If the reader scans only the prologue and the first chapter, Fire Mission! might be dismissed as a self-congratulatory memoir written by an aging WWII veteran. Skip these pages. The meat of the book begins on page four. Weiss chronicles in unsentimental terms the role he played as a forward observer on behalf of the 30th Infantry Division. What unfolds is part historiography and part psycho-drama.
I read the book cover to cover in one sitting. It's a gripping story.
The decisive artillery defense, much of which was launched by forward observer Robert Weiss, has been credited with making the difference in this pivotal battle of the Normandy invasion. With only one radio, powered by dying batteries, Weiss and his team brought down a rain of brutal iron that time after time turned back the German offensive.