Company K

William March (1893-1954) was a writer and highly decorated US Marine. March volunteered in 1917, and was sent to France where he took part in every major engagement in which American troops were involved. Returning as a war hero, March suffered periods of depression and anxiety. His masterpiece, Company K, draws directly on his wartime experiences and was criticised when first published for its anti-war sentiment.

March's book has the force of a mob-protest; an outcry from anonymous throats. It is the only war-book I have read which has found a new form to fit the novelty of the protest. The prose is bare, lucid, without literary echoes, not an imitation but a development