THE ARDENNES, 1944-1945

I consider myself a bit of a military history buff. I have read a variety of different World War II accounts. But The Ardennes is probably the most comprehensive book about WWII that I have ever read.

The Ardennes Offensive, or the Battle of the Bulge, is a well-documented subject from WWII. Primarily it is told from the American perspective. However, in The Ardennes, author Christer Bergstrom provides equal emphasis on both sides of the battle. Not to mention a huge collection of maps, photos, and battlefield insights.

It is obvious to the reader how much research and thought went into writing The Ardennes. The mix of individual soldier accounts adds a human factor to the military tactics discussed throughout the book. There is also a great amount of detail paid to the weapons available and how they were deployed over the course of the battle. Troop movements are outlined and tracked throughout the course of the book. And each division, both Axis and Allies, are shown in detail providing the reader with knowledge of their leadership, unit history, and capabilities.

The book got a little tedious at times. There are a lot of facts and figures packed into this book. Every aspect of the battle is covered, sometimes in too small of detail. It became easy to lose the big picture of the battle.

If someone is looking to do research on or just wants a better understanding of what happened in the Battle of the Bulge, I would highly recommend The Ardennes. This book provides all the information a reader could want about the battle and more.

This book about the Ardennes or the battle of the bulge. The author takes a through look into entire battle from both sides and gives you details of the size of troops and the history. While some of ours were green, never been in battle the Germans had troops from the Western and Eastern fronts and some of the German troops were battle tested. Also the only American that even thought of this being a possibility was a staff member on Patton’s staff and so that is one reason why Patton already had plans for an attack in place. Another the author points out was the lack of information that was getting back to the high command. They the high command were still thinking that the officers were over reacting to troop size and to the number of Panzer tanks. Ordering troops to hold ground not to give ground or hold at all costs. With that last order being followed, many units either ran out of gas, or ammo, or both. That is one of the reasons for so many units being captured and over run. Most of the units did fight until they had no more ammo. That was one part of the story that I had never heard before. This is a through look at the entire battle not just Bastogne which everyone talks about. For their other troops surrounded and 11 African American soldiers from 333rd artillery unit that was executed by the s/s troops. Once Gen. Gavin, activated the 82nd and 101st and then Patton’s now supplied they had to retake what was lost, hold Bastogne and the 82nd to the north had to stop the Germans from the Allied fuel depot. Those along with the Germans running out of gas and the clouds lifting were their down fall. A good book in seeing both sides of the battle and the mistakes that were made and advantages that each side took when they could. A lot of information from both sides well researched. Really liked this book.