind of miracle—bringing to startling life the story of five young Americans who volunteered to fight for Britain in North Africa while the United States was still sitting out the war behind the Atlantic Ocean. Cox is a vigorous, intelligent writer, and her book is a dramatic tale of war, love, hardship, suffering and loss.

Thomas Powers

Rachel S. Cox's Into Dust and Fire is an inspired saga about a group of young Americans who hated Nazi totalitarianism to the core. Their rash bravery is the stuff of legend. This is an important new contribution to our growing World War II must-read library.

Douglas Brinkley

A moving, beautifully-written tale of five young Ivy Leaguers, romantics and idealists all, who left their privileged lives in peacetime America to join the British Army in its pre-Pearl Harbor struggle against the Nazis. In her quest to trace the wartime experiences of her uncle, Rob Cox, and his four colleagues, Rachel Cox has produced a masterpiece of storytelling, infused with romance, danger, adventure, humor, and heartbreaking loss. It is, hands down, the best description of the transformation of untested young men into soldiers that I have ever read.

Lynne Olson

A multifaceted, moving story of five American Ivy League students who committed themselves to fight alongside the British in the spring of 1941. Journalist Cox, the relative of one of the recruits, pieces together this extraordinary story of five patriotic young students at Dartmouth and Harvard who bucked the official U.S. decision to remain out of the war while the Nazis were conquering Europe and offered themselves as volunteers for the King's Royal Rifle Corps. Dartmouth senior Charles G. Bolté led the way by firing off an incendiary letter to President Roosevelt on the front page of the student newspaper announcing, "Now we have waited long enough." At Harvard, senior Rob Cox had been wrestling with his own decision, spurred by a high draft number; while visiting a friend at Dartmouth that spring, he persuaded fellow Dartmouth students Jack Brister and Bill Durkee, along with Harvard sophomore Heyward Cutting, to join the fight. Within six weeks the five well-educated, fairly privileged young men arrived by Allied convoy to Halifax. Mixing in with the English they underwent recruit and officer training at Winchester and were considered curiosities and often displayed for the press and upper echelon. When events in North Africa boiled over, they were finally sent out by freighter in June 1942--the author gives a terrific account of onboard shenanigans and reflections by the bored, fearful men. They endured harsh conditions in the desert and were engaged in the decisive, ferocious Battle of El Alamein in October 1942. Brister was the only Yank not wounded in this battle; once Cox had recovered from being shot in the back, he and Brister returned to fight, and they both died in the Battle of Mareth in 1943. Bolté went on to pursue the cause of veterans' rights and international peace; his first book, The New Veteran (1945), was dedicated to his fallen colleagues. A unique take on the war, from the point of view of the young, idealistic and foolhardy.

Kirkus Reviews