Fiction - War

Battle Cry by Leon Uris [1953]

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Category: Fiction - war

Written by Harsh

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Battle cry was the first ever book written by Leon Uris drawing on his experiences in Guadalcanal and Tarawa. Many of the events in the book are based on Uris's own World War II experience with the 6th Marine Regiment.

The story is set in time right after Pearl Harbor. It's the story of the Marines in the Second World War and of one squad of Marines in particular, narrated by Mac, a tough old timer sergeant who has seen generations of boys pass through his command and has seen many wars. The story starts with the diverse backgrounds of the various characters.  The characters in the book come from a variety of backgrounds and you feel bound to them: Danny Forrester, the all-American boy; Andy the Swede, hating women indiscriminately until he meets the woman of his dreams far from home; Levin from Brooklyn, who knew what he had to do, and did it magnificently; Shining Light-tower, the Navajo, who really didn't want to go back to the reservation after all, the medical orderly who is a poor Hispanic from San Antonio and Sam Huxley, their colonel, who wanted glory for himself and his boys at any price, even if the price included all their lives.The story continues with boot camp and how these group of ragtag men come together as a fighting unit as well as the battles they fought in, including the Battle of Guadalcanal, Tarawa and the Battle of Saipan with a lot of realism along with exceptional moments of camaraderie and bravery.. The story comes to a shattering climax with an all-out battle against the Japanese forces in the Pacific, which is emotional (With Marion getting his leg blown off, Shapiro shouting for Blood while crawling with his guts spilling out) and ends with a lot of the group dead.

Uris is a great storyteller, and one of his greatest strengths is in plain dialogue between his characters. It's in the dialogue that his characters come vibrantly alive. We understand how a disparate bunch of 18 and 19 year old kids like anybody else, can throw their lives away in battle rather than face the possibility of a defeat which would be worse than death and their intense esprit de corps . Uris shows us through his characters the men who made the Marines what they are. Uris did not all neglect the issue of back home wives and girlfriends, who are so very important to men isolated so far from home. The deaths the lonliness and the "Dear John" letters. Some of the characters could have been developed a bit more but what the heck, its a great story anyway and one of my personal favorites in this genre.

Unlike other great works of this genre' (Herman Wouk's "War and Remembrance" for instance), this tale is not told from the perspective of the colonels and generals, but rather as experienced by the U.S. Marine sergeants and privates. There is some great by play as always with sargeants bitching to each other about their lot in life as always. At times it is slow and monotonous, as was the wartime Marine life. At other times the action is fast-paced and overwhelming. Overall a great tale of courage, leadership, brotherhood and humanity grippingly told.

Warner Brothers produced this book as a movie which was very popular..