Digital List Price:	$6.99
Kindle Price:	$1.99 Save $5.00 (72%)
Sold by:	Amazon.com Services LLC

Read with our free app

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

Follow the author

John W. Thomason

+ Follow

More books from this author

Fix Bayonets! Kindle Edition

by John W. Thomason (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.2 183 ratings

See all formats and editions

Great on Kindle

Great Experience. Great Value.

Enjoy a great reading experience when you buy the Kindle edition of this book. Learn more about Great on Kindle, available in select categories.

This collection of WWI sketches of the Fifth Marine Regiment is “forthright, unsparing, deeply felt but unsentimental, and reads like a house afire” (The Wall Street Journal).

From a soldier who was there, here are first-hand accounts of combat and camaraderie during the Great War. In a series of stories and illustrations, Capt. John W. Thomason captures the bravery and gallantry of the leathernecks fighting the Germans in France—putting readers in the trenches, facing the staccato of rifle fire, feeling the pangs of starvation, and the demoralizing fatigue. This collection is a tribute to the men who lived and breathed the motto “Semper Fidelis”, or “Always Faithful”, those who made the ultimate sacrifice and those who made it out alive.

“Fix Bayonets! is in the company of Tolstoy and Crane and Bierce in the literature of war. Indeed, I should leave Crane out of it . . . The Red Badge of Courage cannot stand the fierce sun of Fix Bayonets!” —Laurence Stallings, American playwright and veteran

“Remains the single finest account of Americans in battle in World War I.” —The United States World War One Centennial Commission

“Thomason brings life and energy to his account—and the spirited drawings—of what he saw.” —The Wall Street Journal

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John William Thomason, Jr., was born 28 February 1893 in Huntsville, Texas. He studied art and was a writer in the editorial department of the Houston Chronicle at the beginning of World War I. Appointed Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps in April 1917, he sailed to France with the AEF in 1918. When a German machine gun nest held up a Marine advance at Soissons 18 July 1918, Thomason and one of his men advanced on the position and killed 13 of the enemy. For his heroism he earned the Navy Cross.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09PJ9NVQY
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Open Road Media (January 1, 2022)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 1, 2022
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 37823 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 170 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #459,654 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #32 in Biographies of World War I
- #112 in WWI Biographies
- #241 in World War I History (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
4.2 183 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

John W. Thomason

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5

183 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

jcopeland

one hell of a read.

Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2024

Verified Purchase

Readable and relatable. After viewing “The Pacific” and reading the books associated with it, I’m of the opinion that Marines are a breed beyond just about anyone out there. This book puts it all in perspective.

Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2024

Verified Purchase

All first person view of the war. Good stories of how it was. The writing is not exciting but the soldiers all feel authentic.

Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2024

Verified Purchase

This would have been a better read if the manuscript had been more closely edited. Ex: mist is spelled “m 1st”. Otherwise, a realistic glimpse of WW1.

Helpful

Jay

Written in 1919, there are racist terms used.

Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2021

Verified Purchase

An excellent account of the US marines in France in WWI. It is very well written and is very readable. However, it is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach. It is a graphic account of men at war, what they did and what was done to them. Neither is it for the politically weak spirited. Written in 1919, there are racist terms used. It is a product of it's time.
The art work is the author's work. The cover is one example. It is spread generously throughout the book.
Another item is that these days, and then, many claim the bayonet saw but little use. This account makes many statements to the contrary.
These men are all gone today. This book stands as an excellent account of their contribution to winning the war. I would call it a must read.

There is one curious item about the book itself. In front it says it was "bound and printed in England." On the back page of the book it says it was "made in the USA." Go figure...

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Birichino

Vivid first-person depiction of WW1 battles and soldiers' lives

Reviewed in the United States on February 29, 2020

Verified Purchase

This book, long celebrated as one of the best novels to come out of the Great War, is a vivid, at times wrenching and moving, depiction of US soldiers' lives in and out of battle on the Western Front during the final months of 1918 before the Armistice. The author was a Marine officer there during that time, and the war scenes and events he depicts seem often to be almost non-fiction. The impact of the novel is considerably augmented by the author's numerous (and also celebrated) sketches and drawings of the soldiers, done contemporaneously on and near the battlefields portrayed in the book. This is not a history book, but an exceptional account of WW1 soldiers at the front, simply and eloquently recounted without melodrama or sentimentality.

Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2020

Verified Purchase

This is a great book as far as content goes, but the reprint is not so good. Dozens of pages are off center so that letters are missing on either the left or right margin. Still readable of course, but annoying.

Thomason vividly captures his first hand experience in WWI. This is a fascinating read from one man's perspective.

Helpful

NorgeX

Written in a form that seems to have been lost ...

Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2017

Verified Purchase

Written in a form that seems to have been lost to the 'faux-education' of current writers. You must have some degree of intellect to comprehend the author, but well worth it. It lays bare the degree of self-sacrifice that generation endured, a concept lost on current generations attitudes of service being someone else's job. It is, most importantly, a bare-bones account of life at the small unit, and even individual, level of a combat regiment of Marines. It's unromantic descriptions of actual events gives insight and affirmation to the living-legend that is the United States Marines.

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

Scotty

True WWI USMC

Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2022

Verified Purchase

True account of the Devil Dogs by one who was actually there. Excellent reference material