Customer Reviews

CITIZEN SOLDIERS : The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany -- June 7, 1944-May 7, 1945

5 star:		(230)
4 star:		(41)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

No one has been more prolific or entertaining in his efforts to bring the gritty, unit-level personal experiences of the Allied drive from Normandy into Germany to the public's attention than Stephen Ambrose. In his series of books including "D-Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War Two", "Band Of Brothers", "The Victors", and "Citizen Soldiers", he has masterfully employed a little-known treasure trove of personal interviews with thousands of Allied soldiers to marshal an absolutely absorbing, captivating, and insightful treatise on the nature of combat as experienced by the men and women in the forefront of action as it transpired all along the front.

In this volume he concentrates on the drive from Normandy all the way into the heart of Germany, and covering as much ground as the Allies conquered in that fateful year is a considerable accomplishment. This makes for fascinating and entertaining reading. A great deal of ground is covered, from the consolidation of the beachheads in Normandy to the relatively quick liberation of Paris, from the ill-fated Operation Market-Garden assault into Holland in September to the disastrous bloodbath in Omar Bradley's catastrophic excursion into the Hurtigen Forest, from the desperate clashes around Bastogne in the wintry Battle of the Bulge to the long, costly drive that unusually cold and snowy winter into Germany itself. As a result, we don't find the level of detail or strict chronology he employed in "D-Day", for example, or the kind of comprehensive coverage of specific events like the Battle of the Bulge that one finds in books like John Toland's "Battle".

This does not mean one doesn't learn a great deal about all these events transpiring during that fateful year; on the contrary, there is much in the way of provocative information and startling perspective offered here on each of these events. Yet it is unfair to expect a book addressing itself to the totality of the Allied campaign to do so comprehensively in less than 500 pages. Certainly anyone reading the corpus of all the Ambrose works on the year 1944-45 as is represented by the books mentioned above gets a very comprehensive feel for the progress of the war effort in Europe. Still, to gain the kind of comprehensive and strictly chronological information a complete history requires, one must look elsewhere, to tomes such as "A World At Arms", or "A War To Be Won", or even the comfortable, veritable, and well-worn "The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich", my own personal favorite.

Mr. Ambrose has become a virtual cottage industry in the World War Two section of your local bookstore, while he has also published works such as his recent best seller on explorers Lewis and Clark. Meanwhile, he has become phenomenally successful because many of his books have captured the public's imagination by being so readable, entertaining, and informative. While popular success doesn't always equate to critical worthiness, in his case it consistently seems to. This is a wonderfully worthwhile, eminently researched, exhaustively documented, and superbly narrated book on the most critical last year of the war in Europe. Enjoy!

Ambrose is a master of well-documented historical non-fiction. His portrait of foot soldiers in WWII Europe is loaded with details about combat that only those who have been there can know. These details describing the terror, misery, and unexpected aspects of war gleaned from hundreds of interviews of ordinary soldiers give the book a depth and breadth not found in any other WWII account I've ever read. Ambrose artfully entwines these many short firsthand stories around the larger historical narrative of the allied liberation of Western Europe from D-Day to VE-Day.

I'm sure this book, because of its faithful portrayal of reality, will appeal to those who were there as well as those who were not. For me it brought to life the adventure as well as the overwhelming fear and hardships that my own father must have lived through as a soldier in Patton's army in North Africa and post D-Day Europe. I imagine the stories he never told would have been much like the hundreds of stories in this outstanding book. I cannot recommend it highly enough, especially when comparing it to Tom Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation." Brokaw's book is interesting and enjoyable but shallow compared to Ambrose's far more thorough account. Both books are good reading, but if I could only choose one of them, "Citizen Soldiers" wins hands down. It will give you an deep and abiding appreciation of what the WWII generation did for our nation and the world at great cost to themselves.

Whether you loved the film "Saving Private Ryan" or hated it, there is no doubt that it had a major cultural impact in reviving public interest in WWII. As a huge military history buff, I have not seen such a wonderful cornucopia of new and re-released books on a single subject, WWII, since the big Civil War craze that followed the success of Ken Burns' documentary.

