by William Foley
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Product Description
An absolutely harrowing first-person account of the 94th Infantry Division’s bold campaign to break through Hitler’s “impregnable” Siegfried line at the end of World War II
Eighteen-year-old William Foley was afraid the war would be over before he got there, but the rifleman was sent straight to the front lines, arriving January 25, 1945–just in time to join the 94th Infantry Division poised at Hitler’s legendary West Wall. By the time Foley finally managed to grab a few hours sleep three nights later, he’d already fought in a bloody attack that left sixty percent of his battalion dead or wounded. That was just the beginning of one of the toughest, bloodiest challenges the 94th would ever face: breaking through the Siegfried Line. Now, in Visions from a Foxhole, Foley recaptures that desperate, nerve-shattering struggle in all its horror and heroism.
Features the author’s artwork of his fellow soldiers and battle scenes, literally sketched from the foxhole
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Stunning account of WW2 combat, 2009-01-09
Visions From a Foxhole: A Rifleman in Patton's Ghost Corps by William A. Foley Jr
This book is an absolute CORKER!!! - excellent in every way! Foley was 18 when assigned to the 94th Infantry Division (G Co 302nd Inf Regt) and his war was from the end of 1944 to victory in the West. Foley is exceedingly literate and as an artist, also has an incredible eye for detail. Some of his descriptions are the most stunning I can recall reading. He is also the real deal - a rifleman from start to finish. He is in the thick of the advance and therefore was involved in several major actions as well as many minor incidents as his division advances into Germany. His first action is amazing. Virtually from the truck he dismounted as a replacement he went into an assault on a village that cost the attackers half their strength. Everything seems to be a blur but there is a hell of a lot of explicit action before he (and the reader it seemed) manages to draw breath.
After this incredible opening, I was further impressed with the authors ability to take descriptions of the usual gripes of Winter living to another level. Dealing with the cold and damaged feet and living in a hole has never been described better. The pinnacle of the authors account for me though was his involvement in the battle of Schomerich when his unit was attacked and cut of by the 6th SS Mountain. This was just carnage. The house to house fighting was exceptionally graphically conveyed. There was also one incident that left my jaw almost on the ground!! So much happened, the brutality of everything left me stunned! This was war writing of the highest order.
One of the treats in this book was Foley's sketches of the men and events he saw. They are very impressive and convey things that pictures don't seem to emphasize enough. The book was written many years after the war but Foley has recaptured the rawness of those youthful experiences. As such, it very much reveals the thoughts and emotions of an 18 year old and is therefore different in tone, compared for instance, to the more mature reflections that Gantter's (he was 30 or so) book had for me. It has a rawness and honesty about personal deeds that many other memoirs lack. The author's skill as a writer works extremely well to reveal this in a way that I found riveting.
Another much appreciated feature was Foley's efforts to name the units he fought (including 11th Pz) as well as the other US units alongside. Finally it was very revealing to read the authors thoughts on veterans associations and how attending his first reunion in 1994 was one of the most rewarding things he ever did. I note that several reviewers here are sceptical but I see that Foley's book is advertised on the 94th Div website and his adventures are less intensive than those of Donald Burgett's, whose bona fides are undoubted. I can't recommend this memoir highly enough. It is one of the best accounts of combat that I have ever read.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
The Best Ever, 2008-12-14
I've read just about every "war-book" about WW II ever published. This one tops them all. In my fifty years, I've never read a "combat" book this riveting. I could almost smell smoke and gunpowder, hear the noise and screams and smell the fresh blood. I mean no disrepect in any way. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to know the facts about how horrible combat really is. I salute you Mr Foley.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 I thoroughly enjoyed this book ..., 2008-12-04
i am so glad i stumbled upon this gem ... i view this book as one of the better first-person perspectives of an american soldier on the western front i've ever read ... reads much like the guy sajer classic ("the forgotten soldier").
foley paints a quite vivid picture of the everyday misery experienced by the american "dogface" sludging through the dreadful winter of 1945, following the battle of the bulge. from the moment he arrived at the front lines, you knew he felt he was nothing but fodder ... another expendable american body with a short expiration date. finally, there is a book that addresses the period of time between the battle of the bulge and the fall of germany ... an oft-forgotten period where most men knew victory was at hand, but also face the reality that thousands more of them would die before it was over. you slog with foley through the snows of winter to the thawing spring of 1945 ... and you share the entire journey with him ... the skrimishes, the boredom, the hunger and the men he shared those time with, regardless of how long they survived the journey.
foley does a superb job of presenting his frontline experience with razor-sharp clarity ... his careful, but thorough attention to detail gives the reader both the exhiliration and the agony of being "in the thick of things". quite simply, the book reads like a movie. the attention to detail is what separates "visions from a foxhole" from most other books (like "band of brothers") ... you sense the earnest attempt of the author to let the reader walk in his shoes (boots) in those dark days ... you feel the misery of being bitter cold and wet all the time, the paranoia of being alone in an outpost at night, knowing the enemy is watching you and waiting, the emotion of seeing your buddies die ... you feel the heat of burning buildings, the concussion of artillery shells and the sound of bullets whizzing by, pinging of rocks and lodging in trees. most of all though, you sense the crispness of a dark, bitter-cold winter night, the uncomfortable confines of a muddy foxhole, the smell of snow-capped pines, the crunch of snow under the soles of boots and finally the relief of spring's onset.
to enhance the reading experience, "visions from a foxhole" includes several beautiful pencil drawings foley created while sitting in those muddy foxholes ... the drawings, like his prose, enhance the senses even more by providing additional detail. i found myself constantly thumbing through those drawings in effort to satisfy my craving to visualize what i was reading ... the drawings provide the detail and emotion of foley's experience that i am sure no photograph could replicate.
i found this book creating an experience that i wanted to savor, so i paced my reading to make it last ... it was both emotional and thought-provoking, like hearing my grandfather telling me stories when i was young. foley is obviously a talented artist ... he has also written one hell of a book.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Connection to History, 2008-10-04
This was my father's unit in World War Two, so I felt a very personal connection with this book. It gave me a much better feel for what my father and so many others had to suffer through. My father would never speak to me about the war or his Bronze Star when I was a child. I now understand why.
There seems to be some question about how much is actual fact and how much the author "filled in the blanks" in his memory. That I can't say. But I have read many, many, World War Two autobiographies and biographies, and this is one of the best for conveying the misery of the experience. If nothing else, this is a testament to the courage of the many men who walked into battle, day after day, in spite of knowing what they were about to face.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
extraordinary account, 2008-08-30
This is by far the most authentic and extraordinary account of the life of an infantryman in the ETO I have ever read, (and I have read many). Foley's narrative is casual in style and unfolds easily - as if you were listening to him tell the story in person. Focusing on the trials of combat, through the eyes of a replacement soldier, (Foley himself), the reader is offered a unique view into the circumstances that transformed a stateside trained Joe into a hardened combat veteran. Foley's storytelling allows the reader to join in his thoughts in the order they occurred and see the sometimes disturbing path that any human mind might take when subjected to such a stressful and horrific event as going from boy to man under the strain of continual combat. The unique perspective of a soldier who discovers his artistic talent during combat offers the amazing eye of an "objective observer" not often found in such accounts. Foley, as an artist, was indelibly moved but much of what happened to him - allowing him to capture in very simple prose a true sense of how dramatically he was altered. His artwork, (with a number of pieces included in the book), is outstanding and truly delivers "a view from a foxhole" - it is first person and personal. An outstanding combat record that should not be missed by any student of history.
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