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Following the Front: The Dispatches of World War II Correspondent Sidney A. Olson

In December 1944, TIME/LIFE correspondent Sidney A. Olson received his accreditation as a war correspondent and made his way to London to cover the European Theater of Operations. He proceeded to Paris, then made his way to the battlefront in the Netherlands, where he almost immediately lost his life. From there, he criss-crossed Belgium, France, and Luxembourg, ping-ponged through Germany, and wound up in Austria by early May. He returned to Paris in time for V-E Day.

Every step of the way, he documented the Allied efforts to push the German front back and ultimately defeat the Nazis. Olson’s dispatches (most of which were never published), along with his letters and diary entries, are filled with descriptions of the war--a disconcerting blend of death and destruction, suffering and cruelty, culture and natural beauty, bravery and kindness. His writing is both wrenching and beautiful. As primary sources, the dispatches reflect the issues of the day while providing vital context for us right now, in these difficult times.

Many of the players he moved with are still famous today: he played poker with Robert Capa and drank at the Hotel Scribe’s bar next to Ernest Hemingway. He mentions Andy Rooney in his diary and crossed paths with Marguerite Higgins at Dachau. He corresponded regularly with his mentor, TIME Inc. founder Henry Luce and he dined with congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce one April night in Heidelberg. He watched Winston Churchill tour the Siegfried Line. He interviewed General Patton. His life changed forever on April 29, 1945, when he witnessed the liberation of Dachau concentration camp.

Olson’s WWII dispatches make it quite clear that the fight against fascism, and against mankind’s propensity for war, is ongoing.