The Battle of the Bulge

This is a short. easy read that never strays far from its title subject. I recommend The Battle.... for its clarity and concise description of personalities and events.

When I was reading Stephen W. Sears' book on "The Battle of the Bulge" for the American Heritage Junior Library it suddenly dawned on me that if it was not for this last gasp counterattack by the German army in December of 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt might have lived to see the fall of Nazi Germany. Christrose, the first chapter of this volume, has Hitler making the case for his counteroffensive, explaining the twisted logic by which the Sixth Panzer Army would take Antwerp and the Fifth Panzer Army would move on Brussels during the worst weather in Europe in fifty years. Hitler was convinced that the Americans, fighting 3,000 miles from home, would accept a negotiated surrender and go home, especially once Hitler started using his rocket weapons. Laying out the entire scheme in all its psychotic glory certainly gives young readers insights into Hitler and his hold on the German people and military. Sears also makes it clear that this German offensive was in many ways as much of a surprise as the attack on Pearl Harbor, especially since the Allies were preparing a massive drive to the Rhine River to break the back of Nazi resistance on the Western Front.The next chapters in the book are devoted to the initial breakthrough by the German army, the Allied fight for time, the celebrated siege of Bastogne, and the pivotal find at the Meuse. The final pair of chapters look at the long road back, as the Allied armies reclaimed the ground they had lost, and the legacy of the Battle of the Ardennes (its "real" name) as the final failure of the Nazi dream of world conquest. The narrative by Sears is reinforced by battlefield photographs, as well as sketches and paintings, telling the story of the greatest and fiercest battle of World War II for the U.S. Army. Sears characterizes this as the strongest challenge of the European war, although that seems a bit overstated given D-Day. But having grown up on the movie version of "The Battle of the Bulge," and about to watch "Band of Brothers" for the second time, I could really appreciate the way Sears gives a clear sense of structure to the battle so that young readers can appreciate what was happening from both sides, if they can just track down this volume. These American Heritage Junior Library volumes really stand the time and hard to beat just in terms of the illustrations.