Assigned to Company B, 41st Tank Battalion, 11th Armored Division, Private Ivan Goldstein
and his fellow crewmates of a Sherman M4 tank dubbed Barracuda saw limited action during
the early stages of the Battle of the Bulge.
Hit and disabled on the first day the tank entered the fray, the Barracuda caught
fire and was abandoned by the crew. Goldstein and his comrades were captured by German forces
and spent the remaining days of the war in a POW camp.
How the young soldier escaped not only a German major's order that he be executed but also
the long days he endured in the prison camp is the subject of this World War II memoir. In an
interesting twist to this story, the author discovered that the hulk of the Barracuda was
not only salvaged after the war, but it also was given a place of honor in the town square of
Bastogne, Belgium. He explains how his tank ended up serving as a memorial to the gallantry of
the men who fought in the Battle of the Bulge.
Those who are interested in the personal stories of those who fought in World War II will
enjoy Ivan Goldstein's memoir. As a Jewish-American POW, his tale is perhaps a little more
harrowing than that of other American soldiers given how the Nazis mistreated Jews.