Like that Civil War craze, the current popular interest in WWII has seen the release of some truly great books, some mediocre ones, and just plain wasted pulp. "Citizen Soldiers" fits somewhere in between great and mediocre. It is well-written, has some terrific stories, and provides a nice introduction to people who are new to the field of military history.

The problem with the book is Ambrose. Ambrose has become the unofficial "WWII expert" in American popular culture. His name will be seen on the forwards of new WWII books. His face and pleasant voice used for documentaries or interviews. He has, in fact, become the WWII equivilent to the Civil War craze's Shelby Foote. Ambrose is a good writer; but an average historian. "Citizen Soldiers" is nothing more than a collection of secondary source material and the recollections of old veterans. Interesting reading to be sure; but lazily researched history. Also Ambrose's jingoism and hero worship(especially of Eisenhower which is seen in virtually all of his WWII books) can get a little tiresome, especially knowing that he is a professional historian and not a novelist turned amateur historian like Foote. If a reader really wants to know what it was like to be a combat soldier in the ETO check out "Company Commander" by Charles MacDonald or "The Clay Pigeons of St. Lo" by Glover Johns. Both of these books were written by combat veterans less than five years after the war. Also both were used heavily as source material for "Citizen Soldiers." Johns' book is, unfortunatly, out of print, but available through many libraries. MacDonald's book, though, was just recently reprinted- thank you, Steven Speilberg.

Incredibly readable, gripping story.

This book made an indelible impression on me because of the way the author described the physical environment in which these men, Americans and Germans alike, fought for their lives and their comrades.

The author provides a fairly succinct explanation of what transpired on the tactical and operational levels in Western Europe after D-Day. For example, the book cleared up my sketchy understanding of what actually took place during the Battle of the Bulge.

More importantly, through hundreds of interviews including, among others, Pvt Kurt Vonnegut, Mr. Ambrose shows us what we could never really imagine what it must have been like fighting our way across France, Belgium, and Germany. Never before have I experienced such a vivid, lucid (if one could be) description of the bitter cold, the mud, the confusion, and the fear.

Finally, while providing a candid, relatively unbiased view of the war from certain German soldiers' perspectives, he also shows us the pure, unmasked evil of the SS, the Hitler Youth, and the Nazi propaganda machine that brainwashed a generation.

This book de-glorifies war while glorifying the valor of the soldiers who fight. Also recommended: "With the Old Breed" by E.B. Sledge, and "Goodbye Darkness" by William Manchester. These books provide an equally gripping account of WWII in the Pacific from the Marines' perspective.

As the title advertised, this book follows the battles right after the allies left the beaches of Normandy, all the way through France into German territory.

I was inclined to buy the book after the many positive reviews on this site but I had some reservations. Based on other experiences, when a book that contains a big volume of pages it sometimes equals a tedious amount of extra information that could be left out, kind of like a movie that went on too long; but to my amazement Ambrose struck a perfect balance in this book, giving the reader only the necessary information of the generals in charge and troops movements to have a overall understanding of the campaign. He always went back and focused on the details of the soldiers' lives and fights on the front lines, keeping a griping intensity throughout the book.

And just to put some icing on the cake, in the "afterword", he exposes some excerpts of battle memoir letters that should have been on the book but were written to him by veterans after reading this book.

Bottom line I wouldn't change a thing on the book and is packed with intense battle fights from beginning to end.

This book captures what it was like for the doggie in the foxhole. The Wermacht was not the only enemy in Europe. A bitter struggle was also fought against the elements, and this book shows the daily battle of those frozen European winters. Truly, a struggle that many in this country could probably not comprehend having to go through today. This book shows, in the best manner I have read yet, the tenacity and resourcefulness of the American fighting man, while accurately showing his "professional" counterparts. Remember the title, "Citizen Soldiers". Talking about how one knows if a village was recently occupied by the Germans, (The smell of sweat-stained leather and tobacco) gives insights rarely seen in most books. If you really want to read about human suffering in a horrific winter conditions, check out "Stalingrad" by Antony Beevor, Copyright 1998. Just as good as Ambrose. Buy 'em both!

