Searching for Augusta
Searching for Augusta

Author: Martin King

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2017-09-01

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1493029088

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A brutal siege. A forgotten heroine. A war-torn romance. And a historian determined to uncover the truth. Untold millions who saw and read Band of Brothers can finally know the whole story of what happened to American soldiers and civilians in Bastogne during that arduous Winter of 1944/45. In the television version of Band of Brothers, a passing reference is made to an African nurse assisting in an aid station in Bastogne. When military historian Martin King watched the episode, he had to know who that woman was; thus began a multi-year odyssey that revealed the horror of a town under siege as well as an improbable love story between a white Army medic, Jack Prior, and his black nurse, Augusta Chiwy, as they saved countless lives while under constant bombardment. Based on the recent discovery of Prior's diary as well as an exhaustive and occasionally futile search for Augusta herself, King was at last able to bring belated recognition of Augusta's incredible story by both the U.S. Army and Belgian government shortly before she died. This is not only a little-known story of the Battle of the Bulge, but also the author's own relentless mission to locate Augusta and bestow upon her the honors she so richly deserved.

Those who Hold Bastogne
Those who Hold Bastogne

Author: Peter Schrijvers

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2014-01-01

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 0300179022

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A new telling of the brutal siege of Bastogne, where vastly outnumbered American forces held off a savage German onslaught and sealed the fate of the Third Reich Hitler's last gamble, the Battle of the Bulge, was intended to push the Allied invaders of Normandy all the way back to the beaches. The plan nearly succeeded, and almost certainly would have, were it not for one small Belgian town and its tenacious American defenders who held back a tenfold larger German force while awaiting the arrival of General George Patton's mighty Third Army. In this dramatic account of the 1944-45 winter of war in Bastogne, historian Peter Schrijvers offers the first full story of the German assault on the strategically located town. From the December stampede of American and Panzer divisions racing to reach Bastogne first, through the bloody eight-day siege from land and air, and through three more weeks of unrelenting fighting even after the siege was broken, events at Bastogne hastened the long-awaited end of WWII. Schrijvers draws on diaries, memoirs, and other fresh sources to illuminate the experiences not only of Bastogne's 3,000 citizens and their American defenders, but also of German soldiers and commanders desperate for victory. The costs of war are here made real, uncovered in the stories of those who perished and those who emerged from battle to find the world forever changed.

Seven Roads to Hell
Seven Roads to Hell

Author: Donald R. Burgett

Publisher: Thorndike Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 9780783889948

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The Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne Division had just finished the battle for "the bridge too far", and, as Christmas 1944 approached, they were settling in for some hard-earned R&R. Then Hitler ordered a massive Nazi counterattack through the Ardennes Forest. The Screaming Eagles were rushed to Bastogne, a small Belgian crossroads where seven roads met and where the lightly armed and under-supplied division became the "cork in the bottle" of the Nazi onslaught. Burgett's stirring memoir (he was 19) recounts how epic courage bought the time needed for Patton's Third Army to redeploy.

Battle of the Bulge 1944 (1)
Battle of the Bulge 1944 (1)

Author: Steven J. Zaloga

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2011-03-15

Total Pages: 96

ISBN-13: 1846035708

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The Battle of the Bulge was the largest and most costly battle fought by the US Army in World War II. The Ardennes fighting was Hitler's last gamble on the Western Front, crippling the Wehrmacht for the remainder of the war. In the first of two volumes on the Ardennes campaign Steven Zaloga details the fighting in the northern sector around St Vith and the Elsenborn Ridge. The Sixth Panzer Army, containing the bulk of German Panzer strength, was expected to achieve the breakthrough here. It was the failure around St Vith that forced the Germans to look south towards Bastogne.

The 101st Airborne Division’s Defense Of Bastogne [Illustrated Edition]
The 101st Airborne Division’s Defense Of Bastogne [Illustrated Edition]

Author: Colonel Ralph M. Mitchell

Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing

Published: 2014-08-15

Total Pages: 118

ISBN-13: 1782893792

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[Includes 53 photos/illustrations and 11 maps] The defense of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II is one of the supreme achievements of American arms. Bastogne is deservedly identified with the finest characteristics of the American soldier, and the name Bastogne symbolizes a heroic battle. Bastogne has long held the attention of students of war, yet the battle offers new insights for soldiers with modern concerns. Colonel Ralph M. Mitchell’s study, The 101st Airborne Division’s Defense of Bastogne, reveals how a light infantry division, complemented by key attachments, stopped an armor-heavy German corps. Using original documents and reports, Colonel Mitchell traces the fight at Bastogne with emphasis on the organization, movement and, employment of the 101st Airborne Division. Although a variety of factors influenced the outcome at Bastogne, the flexibility of the 101st to reconfigure for sustained operations and to defeat strong opposition forces even when surrounded shows how properly augmented light infantry can fight and win.

