cover image Other Battle of the Bulge

Other Battle of the Bulge

World Trade Press, Charles Whiting. Scarborough House Publishers, $19.95 (198pp) ISBN 978-0-8128-4004-9

In December 1944, while the Americans were trying to stem the German offensive in the Belgian Ardennes, Hitler launched another major offensive in France aimed at recapturing Alsace-Lorraine. This ``second Battle of the Bulge,'' in the winter of 1944-45, lasted a month longer than the first, cost the lives of 16,000 Americans and twice that number of French soldiers serving under U.S. command. Whiting convincingly argues that it was a more significant battle than the Ardennes ``Bulge'' because it threatened to break up the Western alliance and plunge France into political anarchy. The Supreme Allied Commander, General Eisenhower, had severe problems maintaining the ``Bulge'' and Alsace fronts at the same time, compounded by his lack of confidence in General Jacob Devers, whose combined U.S.-French army was responsible for the latter sector. The book shows how Devers won Ike's gratitude for his annihilating counterattack against the German 19th Army. Whiting ( Bloody Aachen ) expertly describes the overall strategy of the battle and its political overtones and provides as well colorful vignettes of small-unit combat and the exploits of individual GIs, such as Audie Murphy, who saved the day in local clashes. Photos. (Nov.)