Product Description

Soldiers of the West Front!! Your great hour has arrived. Large attacking armies have started aginst the Anglo-Americans. I do not have to tell you anything more on that. You felt it youself: WE GAMBLE EVERYTHING! You carry with you the holy obligation to give everything to achieve things beyond human possibilities for our Fatherland and our Fuhrer! -Gerd von Rundstedt, Commander in Chief, West Front The Battle of the Bulge was the greatest single battle ever fought by the American army. More than a million American troops were involved and nearly 80,000 became casualties. During the autumn of 1944 Hitler's Reich had squeezed out of Germany its last reserves of manpower and industrial strength, to turn the smashed armies of the west once again into a coherent and credible force. Behind that force lay the new technologies that the Nazis hoped could win the war - the V1 and V2 rockets, the ME 262 jet fighter, and, most important for the Bulge, the mighty 68-ton King Tiger tank. These forces were to be thrown against the weak American armies of the Ardennes to strike once again through Belgium and cut off the Allied armies at the front. It was a staggering and unexpected gamble. And, aided by weather that grounded Allied aircraft, it almost succeeded. The defeat of the German armies in the Bulge contributed decisively to the end of the war. This is the story of Germany's last great offensive and the desperate struggle which broke the German armies. The Battle of the Bulge is the subject of a major film next year. This is its definitive story.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #421982 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 506 pages

Review
A very readable study in command. Eisenhower, who is Ike's son and also an ex-army officer, focuses on Hitler's surprise Ardennes offensive - the Battle of the Bulge - for his examination of German and Allied command structures at all echelons. His portraits of the commanders, insights into the informality that characterized Allied decision-making in the field ("with a nod of the head, Eisenhower acknowledged responsibility for the decision"), and treatment of the officers as men rather than just military strategists make this an unusual analysis. What emerges is a clear description of how personal and professional style colored the conduct of the battle. Eisenhower relies heavily on memoirs, on his own sturdy knowledge of military strategy and staff procedures, and, possibly, on anecdotes he heard from Dad. But it is a book written with objectivity and no hint that the author is related to that Eisenhower who is one of the book's chief characters. Particularly interesting are the portraits of Montgomery, Bradley, and Otto Skorzeny, Hasso von Manteuffel, and Heinrich Freiherr von Luttwitz. (Kirkus Reviews)

About the Author
John S. D. Eisenhower is the author of So Far from God: The US War with Mexico, 1846-1848, amongst others. As son of Dwight D. Eisenhower he is uniquely qualified to write about his father's greatest battle.

Customer Reviews

VERY DETAILED ACCOUNT OF BULGE
Eisenhower has a way of bringing you right into the fight. He covers in great detail the extreme conditions the American GI faced in winter battle. I have read over 25 books on WWII and this is a good one. My one complaint is the book uses so much military jargon that it can be overwhelming for a non military person. He should at least explain in the beginning some of the military terms used. For example, how many men in a platoon, division, etc...(I have the same complaint about most WWII history books). Overall this is a good read for anyone interested in WWII.

A very thorough account of a complex battle
The detailed account of the Battle of the Bulge is well written and exhaustive. The description of the personalities involved are excellent particularly given the author's personal connection to most of them. Overall an outstanding read. The only drawback is that at times I found the geography and the various unit displacements hard to follow even with the sector maps provided.

Complete and accessible
The Bitter Woods is the story of the Battle of the Bulge. Eisenhower succeeds in presenting a clear and concise history of the famed Nazi offensive, though the vastness of the battleground and the number of men involved can make keeping track of the action a daunting task (in defense of the author, neither the huge amounts of men involved, nor my lack of geographical knowledge of Belgium are his fault). Also, he sometimes uses jargon which a non-student of WWII might not know (what is a German burp gun?).
Not to sound as if I am damning The Bitter Wood with faint praise, I would like to say what is right with the book. Eisenhower's organization of the facts could not have been done any better. The inclusion of maps of each engagement greatly help the reader follow the action (though a full size fold-out map of the entire theater would have been welcome). Also, his knowledge of the personalities involved (on both sides, and especially Ike's) make the reasons behind the Allied victory easy to understand.
Exhaustive without being exhausting, The Bitter Woods is what all historical novels should be.