William Bluhm

Signaling the French:: Adventures of a World War II American Army Team William Bluhm

This book tells the story of the Fifth Signal Center Team in World War II. It traces the team's adventures from its formation at Camp Crowder, Missouri, through assignments in North Africa, Italy, France, Germany, and Austria. Part of the team took part in the invasion of southern France in the fall of 1944, after which the entire unit worked liaison from a base at the Mediterranean seaport of Sete to a North African French HQ. Later the team went north to the front, where it crossed the Rhine with the Third Algerian Infantry Division, demolished the last German strongholds with the Second Moroccan Division, and at the end helped chase die-hard German troops from their perches high in the Austrian Alps. One chapter consists of extracts from the daily letters of a team member to his sweetheart back home. The team's story takes the reader through North Africa and Europe, presenting vignettes of team life at camp and in the field with Free French forces. Also included are accounts of life on the homefront by two wives. Lastly, one member recounts the experience of the team's first reunion, thirty years after the end of the war.