Product Description

From the author of "D-Day" and "Band of Brothers" comes the story of the ordinary soldiers in Northwest Europe from the day after D-Day until the end of the bittersweet days of the war. It opens at 00:01 hours, June 7, 1944 on the Normandy Beaches and ends at 02:45 hours, May 7, 1945. In between comes the battles in the hedgerows of Normandy; the breakout of Saint-Lo, the Falaise gap; Patton tearing through France; the liberation of Paris; the attempt to leap the Rhine in operation Market-Garden; the near-miraculous German recovery; the battles around Metz and in the Huertgen Forest; the Battle of the Bulge; the capture of the bridge at Remagen; and ends with the overunning of Germany. From the enlisted men and junior officers, Ambrose draws on hundreds of interviews and oral histories from those on both sides of the war. The experience of these citizen soldiers reveals the ordinary sufferings and hardships of war. They overcame their fear and inexperience, the mistakes of their high command and their enemy, to win the war.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #46999 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

About the Author
Stephen E. Ambrose is the author of numerous books on history including the bestselling BAND OF BROTHERS and PEGASUS BRIDGE and definitive biographies on EISENHOWER and NIXON. He is founder of the Eisenhower Center and the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans.

Customer Reviews

The Best Ambrose Offering.
This is the best book Ambrose has put out there. 'Band Of Brothers' is about one very small part of the allied effort and the Ambrose style of hero-worship soon becomes very sickly, 'D-Day' is totally mis-titled, riddled with errors and insulting to the non-US allies, but 'Citizen Soldiers' sets out to be a sweeping look at the men who fought in the US army in NW Europe and the result is very well worth while. Don't let the books mentioned above put you off reading this one.

There is nothing in this book about the Pacific or Mediterranean Theatre of operations except the odd passing reference, usually to compare statistics.

What Ambrose does is take quotes from written first hand accounts, quotes from oral histories at the Eisenhower Centre and then quotes from his own research and conversation with veterans. This book puts them all together in a largely chronological order to give the reader a very good idea of conditions and attitudes of GIs from D-Day to victory in Europe. The finished product is very readable and skips along at a good pace despite the almost 500 page length.

My main criticisms of the book are these:
* The maps are disappointing in both ease of reading and level of detail. Several pages are set aside for good quality glossy prints of photographs which would have been better used for quality map reproduction in my opinion.
* Although Ambrose keeps his own opinions to himself more than in his other books, they are still present from time to time and it is fair to say that his selection of quotes often seems to have been made to back-up his own beliefs.
* Ambrose's knowledge of the air war in Europe is certainly lacking and the book is weak in this area.
* While the book is about American GIs, on occasion the lack of mention of other allied actions can leave the reader confronted with obvious questions going unanswered.

Having said all that, I would recommend this book to those interested in the European theatre with the simple caveat that you must never take any Ambrose book as your single source of information about any single aspect of that war.

In my view, an honest account.
This is simply a great book. As usual, Ambrose writes from the personal testimony of the men who were there. It's difficult therefore to criticise or argue with any of the subject matter - it is how they felt during events so we have to respect that fact. We can only imagine what it was like to be on the Western Front in WW2, reading this is as close as we'll get to understanding how it really felt.

I have to admit my ignorance about the campaign, I was well read on the air war in the West but not the conflict on the ground. The impression I had was that there were a few intense battles (Ardennes and D-Day for example) but in general the war on the ground was a simple affair. I was shocked however to see the attrition rates of units, 200% over the 12 months fighting in some cases. This simply beggars belief and the personal insights of the combatants did on occasion bring a lump to my throat.

I take the point of others, Ambrose writes from a very 'America'-centric viewpoint. This is inevitable as the interviews he used are with American veterans. In addition however I'm British, and there are no doubt many who would read my views and be offended (for which I apologise), but we have to accept that the war was won by the Americans and Russians. They were no better soldiers than us, but we could not match their numbers or industrial output. The Brits should be (and are) justly proud that they stopped the Germans expanding any further West than France, but we would never have pushed them back without help. On occasion Ambrose (and his witnesses) reflect these facts but I don't think that warrants critisism and I certainly don't take offence.

Another very interesting point is the acknowledgement by Ambrose of the completely different culture and ethos in the US and British Army. The US were very much shoot first, ask questions later and reliant on an individual's initiative. The British relied upon planning and discipline over and above all else. Both codes have their advantages and disadvantages, and I think that Ambrose does make that point. His account of Patton and Montgomery's different approaches to crossing the Rhine illustrate this perfectly. What makes this even more interesting is the current debate surrounding friendly fire incidents in the Gulf conflict - the same fundamental differences of approach resulting in the US being far more likely to transgress.

Anyway, all I can do is recommend this book and extend my gratitude and respect to the veterens who contributed and to Ambrose for his work.

Opinonated but worthwile.
It has been a little while since I have read this book so I will keep it short.

The author's remit here is the European war from D-Day as experienced by the US forces. As such there is little material on the other allies, which is not a flaw (as some reviewers see it) because the book does not set out to cover the entire period or theatre. If it had covered the entire allied efforts in as much detail, it would be a hugely long work and as mentioned, not in it's remit. Ambrose was after all an American and few would criticise a similar book from a British, Canadian or even German point of view on the same grounds. To those accusing the author of a singular American outlook, I suggest his excellent 'Pegasus Bridge' an account of the British Airborne's skillful and brave opening raid on 'Fortress Europe', which he handles fairly and with suitable respect.

Ambrose gives the reader a good grounding in the main events of the period, detailing chronologicaly the American drive toward Germany from June 1945 to the end of the war in Europe. This wouldn't be the first book I would recommend to someone who wants to find out about what happened between 1939 and 1945, as it's scope is somewhat narrow, there are other books which cover the whole war more generally but Citizen Soldiers does fit in when the reader is more aware of a wider picture.

On a negative note, Ambrose does levy in a hefty dollop of opinion, which does detract from it as being a work of detached, unbiased and objective history. Sometimes the opinions are those of the participants, which is fine and is after all a part of history. However sometimes the author introduces his own opinion, which is not. If you can get over Ambrose's less than objective style, you'll find a worthy history, just make sure you are not expecting a full account, from all sides, of the last great efforts of WWII.