The Battle of the Bulge: Hitler’s Final Gamble - Hardcover

Delaforce, Patrick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1783463597 ISBN 13: 9781783463596

Publisher: Pen and Sword Military, 2014

Synopsis

By late 1944 the Allies were poised to smash the Siegfried Line and break into Germany. Supply lines were shorter thanks to the port of Antwerp. Arnhem aside, there had been a long run of victories and there was no intelligence even from ULTRA to suggest a German counteroffensive.

So the major December attack through the mountainous Ardennes by massed Panzers and infantry took the Allies totally by surprise. Fog and low cloud negated the Allies’ air supremacy, English-speaking German commandos in captured jeeps created panic and withdrawal of US forces became a near rout with morale all but broken.

For ten days the situation worsened and Antwerp was seriously threatened and 21st Army Group in danger of being cut off.

Clear skies for the Thunderbolts and coherent counterattacks by rapidly deployed reinforcements turned the tide in the nick of time, so preventing a catastrophic defeat for the Allies.

All this and more is graphically narrated in this fine study of a pivotal battle, that so nearly changed the course of war.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

 

The so-called ¿Battle of the Bulge¿ was one of the most important battles of the Second World War. It was certainly America¿s largest and most crucial land battle, at one stage involving half a million men.

 

¿Battle of the Bulge: Hitler¿s Final Gamble¿ tells the story of Hitler¿s brilliant plan to recapture Antwerp and force a negotiated peace on the Western front; and how close he came to success. Featuring individual stories from the German army and American GIs, as well as a more comprehensive account of the British intervention than seen in previous books on the battle, Patrick Delaforce provides a gripping account of one of the most important battles of the Second World War.

 

About the Author:

Patrick Delaforce served with 11th Armoured Division during the advance through NW Europe. After a career in the wine trade he became a professional writer. Among his books in print with Pen and Sword are Churchill’s Desert Rats in North Africa, Burma, Sicily and Italy, Wellington Le Beau and Monty’s Marauders.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1783463597
• ISBN 13: 9781783463596
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 376