Lens of an Infantryman

After he arrived in Europe with the 35th Infantry Division, Murray Leff traded his cigarette ration for a 35mm camera. This memoir presents many of the photographs that Leff captured with that camera, and records his World War II experiences from Gremercey Forest through the Battle of the Bulge, the Ruhr Pocket and the fall of Germany. After he arrived in Europe with the 35th Infantry Division, Murray Leff traded his cigarette ration for a 35mm camera. By hiding that camera under his field jacket, Leff was able to carry it into battle to record some of the war's most heated fighting. Photographs snapped while he crouched in a water-filled ditch show Leff's rifle squad burying their heads in mud as enemy shells come in. Images show a supporting tank on its arrival and later, smoldering from a direct hit by German fire. These and many more photographs are part of this memoir, which records Leff's World War II experiences from Gremercey Forest through the Battle of the Bulge, the Ruhr Pocket and the fall of Germany.