A fascinating photographic trip through the site of the last great battle of World War II. Most Americans are patriotic, their interest in World War Two having been stimulated by such movies as Saving Private Ryan. Hundreds of thousands are the descendants of men who saw service in the Battle of the Bulge. This battle still holds the record for the highest number of American troops engaged in any single pitched battle in the history of the United States Army. Americans of the postwar generations are taking an interest in what their fathers and grandfathers did during the war. Those whose relatives served in the Ardennes often visit Belgium and Luxembourg in an attempt to learn more about those now legendary days of World War Two. This guidebook serves as a memorial to those who served. It will enable those who didn’t to learn something about the hardship endured by a previous generation in the name of freedom.
The prizewinning historian and bestselling author of D-Day, Stalingrad, and The Battle of Arnhem reconstructs the Battle of the Bulge in this riveting new account On December 16, 1944, Hitler launched his ‘last gamble’ in the snow-covered forests and gorges of the Ardennes in Belgium, believing he could split the Allies by driving all the way to Antwerp and forcing the Canadians and the British out of the war. Although his generals were doubtful of success, younger officers and NCOs were desperate to believe that their homes and families could be saved from the vengeful Red Army approaching from the east. Many were exultant at the prospect of striking back. The allies, taken by surprise, found themselves fighting two panzer armies. Belgian civilians abandoned their homes, justifiably afraid of German revenge. Panic spread even to Paris. While some American soldiers, overwhelmed by the German onslaught, fled or surrendered, others held on heroically, creating breakwaters which slowed the German advance. The harsh winter conditions and the savagery of the battle became comparable to the Eastern Front. In fact the Ardennes became the Western Front’s counterpart to Stalingrad. There was terrible ferocity on both sides, driven by desperation and revenge, in which the normal rules of combat were breached. The Ardennes—involving more than a million men—would prove to be the battle which finally broke the back of the Wehrmacht. In this deeply researched work, with striking insights into the major players on both sides, Antony Beevor gives us the definitive account of the Ardennes offensive which was to become the greatest battle of World War II.
Mettle and Pasture - the story of the part played during the Second World War in Europe by the 2nd Battalion The Lincolnshire Regiment. Entering France in September 1939 as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) they witnessed from the front line the blistering attack on Belgium at Louvain and firsthand the German Blitzkrieg beginning on May 10th 1940. Fighting a fierce rearguard action as part of the British 3rd Infantry Division under command of General Montgomery, the Battalion covered the frenzied withdrawal of the British Army through the carnage of Dunkirk, arriving back to the shores of England with less than 25% of their original force. On 6th June 1944, almost four years to the day after the demoralizing evacuation at Dunkirk, the Battalion landed on the coast of Normandy on D-Day. Told in their own words, eyewitness accounts and memoirs are expertly weaved together with official war diaries to recall the experiences of the infantrymen at the front - from the days in France and Belgium in 1939 to the assault on Normandy, spearheading such a great invasion, to resisting and attacking the enemy at Caen and blunting the formidable Panzer counter attacks in the dangerous Normandy Bocage. From 'out of the frying pan and into the fire', come the bitter battles in Belgium and Holland, the attrition of holding the Maas River during the coldest winter in living memory, and finally on into Germany, fighting the SS around Bremen just hours before hostilities ended on the 8th May 1945. Vivid accounts tell tales of courage and fear, individual sacrifice and how soldiers faced up to the enemy under fire, sharing danger and surviving the savage conditions but also of the pride and honor of belonging to such a famous and historic regiment - The Lincolnshire Regiment. With an abundance of previously unpublished photographs and clear, concise maps of the battlefields, this is the story of the war the way it really was for an infantryman - told by the men who were there.
This WWII pictorial history presents an in-depth study of Hitler’s epic, final offensive campaign. In December of 1944, nine days before Christmas, Hitler played Germany’s last card on which he staked everything to turn the tables in the West. In this densely illustrated volume, military historian Jean Paul Pallud examines the entire salient with ‘then and now’ photographs. Hundreds of miles have been traveled by the author throughout every corner of the battlefield to search out the scenes of past events — every known photograph belonging to combatants, civilians, and in public collections and private sources has been sought or considered. All available film has been examined frame by frame and certain sequences illustrated and analyzed. This painstaking process offers a vividly detailed look at the famous battle. A number of classic pictures used — or misused — in depicting the conflict are placed in their true context, often revealing them to be very different from what they seem!
