The Ardennes, 1944-1945
The Ardennes, 1944-1945

Author: Christer Bergstrom

Publisher: Casemate / Vaktel Forlag

Published: 2014-12-19

Total Pages: 504

ISBN-13: 1612002773

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In December 1944, just as World War II appeared to be winding down, Hitler shocked the world with a powerful German counteroffensive that cracked the center of the American front. The attack came through the Ardennes, the hilly and forested area in eastern Belgium and Luxembourg that the Allies had considered a “quiet” sector. Instead, for the second time in the war, the Germans used it as a stealthy avenue of approach for their panzers. Much of U.S. First Army was overrun, and thousands of prisoners were taken as the Germans forged a 50-mile “bulge” into the Allied front. But in one small town, Bastogne, American paratroopers, together with remnants of tank units, offered dogged resistance. Meanwhile the rest of Eisenhower’s “broad front” strategy came to a halt as Patton, from the south, and Hodges, from the north, converged on the enemy incursion. Yet it would take an epic, six-week-long winter battle, the bloodiest in the history of the U.S. Army, before the Germans were finally pushed back. Christer Bergström has interviewed veterans, gone through huge amounts of archive material, and performed on-the-spot research in the area. The result is a large amount of previously unpublished material and new findings, including reevaluations of tank and personnel casualties and the most accurate picture yet of what really transpired. The Ardennes Offensive has often been described from the American point of view; however, this balanced book devotes equal attention to the perspectives of both sides. With nearly 400 photos, numerous maps, and 32 superb color profiles of combat vehicles and aircraft, it provides perhaps the most comprehensive look at the battle yet published.

Malmedy Massacre Investigation
Malmedy Massacre Investigation

Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Congress. Committee on Armed Services

Publisher:

Published: 1949

Total Pages: 1664

ISBN-13:

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Investigates WWII massacre of American soldiers at Malmedy, Belgium, and investigates allegations German soldiers confessed to the crimes under duress.

The Malmedy Massacre
The Malmedy Massacre

Author: Steven P. Remy

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2017-03-14

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 067497722X

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During the Battle of the Bulge, Waffen SS soldiers shot 84 American prisoners near the Belgian town of Malmedy—the deadliest mass execution of U.S. soldiers during World War II. The bloody deeds of December 17, 1944, produced the most controversial war crimes trial in American history. Drawing on newly declassified documents, Steven Remy revisits the massacre—and the decade-long controversy that followed—to set the record straight. After the war, the U.S. Army tracked down 74 of the SS men involved in the massacre and other atrocities and put them on trial at Dachau. All the defendants were convicted and sentenced to death or life imprisonment. Over the following decade, however, a network of Germans and sympathetic Americans succeeded in discrediting the trial. They claimed that interrogators—some of them Jewish émigrés—had coerced false confessions and that heat of battle conditions, rather than superiors’ orders, had led to the shooting. They insisted that vengeance, not justice, was the prosecution’s true objective. The controversy generated by these accusations, leveled just as the United States was anxious to placate its West German ally, resulted in the release of all the convicted men by 1957. The Malmedy Massacre shows that the torture accusations were untrue, and the massacre was no accident but was typical of the Waffen SS’s brutal fighting style. Remy reveals in unprecedented depth how German and American amnesty advocates warped our understanding of one of the war’s most infamous crimes through a systematic campaign of fabrications and distortions.

War Crimes and Trials
War Crimes and Trials

Author: James Larry Taulbee

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2018-10-18

Total Pages: 355

ISBN-13:

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This comprehensive reference work serves as an important resource for anyone interested in the international prosecution of war crimes and how it has evolved. War Crimes and Trials analyzes the evolution of war crime trials through primary sources. Beginning with a general discussion of why regulations for war have evolved, it then illustrates the resulting changes in the nature and consequences of war as well as attitudes toward war as a part of international life. Moreover, it contextualizes contemporary rules that pertain to both international and non-international armed conflicts. The heart of the book focuses on 12 World War II cases central to the development of war law over the next 50 years, including the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials of major war criminals. It additionally dedicates discussion to the evolution of the law after World War II as set in motion by the United Nations, the 1949 Geneva Conventions and amendments, the background and operation of the ad hoc international criminal courts, and the creation of the permanent International Criminal Court, illustrating problems and successes through 12 cases drawn from these four courts.

Law and War
Law and War

Author: Peter Maguire

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2010-03-04

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13: 0231518196

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In this classic text, Peter Maguire follows America's legal relationship with war, both before and after the Nuremberg trials of the 1940s. Maguire argues that the precedents set by the trials were nothing less than revolutionary, and he traces the development of these new attitudes throughout American history. The text has been revised throughout, with a new preface and postscript discussing the George W. Bush administration's attempt to rewrite the laws of war after 9/11. Maguire connects these efforts to the decline in American power and reputation. Praise for the previous edition: "[An] intriguing historical analysis."—Harvard Law Review "Outstanding... impressive... a terrific book."—American Historical Review "A five-star accomplishment that will intrigue the reader and prove that, in history, truth is often more fascinating than fiction."—H. W. William Caming, former Nuremberg prosecutor "Perceptive."—Journal of American History "An important and fascinating study, marked by impressive research and moral passion."—Ronald Steel, University of Southern California "A 'must read' for all those interested in international criminal law, war crimes, and war crime trials."—J. C. Watkins Jr., University of Alabama "A sobering exploration of the hypocrisy and double standards that shape the laws of war. Maguire reveals the conflict between American ideology and American imperialism, the Faustian compromises made by our leaders during their elusive quest for justice."—Iris Chang, author of The Rape of Nanking "A pioneering account.... Law and War goes back to the middle of the nineteenth century to trace the history of modern war crimes, their shock value, and the efforts made to bring their perpetrators to account."—Thomas Keenan, Bardian