Leadership: Does it change over time? A review of Company Commander.
Charles B. MacDonald. Company Commander: The Classic Infantry Memoir of WWII. London: Endeavour Press, 2015. 337 pages.
Serving as a combat company commander is the pinnacle of many soldiers’ careers. Movies and books have immortalized the role of this special leader; however, few have stood the test of time and remain relevant to today’s leaders.
U.S. Army Captain Charles MacDonald wrote Company Commander in 1947 from notes recorded during his time as a company commander in the 23rd Infantry Regiment fighting in the European theater after D-Day. His only subject is, “The dread and gnawing daily diet of war.”
“…Tell them it is hell and tell them there are men getting killed and wounded every minute, and they are miserable and they’re suffering …Tell them it’s rough. Tell them it’s rough serious business.” One of Captain MacDonald’s soldiers to a reporter
This is the story that Captain MacDonald tells. He does not write about the strategy or the politics of the Allied command structure but the dirt, the blood, the exhaustion, and the thoughts of a young commander who loses a soldier to enemy action. Often, he is second guessing his own commands and actions, and wondering if the company has accepted him since he joined it several months after D-Day.
“You fought your way ashore in Normandy on D plus one…And now they give you a company commander fresh from the States. They ask you to put your faith in me…”
How does a fresh, 21-year-old captain take charge? MacDonald admits that the training he received seemed “pitifully inadequate.” MacDonald, however, leads the company into Luxemburg where he describes relieving another company that had not received its winter clothing issue and was defending the raining and muddy countryside; “slow, cold, miserable, drizzle.”
MacDonald continues to think of his men and what effect he may have on them before he realized the effect they had on his own morale. “How they could smile and laugh, and joke…each man had a cheery word for me.” Throughout the book, MacDonald describes how the spirit of his men kindled the fire inside himself to be a better leader. To realize, they accepted their place and him as a leader.
After fighting and then getting a chance to return to the rear for rest, MacDonald overheard a conversation between one of his soldiers and another soldier in the changing room while he was in the shower.
“He’s damn young, but he doesn’t seem scared to come around you once in a while, no matter where the hell you are. He seems to care what happens to you.”
Continuing through the battles across Europe, MacDonald demonstrates continuously the nuggets that make up a good leader. The death of a soldier under the command of an officer would seem overwhelming. However when a medic is killed, MacDonald’s first soldier to die in action, he remarks, “The news was not as staggering as I had expected it would be. There was too much other excitement.”
Captain MacDonald and his men slogged through Germany to Czechoslovakia and were there when the war ended. Arriving, he noted, the “unleashed joy of these oppressed people knew no bounds.” Suddenly, I began to realize what no one had thus far been able in the war to put into words — what we were fighting for.”
There are thousands of books about World War II. Company Commander undoubtedly is one of the best written about the “dogface” soldier fighting and living under extreme conditions who put on a smile every day and continued doing their duty.
Additionally, every small unit leader should read Company Commander. Regardless of whether they are in the military or business. The leadership messages are easily translated into the everyday life of a leader. In addition, if a senior leader has not read Company Commander, I would recommend they do so before they give another order!
“Most of my characters are wearing civilian clothes again now, but I know that wherever they are they have a hollow place in their hearts for those who will not be changing to civilian clothes again –ever those GI Joes who, that others might live, themselves became the fallen fruit of harvest for the devil.”
After the war, Captain MacDonald left the Army. He received the Silver Star, Purple Heart and Combat Infantry Badge. He turned to a career in writing about World War II and retired as the Deputy Chief Historian for the Army Center for Military History. He died in Arlington, Virginia in 1990.
Dave Mattingly is a writer and national security consultant. He retired from the U.S. Navy with over thirty years of service. He is a member of the Military Writers Guild, NETGALLEY Challenge 2015 and a NETGALLEY Professional Reader.