In this sweeping adventure story, Stephen E. Ambrose, the bestselling author of D-Day, presents the definitive account of one of the most momentous journeys in American history. Ambrose follows the Lewis and Clark Expedition from Thomas Jefferson's hope of finding a waterway to the Pacific, through the heart-stopping moments of the actual trip, to Lewis' lonely demise on the Natchez Trace. Along the way, Ambrose shows us the American West as Lewis saw it -- wild, awsome, and pristinely beautiful. Undaunted Courage is a stunningly told action tale that will delight readers for generations. In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson selected his personal secretary, Captain Meriwether Lewis, to lead a voyage up the Missouri River to the Rockies, over the mountains, down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean, and back. Lewis was the perfect choice. He endured incredible hardships and saw incredible sights, including vast herds of buffalo and Indian tribes that had had no previous contact with white men. He and his partner, Captain William Clark, made the first map of the trans-Mississippi West, provided invaluable scientific data on the flora and fauna of the Louisiana Purchase territory, and established the American claim to Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Ambrose has pieced together previously unknown information about weather, terrain, and medical knowledge at the time to provide a colorful and realistic backdrop for the expedition. Lewis saw the North American continent before any other white man; Ambrose describes in detail native peoples, weather, landscape, science, everything the expedition encountered along the way, through Lewis's eyes. Lewis is supported by a rich variety of colorful characters, first of all Jefferson himself, whose interest in exploring and acquiring the American West went back thirty years. Next comes Clark, a rugged frontiersman whose love for Lewis matched Jefferson's. There are numerous Indian chiefs, and Sacagawea, the Indian girl who accompanied the expedition, along with the French-Indian hunter Drouillard, the great naturalists of Philadelphia, the French and Spanish fur traders of St. Louis, John Quincy Adams, and many more leading political, scientific, and military figures of the turn of the century. This is a book about a hero. This is a book about national unity. But it is also a tragedy. When Lewis returned to Washington in the fall of 1806, he was a national hero. But for Lewis, the expedition was a failure. Jefferson had hoped to find an all-water route to the Pacific with a short hop over the Rockies-Lewis discovered there was no such passage. Jefferson hoped the Louisiana Purchase would provide endless land to support farming-but Lewis discovered that the Great Plains were too dry. Jefferson hoped there was a river flowing from Canada into the Missouri-but Lewis reported there was no such river, and thus no U.S. claim to the Canadian prairie. Lewis discovered the Plains Indians were hostile and would block settlement and trade up the Missouri. Lewis took to drink, engaged in land speculation, piled up debts he could not pay, made jealous political enemies, and suffered severe depression. High adventure, high politics, suspense, drama, and diplomacy combine with high romance and personal tragedy to make this outstanding work of scholarship as readable as a novel.
In this book Steven J Zaloga offers a fascinating comparison between the two most important tanks involved in the crucial fighting of 1944, the American Sherman and the German Panther. Placing the reader in the heart of this battle between quality and quantity Zaloga uses a compelling account of the ferocious fighting during the Battle of the Bulge to explain the successes and failures of each tank, highlighting the fact that a tank can only be as good as its crew, weighing up the impact of low morale, high cost and mediocre crew training on the Panther's superiority. With full-colour battlescenes, technical drawings, photographs, digital gunsight views, extracts from crew training manuals and real combat reports, this book brings the titanic battles between the Panther and Sherman to life.
This book provides a comprehensive historians or travellers guide to the Battle of the Bulge (Ardennes Offensive) Americas largest battle of the Second World War. As a visitors guide the book presents the actual locations of key events in the struggle to defeat Germanys last offensive of the war. Each battlefield visit begins with a succinct history of events followed by a description of the intense military action that determined success or failure. The narrative revolves around the stories of the privates, NCOs, and junior officers whose sacrifices made success possible. Extensive detailed maps illustrate the flow of the battle across the landscape and the units that participated. Detailed driving instructions and 550 GPS co-ordinates direct visitors to each battlefield site. Descriptions of museums, memorials, cemeteries, and surviving artefacts are given along with their hours of operation. Mailing, email, and web addresses are also provided.
No other conflict has sparked the imagination or interest of so many people worldwide as World War Two. Most Americans are patriotic, their interest in World War Two having been stimulated by such movies as ''Saving Private Ryan''. Hundreds of thousands are the descendants of men who saw service in the Battle of the Bulge. This battle still holds the record for the highest number of American troops engaged in any single pitched battle in the history of the United States Army. Americans of the post-war generations are taking an interest in what their fathers and grandfathers did during the War. Those whose relatives served in the Ardennes often visit Belgium and Luxembourg in an attempt to learn more about those now legendary days of World War Two. This guidebook serves as a memorial to those who served. It will enable those who didn't, to learn something about the hardship endured by a previous generation in the name of freedom.
