Customer Reviews

11 Days in December: Christmas at the Bulge, 1944

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As an infantryman in the 423rd Regt of the 106th Div and a POW caught in the Bulge, I was very interested in reading this book.His description of the Allied bombing of rail cars in which US GIs were herded is extremely realistic.. I was in one of these cars at the time, in the rail yards at Coblenz! My problem is its lack of organization, that it jumps from location to location without any chronological sequence. There certainly was much confusion in the ranks and we did wander aimlessly due to lack of leadership. However, I know of no incident when anyone turned and ran. Also,he refers on Pg. 140 to the "442nd Regiment" of the 106th Division in error. The Regiments of the 106th were the 422nd, 423rd and 424th.

Another great book on the single most significant battle, involving American forces, of WW2 in Europe. As the title says, it focuses on the first 11 days of probably the most confusing and involved battle of the whole war. That our troops, most of them ill prepared at that time, did as well as they did under horrendous conditions is a great testament to America's citizen soldier. That their leadership did as poorly as it did in a lot of cases, and as magnificantly as it did in other cases, really sheds some light on the US Army at the time. This book spells it all out in great detail, how it was for the individual soldier trying to stay alive, as well as the decision making from Gen. Marshall on down.
Certainly the most difficult battle American soldiers fought in WW2, Normandy was terrible but for the most part it was only a day or so, and with far fewer casualties, the author really make you feel for the 18-19-20 year olds who were suffering as much from the weather and hunger as from a desperate enemy who knew this was really his last shot. The book is somewhat similar to " Company Commander" and the more recently published "The Longest Winter", both equally good reading. This book is important to those wanting to gain more insight in to the day to day life of American soldiers in the Battle of The Bulge. It also touches a little on the German side of the battle, particularly on the importance of the American uniformed German soldiers who spread confusion, terror, and death.
The only downside to this book is the same one I have found in the many other books I have read on the battle. The reader is still left with confusion about the overall conduct of the battle. Apparently the battle was so large, so involved, that no single book can put it together so that the reader feels he knows what happened pretty much every step of the way. This one will not do that for you either.It will tell you though, how it was, in great detail, for a few of the many thousands of soldiers who took part. And in all fairness it didn't claim to be the definitive work on the battle.
But I will still recommend it very highly to anyone interested in the Bulge, or in the war in general, particularly in Europe. Great book, you will love it, I know I did. You will want to do a lot more reading in the subject, though.

This gritty account of the Battle of the Bulge doesn't pretend to tell a comprehensive story. You feel the cold, the fear, the anxiety of the attackers and rescuers alike, the cold, the deprivations of the prisoners, the confusion, the endless jockeying for power between the American and British high command and, again, the cold. But it's the personal stories of the young grunts that make the book a page turner. Even if you already know the details of this campaign, you won't want to put the book down until you finish.


The author cuts through a slice of war that is personal and compelling, and he offers several insights that may be new to many readers. My only criticism: the military maps are atrocious for the untrained public. A few good, clear maps to orient all the activity going on would have been a great help.

If you pick up Stanley Weintraub's "11 Days in December: Christmas at the Bulge, 1944" expecting a book less on the combat history of the Ardennes Counteroffensive (Battle of the Bulge) you will surely be disappointed. However, if you want a well-told tale of the humanity of this particular period of the Second World War your expectations will be thoroughly met. Weintraub himself states in his preface that this book is not an authoritative history of event, but rather a reflection of the human reactions and feelings associated with the holiday season in the Ardennes 1944. Now, don't read into this review that Weintraub has failed historically; he has not. His story is well told from a historical standpoint just not new in that regard. Instead Weintraub has added to the human factor of this greatest of all American battles. This is Weintraub's gift as a historical writer, to capture the human side of conflict, especially as related to places and dates around them (e.g., Christmas; the central temporal theme of at least three of his books). Whereas Alex Kershaw's "The Longest Winter" (another book covering elements of the Battle of the Bulge) uses liberal doses of celebrity reference without adding to the story (in fact in many ways hurting the central theme), Weintraub peppers his book with allusions to several famed writers and personalities (who weren't carry arms) with the intended effect - namely to put a human and oft more recognizable, face on these events. Goes to show those aspiring writers that such ploys will work or not depending upon context and intended effect!