No Silent Night
No Silent Night

Author: Leo Barron

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2012-11-06

Total Pages: 558

ISBN-13: 1101602732

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On Christmas morning, 1944, there was little reason to celebrate.… As the Battle of the Bulge raged, a small force of American solders—including the famed 101st Airborne division, tank destroyer crews, engineers, and artillerymen—was completely surrounded by Hitler’s armies in the Belgian town of Bastogne. Taking the town was imperative to Hitler’s desperate plan to drive back the Allies and turn the tide of the war. The attack would come just before dawn. As the outnumbered, undersupplied Americans gathered in church for services or shivered in their snow-covered foxholes on the fringes of the front lines, freshly reinforced German forces of men and tanks attacked. The battle was up close and personal, with the cold, exhausted soldiers of both armies fighting for every square foot of frozen earth. In the end, the Allied forces would hold the town of Bastogne, with the hard-won victory boosting morale and sounding the death-knell for Hitler’s Third Reich. After this battle, the Nazis would never go on the offensive again. Featuring interviews with the soldiers who were there, as well as never-before-seen or translated documents, No Silent Night is a compelling chronicle of one day that changed the course of the war—and the world. INCLUDES NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN PHOTOS AND MAPS

Nuts! A 101st Airborne Division Machine Gunner at Bastogne
Nuts! A 101st Airborne Division Machine Gunner at Bastogne

Author: Vincent J. Speranza

Publisher: Vincent J. Speranza

Published: 2014-11-11

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 9781941165515

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On 22 December 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, with the Germans surrounding the Belgian town of Bastogne, a German messenger brought a message from his commander to Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe, acting commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division, demanding his surrender. McAuliffe's response was simply, "Nuts!"Manning a foxhole on the perimeter around Bastogne was nineteen-year-old Army private Vince Speranza, a machine gunner with the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment. This is Vince's story of the Battle of the Bulge and his life before and after the battle.Vince shares his memories from early childhood through his service in World War II and his life up until now as he stands on the verge of turning 90--a story you will long remember. Vince will be in Bastogne, at his original foxhole, on the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, drinking Airborne Beer, which his actions many years ago inspired.

The Tigers of Bastogne
The Tigers of Bastogne

Author: Michael Collins

Publisher: Casemate

Published: 2013-06-08

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 1612001823

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This chronicle of an armored division’s bravery during the Battle of the Bulge sheds new light on the legendary Siege of Bastogne in WWII. Before the 101st Airborne Division’s famous Siege of Bastogne, there was already a US unit holding the town when they arrived. This unit—the 10th Armored Division—continued to play a major role in its defense through the German onslaught. The Tigers of Bastogne offers a detailed chronicle of the young armored division that withstood the full brunt of Manteuffel’s Fifth Panzer Army in the Ardennes. The 10th Armored had only arrived in Europe that September as part of Patton’s Third Army. They soon faced the onslaught of Nazi panzers bursting across no-man’s-land on December 16. But they earned their nickname, “The Tiger Division,” as they went on the defensive at Bastogne, surrounded by an entire German army. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe of the 101st Airborne said, “It seems regrettable to me that Combat Command B of the 10th Armored Division didn’t get the credit it deserved at the Battle of Bastogne. All the newspaper and radio talk was about the paratroopers. Actually the 10th Armored Division was in there a day before we were and had some very hard fighting before we ever got into it.” Fortunately, in this book, the historical record is finally corrected.

Patton at the Battle of the Bulge
Patton at the Battle of the Bulge

Author: Leo Barron

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2014-10-28

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 0698143515

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In Patton at the Battle of the Bulge, Army veteran and historian Leo Barron explores one of the most famous yet little-told clashes of WWII, a vitally important chapter in one of history’s most legendary battles. Includes photographs! “Barron captures the fiery general’s command presence and the pivotal commitment of his Third Army tanks to relieve the embattled crossroads town of Bastogne.”—Michael E. Haskew, Author of West Point 1915: Eisenhower, Bradley, and the Class the Stars Fell On December 1944. For the besieged American defenders of Bastogne, time was running out. Hitler’s forces had pressed in on the small Belgian town in a desperate offensive designed to push back the Allies. The U.S. soldiers had managed to repel repeated attacks, but as their ammunition dwindled, the weary paratroopers of the 101st Airborne could only hope for a miracle. More than a hundred miles away, General George S. Patton was putting in motion the most crucial charge of his career. Tapped to spearhead the counterstrike was the 4th Armored Division, a hard-fighting unit that had slogged its way across France. But blazing a trail into Belgium meant going up against some of the best infantry and tank units in the German Army. And failure to reach Bastogne in time could result in the overrunning of the 101st and turn the tide of the war against the Allies.