Battle of the Bulge [ILLUSTRATED] (Hardcover)

by Charles Whiting (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The Battle of the Bulge was the greatest land battle waged by the US Army this century. Both popular belief and official history attribute this victory to the Americans. For political reasons no mention was ever made of the crucial British involvement in this battle, when the XXX Corps fought a decisive action and halted the German drive to the river Meuse-but against a total news blackout and at the cost of 2,500 British trrops. The British role in the Battle of the Bulge does not exist on paper. Using eyewitness accounts from British, American, and german soldiers, and belgian citizens, this book will set the record straight, telling the true story of the British involvement in the Battle of the Bulge.

About the Author
Charles Whiting is a well known Military writer who has writen many books on the subject including Hemingway Goes To War. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Sutton Publishing; illustrated edition edition (January 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750918691
• ISBN-13: 978-0750918695
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,271,602 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Been There, Heard it Before, Read it Years Ago, July 23, 2007

By	Kevin R. Austra (Delaware Valley, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have been reading Charles Whiting's books ever since DEATH OF A DIVISION. A good many of his books revolve around the 1944/45 battles along the western German frontier. I added THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE: BRITAIN'S UNTOLD STORY to my already extensive collection on the subject as more of a curiosity than anything else. The bottom line is that there is nothing new in this volume that you have not read somewhere else.

The book begins with an incorrect assumption that Britain's role in the Ardennes Campaign has been downplayed to the point of becoming some sort of conspiracy worthy of the X-FILES. Not so. Though there are numerous books that focus on specific battles primariliy involving Americans, the British contribution has never been a dark secret. For example, Peter Elstob's classic HITLER'S LAST OFFENSIVE significantly predates Whiting's UNTOLD STORY. While Elstob's narrative presents the British participation as matter of military historical fact, Whiting's book takes on a tone of history debunking.

I like Charles Whiting's books. I certainly own a lot of them. Many of his Ardennes Offensive/Battle of the Bulge books repeat already published Whiting material and some chapters could almost have been culled from one book and inserted into another. The other thing that is tiresome is his constant insertion of German, American, and British slang -- over and over again -- throughout the book. How many times does an author have to put 'Amis' in quotation marks? I understood it the first time. Is it really necessary to repeatedly address Kay Summersby as Eisenhower's mistress? And so on.

There is no disagreement over facts, but Whiting sometimes draws vaguley similar incidents into something akin to a sensationalized theory. The best example in the book is George S. Patton, Jr.'s supposed forewarning of the German attack that allowed his staff to secretly assemble contingency plans, well in advance, and then create the legend that they were formulated within a few hours after the offensive began. In UNTOLD STORY Whiting is clearly not a fan of Patton, Bradley, Hodges, or Eisenhower.

The book is chock full of unsubstantiated editorial comments about personalities in the battle and their hidden agendas. My recommendation is for an author to stick to the facts and let the reader draw his or her own conclusion.

Okay, enough book bashing. I did enjoy the detail given to the British confrontation with the Germans at the tip of the Bulge. Military histories about the Bulge do tend to concentrate on Elsenborn Ridge, Skyline Drive, Bastogne, and the Ambleve River valley. Whiting does tie the activity together. The only thing that is disappointing is that the actions of the separate German pockets and relief efforts near Celles are essentially lumped together without more than occasional reference to specific villages, roads, and terrain features. This is a considerable change from the detail offered by Whiting in DEATH OF A DIVISION and MASSACRE AT MALMEDY. In fact, the chapter and endnotes are so detailed in those two books that I used them as battlefield guides during my first visit to the Ardennes. Similar detail is absent in UNTOLD STORY.

The book also ties together the activities and whereabouts of Field Marshal Montgomery fairly well. Much of what Montgomery did and planned to do made perfect military sense. The way he went about it almost cost him his command.

UNTOLD STORY is not one of Whiting's best books. Still if you read through and mentally line through the editorials you will walk away with a greater understanding of the Battle of the Bulge.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poor history, March 27, 2005

By	David N. Mitchell (Osprey, FL, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I wrote a review before which seems to have been dropped. Whiting seems unsure whether he is writing history or a gothic novel. Some of his purple prose would be a fighting candidate for a prize for worst writing. This makes it very difficult for the serious reader to focus on the history.

The book is long on emotion and short on accuracy. Simple examples: He gives the distance from Brussels to Bastogne as 60 miles (p. 30)when it is actually about 85. He describes the former 'Grand Place' in Bastogne as being 'renamed Place MacAucliffe (sic)' when a glance at the street directory for Bastogne shows it to be named 'Place McAuliffe'. He writes on different pages of FM Alanbrooke and Brooke; in fact FM Alan Brooke became Lord Alanbrooke in 1945.

This sort of error, combined with endless critical personal attacks on Americans and constant interjection of florid writing more suitable for a Victorian novella, makes this one of the worst so-called history books I have ever read! This is a pity, because the British role in the battle of the bulge and Monty's part in it does need more recognition.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Setting the Record Straight, September 18, 2004

By	Jo Soap (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Battle of the Bulge: The Untold Story (Paperback)

About time that the American myth of the Battle of the Bulge was put to bed! In fact, about time the the Hollywood view that only the US appears to have fought in the Second World War was set straight!

This was a very easy to read book. It was neutral in tone and in no-way pro-British or Anti-American. It relates the facts about the British contribution and, more importantly, the decisive actions taken by FM Montgomery in shoring up the Northern sector of the Bulge.

XXX Corps involvement is described in detail. The author gives a day by day account of the events from the German and Allied perspectives, taking us down to the involvement of the tank gunner and infantry man on each side.

From my perspective as a Brit, I was thoroughly pleased by this account of the blood sacrifice made by 2,500 British soldiers in a Battle that history has painted as a solely American affair. Lets hope we start to see more of this in the future.