Up Front
Memoir Accessible Primary Sources
🇺🇸 American
Willie and Joe — the unshaven, exhausted dogfaces of the infantry — in the Pulitzer-winning cartoons that defined the GI's war.
The Verdict
The soldier's war as the soldiers themselves saw it — unshaven, exhausted, and unfooled. Bill Mauldin drew Willie and Joe, the mud-caked infantrymen of the Italian campaign, for the army's own paper, and the cartoons cut so close to the bone that Patton wanted him court-martialed and the infantry loved him for exactly that reason. Up Front collects them with Mauldin's own wry, plainspoken text. It is funny, weary, and truer to the dogface's experience than any number of official histories. The GI's war, by one of them.
Who Should Read It
Read it if you want
- The infantryman's war in cartoons and prose
- Readers who want humour and grit, not glory
- A Pulitzer-winning primary source
- The dogface's-eye view of Italy
Look elsewhere if you want
- Strategy or campaign narrative
- Readers wanting a continuous prose memoir
- A polished, heroic tone
Why We Rated It 4.6
Historical Context
Mauldin drew for the army newspaper Stars and Stripes, his characters Willie and Joe becoming the emblem of the ordinary American infantryman, especially in the Italian campaign. His work famously irritated General Patton while earning the devotion of front-line troops. Up Front was published in 1945; Mauldin won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning that year.
Events Covered
Editions & Reading Notes
Henry Holt (1945)First edition.
Modern reprintsWidely available; the cartoons and text are preserved.
Read It Alongside
Brave Men Ernie Pyle · 1944 · ★ 4.7
Memoir 
Here Is Your War Ernie Pyle · 1943 · ★ 4.5
Memoir 
Naples '44 Norman Lewis · 1978 · ★ 4.7
Memoir Collector's Corner
1945 firsts in jacket are collected; reprints are inexpensive. Check current listings. → Check listings on AbeBooks.
Where to Buy
ISBN: 978-0393050318
Read This Against
The same events seen from a different vantage point. The fullest understanding often lives in the space between accounts that don't agree.
Naples '44 Norman Lewis · 1978 · British
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Operation Mincemeat Ben Macintyre · 2010 · British
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The Liberator Alex Kershaw · 2012
Popular History Operation Mincemeat Ben Macintyre · 2010
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Crusade in Europe Dwight D. Eisenhower · 1948
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Who were Willie and Joe?
- Bill Mauldin's two weary infantrymen, the cartoon embodiment of the ordinary American soldier in the war.
- Why did Patton object to the cartoons?
- He felt they undermined discipline by depicting unshaven, irreverent soldiers; the infantry loved them for their honesty.