Customer Reviews

Nuts! The Battle of the Bulge: The Story and Photographs (America Goes to War)

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This is a coffee table sized collection of photographs of the persons and events of the Battle of the Bulge. Although it does contain a text with information about commanders, weapons, and the overall course of the battle, the book is mainly interested in describing what is happening in its numerous photos. Of particular interest are the photos made by the Germans. The German photographers paid close attention to the large numbers of stunned American POWs, wrecked and abandoned American vehicles, and the corpses of fallen GIs. It's a different perspective from the usual pictures of advancing and victorious Americans. Also of note is that this book finally lays to rest one of the biggest inaccuracies of the photographic record of the war- proving that the famous picture of cigar chewing SS trooper next to the Malmedy sign is NOT infamous SS Lt. Col. Jochen Peiper.

Not the first book I would open on the Battle of the Bulge, as it is not comprehensive and a bit unbalanced. It's really a picture book, and in that respect, is worthwhile. The captions are more descriptive (and apparently accurate) than in many books. For example, the photos in a series taken by German battlefield photographers are shown to have been largely staged immediately after combat to re-enact the fighting- interesting. These photos show up in other books without that context mentioned. Those interested in the Malmedy trial will find the photos in that section noteworthy. Worth a look but not a classic for the collection unless you're really focused on the Battle of the Bulge.

I bought this book as part of a pile of research material for a TV script I was writing. Unlike the other material I bought, it's not an exhaustive volume on the subject by any means. That said, for someone with a casual interest in the subject it is a relatively brief examination of the conflict with many, many pictures. It is really quite good for conveying essential information and the pictures put it all in perspective.

The losses of American soldiers was the greatest in US military history. With all of the attention of D-Day this may be the forgotten battle of WW2 in Europe. The authors take us to the sights of this most gruesome and costly battle. It was at the BULGE that Hitler and Company made their last stand to protect the FATHERLAND.