cover image Patton at the Battle of the Bulge: How the General’s Tanks Turned the Tide at Bastogne

Patton at the Battle of the Bulge: How the General’s Tanks Turned the Tide at Bastogne

Leo Barron. NAL/Caliber, $27.95 (416p) ISBN 978-0-451-46787-4

Barron completes the story of his previous book, No Silent Night: The Christmas Battle for Bastogne (2012), by describing the U.S. Army armored forces’ attack to break into the surrounded city of Bastogne, Belgium, during WWII’s Battle of the Bulge. Despite its title, the book is not about the famous American general; it focuses on the privates, sergeants, and junior officers fighting against fierce German resistance on the snow-covered forest roads of Belgium, en route to rescuing surrounded paratroopers in Bastogne. The attack by the U.S. 4th Armored Division was the first counterstroke aimed at defeating Hitler’s final offensive of WWII, and deserves the attention this focused work gives it. Barron’s meticulous research uncovered information from archival records and conducted interviews with surviving German and American veterans, as well as Belgian civilians. Using these sources, he provides a detailed, hour-by-hour account of the five days of fierce combat, fought in harsh weather, that led to the liberation of the besieged forces in Bastogne. This excellent soldier’s-eye-view account of the challenges of tactical combat in WWII is a solid addition to the military history of the war. Maps. [em](Nov.) [/em]