29th Infantry Division in WW2 (1989-2015) [+]
Jun 15 2026
Joseph Balkoski, besides being a wargame designer (started with SPI and that's how I know of him), is also historian for the 29th Infantry Division. It took him a quarter century to write a five-volume history of the division during WW2:
Beyond the Beachhead: The 29th Infantry Division in Normandy (1989)
From Beachhead to Brittany: The 29th Infantry Division at Brest (2008)
From Brittany to the Reich: The 29th Infantry Division in Germany (2010)
Our Tortured Souls: The 29th Infantry Division in the Rhineland 2013)
The Last Roll Call: The 29th Infantry Division Victorious (2015)
Balkoski used the divisional historical archives (they had the foresight to archive everything ever written down -- radio communications, reports, orders, etc) as well as lots of interviews with surviving veterans.
There's a lot of detail of their campaigns and battles and skirmishes. Lots of people are mentioned and usually if Balkoski mentions someone he usually provides a bit of biography. Sometimes he goes high level to mention what's going on around the 29th and the bigger picture but mostly it's fairly focused on the experiences of the three combat battalions with other supporting units often mentioned but not as much as the riflemen.
As military history of a specific unit think it reads fine. I've read several histories of units in the American Civil War and World War 2 and they do get kind of in the weeds stuck on small unit actions that seem a bit repetitive at times. Balkoski is not really any different and that's the nature of the subject and going down to a low level.
For the most part I found it interesting though at times maybe a little too much describing every little thing that happened but then again for the official history you want everything. There are also lots of maps, many of them like official maps with drawn in unit positions and maneuvers which I guess is more realistic but Army maps have maybe too much detail and you're supposed to know how to read topographical lines to determine terrain.
Overall this is an excellent series and I'm glad I finally finished reading it all.
Beyond the Beachhead: The 29th Infantry Division in Normandy (1989)
From Beachhead to Brittany: The 29th Infantry Division at Brest (2008)
From Brittany to the Reich: The 29th Infantry Division in Germany (2010)
Our Tortured Souls: The 29th Infantry Division in the Rhineland 2013)
The Last Roll Call: The 29th Infantry Division Victorious (2015)
Balkoski used the divisional historical archives (they had the foresight to archive everything ever written down -- radio communications, reports, orders, etc) as well as lots of interviews with surviving veterans.
There's a lot of detail of their campaigns and battles and skirmishes. Lots of people are mentioned and usually if Balkoski mentions someone he usually provides a bit of biography. Sometimes he goes high level to mention what's going on around the 29th and the bigger picture but mostly it's fairly focused on the experiences of the three combat battalions with other supporting units often mentioned but not as much as the riflemen.
As military history of a specific unit think it reads fine. I've read several histories of units in the American Civil War and World War 2 and they do get kind of in the weeds stuck on small unit actions that seem a bit repetitive at times. Balkoski is not really any different and that's the nature of the subject and going down to a low level.
For the most part I found it interesting though at times maybe a little too much describing every little thing that happened but then again for the official history you want everything. There are also lots of maps, many of them like official maps with drawn in unit positions and maneuvers which I guess is more realistic but Army maps have maybe too much detail and you're supposed to know how to read topographical lines to determine terrain.
Overall this is an excellent series and I'm glad I finally finished reading it all.