Assignment to Hell

Assignment to Hell follows five World War II correspondents who covered the European theater: Walter Cronkite, Andy Rooney, Homer Bigart, Hal Boyle, and Robert Capa. These journalists risked their lives alongside troops to document major battles and events of the war, filing dispatches that shaped how Americans understood the conflict. The book reconstructs their wartime experiences through letters, interviews, articles, and archives. From D-Day landings to the liberation of Paris, it tracks how these reporters navigated military restrictions, technical challenges, and constant danger to get stories back to readers at home. Through their parallel narratives, the book examines questions about objectivity in war reporting and the relationship between journalists and soldiers. Their accounts provide perspectives on how WWII journalism established practices and principles that influenced generations of war correspondence.

Readers found this book offers a detailed look at five WWII correspondents but note it can be hard to follow the overlapping narratives and timelines. Several reviewers mentioned struggling to keep track of the different journalists' stories as they weave together. Liked: - Deep research and primary sources - Personal details about the correspondents' lives - Coverage of less-discussed war events - Historical photographs included Disliked: - Jumps between characters make narrative flow difficult - Too much background information slows pace - Some repetitive content - Lack of clear chronological structure Ratings: Goodreads: 3.8/5 (124 ratings) Amazon: 4.2/5 (47 ratings) One reader noted: "The journalists' individual stories would have been better served as separate biographies." Another wrote: "The level of detail is impressive but sometimes overwhelming." Most reviews indicate readers appreciate the historical content but find the presentation challenging to follow.

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✦ Five American journalists - including a young Walter Cronkite - worked as war correspondents together during WWII's European theater, risking their lives to report from the frontlines ✦ The book's title comes from Associated Press reporter Hal Boyle, who described his wartime assignment as "a assignment to hell" in his personal diary ✦ The journalists covered not only battles but also witnessed the liberation of concentration camps, with their reporting helping to reveal the Holocaust's horrors to the American public ✦ Author Timothy M. Gay discovered much of the material through extensive research of personal papers, diaries, and previously unpublished letters from the five correspondents ✦ The journalists often defied military restrictions and censorship to get their stories out, sometimes risking court-martial to ensure accurate reporting reached the American people