I am completely astonished right now because of a review I just read that only gave this book 2 stars. The reviewer says the book is "muddled, confusing, and hard to follow." Well, I'm not really one who will usually insult the intelligence of another, so I'll just assume that the reviewer can't really read yet. Anyone who reads Stephen Ambrose knows that he is a master at getting first hand accounts from those who were actually their and passing them on to the reader without being "confusing and hard to follow." I am a History Major, and I will soon be serving with the U.S. Army. In my history studies, I have never read a more fascinating book on the European Theatre of Operations in WWII. I strongly recommend reading Ambrose's book D-Day: June 6, 1944 before reading Citizen Soldiers if you want a complete account of the European Theatre. D-Day, which is equally as fascinating as Citizen Soldiers, completely covers the training, planning, and the actual Normandy invasion. Citizen Soldiers then picks up where D-Day left off and provides the reader with first hand accounts from soldiers who fought off of the beaches of Normandy, across France, during the Battle of the Bulge, and on to Berlin in May of 1945. Many of the soldiers named in Citizen Soldiers also gave personal accounts in D-Day. I realize everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but the 2 star reviewer also stated that "there is no story" and "characters come and go, sometimes with the same paragraph." Well, the story comes straight from the mouths of those who were there, and I wouldn't exactly say that World War II is "no story". As for the characters who are coming and going in the same paragraph, well I'm sorry the 2 star reviewer was inconvenienced by the fact that many of the characters didn't live to be mentioned in the next paragraph. I've read many really good books on World War II, but this one (with or without D-Day) is the best! In fact this book is good enough for the U.S. Army Officer Candidate School to recommend that all incoming recruits read this book before becoming an officer. If you want to laugh, cry, and be proud of what this country and it's people are capable of then read this book.

Steven E. Ambrose's Citizen Soldier is an exhaustively researched and prepared book on the battles from Normandy to the fall of Berlin during World War II.

Includes information and collected stories from the soldiers (from Privates and NCO's to Colonels and Generals). Extremely riveting and well organized. A must for military history buffs. But it provides any reader insight into how and why men manage fight and survive in even the most horrid situations and condtions. It portrays personal acts of heroism, cowardice, and just plain struggles to endure and survive. I have yet come across a reader who regretted reading it.

Citizen Soldier is probably better to listen to it on tape...14 tapes...but each hour is well worth it!

For getting under the skin of the front line soldier and experiencing what it was like, this book takes you there and you come as close as it is possible to feel what they felt. Filled with remembrances and wonderfully researched details this book is filled with the details of actual combat conditions and honours the life of the front line soldier like know other I have ever read. I felt humble, sad and glad, very glad that they were there for us when it counted. Thank you Stephen Ambrose.

Are you hunting for a World War II history book that will perfectly describe every detail that took effect? Then you have found the right book! From the horror stories of a single soldier's life to the exact performance of a Tiger tank, Citizen Soldiers just can't be beaten. Surely all the research and effort that Stephan Ambrose put into the making of this book was worthwhile. If you have been one of those people who think war is something for tough guys and a bunch of fun, boy, are you in for it. Citizen Soldiers will tell the personal stories of a soldiers life...and in full detail. Another factor that makes this book one of the best is how well it mixes the war machines and diaries into one story. You may be surprised at how accurate Ambrose describes the great flying fortresses to the Me 262 jet fighter, even to a single MG 42 machine gun. (You'll probably also be able to find imformation on the ammo itself!) If you are to get Citizen Soldiers, which is A MUST, then go ahead and grab "D-Day" while you're at it...Another book much like Citizen Soldiers, only it concentrates on the planning and execution of the great day in June 6th, 1944. After all, who wants to live without knowing what their fathers and grandfathers did in European soil before them? Get the book. Let the battle begin!