Product Description

On 16 December 1944, 250,000 German troops struck, taking the Allied armies totally by surprise and the Battle of the Bulge was fought over the succeeding eleven days. The Battle involved over a million men and represented the most serious failure of battlefield intelligence in the history of the US Army. Charles MacDonald fought in this battle. His first hand experience of the bitter conflict is reflected in his masterly depiction of the confusion and chaos of the battlefield whilst his expertise as a respected military historian has ensured that his account strikes the perfect balance between detail and overall picture. His use of sources and interviews with participants have given the book a richness so lacking in normal military history and his analysis of events are enlightening and related in a crisp fluent style.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #834051 in Books
• Published on: 2000-12-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 712 pages

About the Author
Charles B. MacDonald was formerly Deputy Chief Historian of the US Army, having been an official Army historian for over thirty years. For part of that time he served as chief of the European Section and supervised the preparation of the volumes on the war in Europe. He commanded an infantry company in the Battle of the Bulge at the age of twenty-two.

Customer Reviews

Thorough account of one of the key battles in WW2
MacDonald gives an excellent account of the whole battle from start to finish. It is easy to imagine you are in the thick of the battles, such is the detail. The chapter on Kampfgruppe Peiper and the treatment of Allied PoW's at Baugnez is gripping. Although the book takes a while to get going, it soon catches up & overtakes you. Thoroughly recommended

Comprehensive review of the Battle of the Bulge
Charles MacDonald provides a well written comprehensive review of the Battle of the Bulge. Plenty of illustrative maps are used throughout to aid the reader through the narrative. The historical description is well balanced through the inclusion of personal accounts from the battles and provides the book with a real life element that lifts the narrative beyond a simply dry historical chronology.

Setting the scene in the early chapters he then proceeds to clearly describe the events. His chosen style explains the battle by following each sector of the battle in turn, rather then the whole on a day by day basis. The book thus provides a clear narrative of what was happening in each sector as a chain rather then the activity across the whole on a day by day basis.

This is a well researched, serious historical work and highly recommended for anyone wishing to discover the detail about this period of the Second World War.