As Weapons Sergeant with the 291st Combat Engineers during the Second World War, Henry Giles took part in the Normandy Invasion, the Battle of the Bulge, and the building of the bridge across the Rhine at Remagen. During all this time he kept a journal, which his wife, Janice Holt Giles, has supplemented with extracts from his letters to her, short accounts by some of the other men in the battalion, and explanatory notes of her own which give the overall picture of the war’s progress. The result is an intensely vivid human and moving account of a soldier's day-by-day existence.

List of maps : General route of the 291st, 1944-1945 ; The Battle of the Bulge, December 16-26, 1944 ; Bob Billington's map.

From England to Cherbourg peninsula -- from Carentan to St. Lô -- from St. Lô to Marle-sur-Seine -- From Marle-sur-Seine to Luxembourg -- From Luxembourg to Liége -- from Liége to the Battle of the Bulge -- The Battle of the Bulge : Henry Giles -- The battle of the Bulge: 291st, Company A -- The Battle of the Bulge : 291st, Lt. Col. David E. Pergrin -- Liége – hospital - replacement depot -- Germany - 1945: From Walheim to Remagen -- Remagen -- From Remagen to the Danube -- Brückenau - Munich -- Appendices. Historical division, SSUSA : unit history worksheet -- Battle organization as of May, 1945 -- Awards and decorations.