Other Losses [Paperback]

James Bacque (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Canadian writer Bacque's shocking and controversial account of American mistreatment of four million German WW II POWs. Centering on American idol Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bacque's indictment strikes to the heart of the American dream, charging us with much the same kind of brutality that so incenses Americans when practiced by foreigners--allowing POWs to die by the tens of thousands from disease and starvation. In a skillfully organized, meticulously documented brief (86 pages of notes and appendices), Bacque charges Eisenhower not with neglect but with setting policy- -and charges subsequent authorities with a methodical cover-up, including destruction of evidence. The narrative is strongly detailed, beginning with an old Frenchman, accompanied by Bacque, opening an ancient, dusty box to find--nothing: missing evidence. From there we have a real-life thriller, complete with security forces bullying aged witnesses. Surprises are nonstop, beginning with a damning introduction by respected military historian Ernest F. Fisher, Jr., who speaks of Eisenhower's ``fierce and obsessive hatred of...all things German.'' There follows a jolting indictment of high American figures, starting at the top. The tone is set when Churchill walks out of a Big Three meeting as Roosevelt jokes with Stalin (recent perpetrator of the notorious Katyn Forest massacre) about exterminating prisoners. The point is driven home a thousand ways, most effectively in the knowledgeable analysis of Eisenhower's management style, which allowed subordinates to carry out policy with little paper to back them up. The general who sends military aircraft to pick up oranges for breakfast while prisoners are starving is especially memorable. Even more so is the repeated British refusal to countenance the US policy in principle and detail. Explosive and deeply iconoclastic, this book is sure to enrage many. Refutations without research as painstaking as Bacque's will lack credence. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Prima Lifestyles (September 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559581735
• ISBN-13: 978-1559581738
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,202,542 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not an easy read, but rings true, sadly, September 29, 2001

By 

Sisu (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Other Losses (Paperback)

I read about half the book, I have a hunch the author is indeed telling the plain truth, nothing more or less. While stationed in the US Army in West Germany in the mid-80's, I learned enough German to talk to (among others) some older men who had been POWs. I was mildly baffled then by their differing accounts: one who surrendered in North Africa was profuse with praise and gratitude for his captors. A couple who were rounded up at the end of the war around the Main river were glad that West Germany had turned out so well under U.S. control, but made no bones about how hard their captivity had been. I thought "must be sour grapes, because we Americans always treat the captured enemy to cream cakes and chocolate" and so on. However, my commanding officer, an avid historian himself, also mentioned he'd heard of a lot of German POW's dying at the end of the war. To make a long story short, there was a sort of whispered "oral tradition" in the US Army in Germany of stories passed from the old timers to the new guys about something pretty bad happening to the POWs in the Rhein-Main (confluence of two rivers) area. My father was the one who recommended the book to me. It is difficult going, because of so much attention to detail, etc., but the main thing is, it unfortunately corroborates with what I have heard from both German and U.S. sources. What to do? I think this episode is like that of slavery in the 19th century. We can't undo what's been done, but we can try to make sure we do better. And mostly we have, not one of the old Germans I talked to would have traded places with those who were captured by the Soviets.

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book clears up questions I've had, June 18, 2002

By 

"jbrennick" (Annandale, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: OTHER LOSSES: The Shocking Truth Behind the Mass Deaths of Disarmed German Soldiers and Civilians Under General Eisenhower's Command (Hardcover)

I remember being shocked to see on a town memorial marker that one of my WWII-casualty great-uncles on my German side (my father is Irish, mother from Germany), had actually died in October 1946, a full year and a half after the end of the war. I was then informed this one, Willi Kurz, had starved to death in a camp in France (after surviving years of hellish war), survived by his wife and young daughter.

So to suddenly stumble across this book was incredibly saddening & maddening, and to see that children suffered similarly long after the war was supposedly over was even worse. But it is true, and "the truth will out." And it is almost unknown. And it shatters the myth that only the "other" side's government is capable of mass murder. And now, I dislike Ike.

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars we should have proved we were better, but did not, September 12, 2002

By 

tovah goldberg (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: OTHER LOSSES: The Shocking Truth Behind the Mass Deaths of Disarmed German Soldiers and Civilians Under General Eisenhower's Command (Hardcover)

Other Losses is one of those rare books that make you see life as it really was and is. No matter what the orthodox, official historians tell you, you know there's an official slant & need, for the sake of Truth, to know more. I know the orthodox are making a shameless industry of my peoples suffering and automatically and pervasively revile anyone who speaks of German suffering. Millions of Germans wrongfully suffered at the hands of the allies armies just as we Jews suffered at the hands of others. It's not retribution. It's just murder! Thank You James Bacque for your courage & kindness!