"11 Days in December" is 189 pp. of fun, easy to read, and while not impossible to put down, hard not to pick back up again. 3 out of 5 stars for pure history, 4.5 for historically-centered humanity!

A friend of mine, Woody Timler, fought in the Battle of the Bulge and I wanted to learn more about it so I listened to the unabridged CD, 11 Days in December. I am afraid I picked the wrong source. The story was a series of jumbled up recollections that made little sense and carried little feeling of how it really was during that very traumatic time. Another review described the accompanying maps with the book as "atrocious for the untrained public." With the CD version were no maps at all so one was left on his own to imagine how the conflicting stragidies worked themselves out. The celebrity references to Ernest Hemingway and Marlene Dietrich were unnecessary as they contributed little. The real stars were the soldiers.

What made this muddled story even more so was the monotonous reading by Patrick Cullen. There was no excitement, tension or edge to his voice in the telling of this most horrific battle; further, his German and French pronunciations were ghastly.

If you want to find a cohesive, interesting, and understandable telling of the Battle of the Bulge you won't find it in this book.

Leif Salvesen
Plano, TX

With "11 Days in December: Christmas at the Bulge, 1944" Stanley Weintraub did not set out to examine all the complicated ins and outs of the Battle of the Bulge. Rather, building upon the remarkable story of the Christmas truce of the first World War (which he vividly rendered in "Silent Night"), Weintraub set out to paint a grim picture of what this peaceful holiday is like for those who are currently serving in battle.

"11 Days in December" is not a full recounting of the Battle of the Bulge, and for those who may not be entirely familiar with its history, the organization of this book will not help them. Weintraub jumps from event to event, not necessarily in chronological order either. What he does achieve is a very vivid depiction of the human side of war. His narrative is filled with personal accounts from the very famous (General Patton, David Niven, future president Eisenhower, Ernest Hemingway) to the ordinary soldiers who were far from home on Christmas Day. Their tales are searing and sad, tempered by the facts of war - Allied soldiers accidentally killed by friendly fire, the torture of POWs, and the brutal realities of constantly losing and regaining ground.

Weintraub has truly captured the human element in this book, emphasizing the dire straits that these soldiers were in and the price of war. However, the telling is extremely uneven making it hard for readers to focus on what happened when and to whom. One wishes Weintraub would have perhaps focused on solely the human side, or fleshed out his tale more chronologically to make it easier to follow. Still, as an introduction or revisiting of the Battle of the Bulge, Weintraub does a commendable job.

The book is short. That might not say much about it, but brevity is its outstanding quality.

I have read dozens of military history books, though most of the WWII books I have read were on the Pacific, non-Macarthur, theater. I knew the story of The Battle of the Bulge, though this was my first book on it.

For the most part, what I liked was that it was a quick read. What I liked least was, there was little coverage on the parts of the battle that I knew about. It was really like reading an extended magazine article. Interesting enough, but unimpressive compared to most such books I have read.

I read his book "15 Stars...",about the interaction between McArthur, Marshall, and Eisenhower, before I read this one. Mistake! 15 stars was a five-star book and put this one in a 2-3 star shadow. I have this vague feeling that the publishers put him up to writing this book basically for the $$$$bucks. How can I say it? This book lacked the passion and intensity of "15 Stars" and he lifted pages from his prior book to fill this one out.
He's a terrific writer, but this book is not one of his finest moments.

This book concentrates solely on the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, to the exclusion of almost every other aspect of World War II at that time. It is well-written and gives a fairly thorough account of the battle and its surroundings, but I couldn't help feeling a sense of detachment on the part of the author from the people who fought in that battle. There are the usual "up close and personal" vignettes about individuals, but they seemed almost an afterthought to the main focus of the book, the battle. Even that could have been explored in more detail, but this is a relatively short book, and within the space confines, the author did a decent job of explaining what happened, although some of his prose raised more questions than were answered. Overall it's a book worth reading, if only to get a "snapshot" of conditions at the time the Battle began, and when it ended. If you want to know more detail, you'll just have to read other, longer works.

While this story has been told many times, Weintraub's version, though relatively brief, gets your attention and holds it throughout the book. He supplies interesting details that I had not known previously, and he humanizes the struggle with numerous anecdotes provided by surviving veterans.