Customer Reviews

Patton and the Battle of the Bulge

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This book does an ecellent job telling the story of the role of George Patton's Third U.S. Army in the Battle of the Bulge, the largest battle the United States ever took part in. Not only is it very detailed for a somewhat small book, it also covers the German plan of attack and operation very well despite the subject being primarily the reaction of the Third army. A very good work by a notable historian.Recommended to anyone studying the Battle of the Bulge and the Ardennes counter offensive.

I'm having a hard time believing that I read the same book and edition as the previous reviewers. The Battle of the Bulge is my favorite reading subject and I have a sizable library of BoB books by fine authors such as Toland, Parker, and MacDonald. I also had the privilege to visit the battlefield on several occasions, participate in a Bastogne Walk, and visit Patton's grave at the American cemetery in Hamm, Luxembourg when I was stationed in Germany. The combination of reading and visiting enhanced my perspective.

I was excited to check this book out from the local library, since it combined two of my favorite subjects--the BoB and Patton. But this book turned out to be a major disappointment. There were many editing flaws throughout the book, to include incorrect unit numbers. It was also a bit difficult to follow the action at times, particularly when the authors used incorrect directional indicators. One glaring example was when they described the Neufchateau-Bastogne road as east of the Arlon-Bastogne Road versus its true position to the west. This was followed within two pages by yet another directional error regarding the positioning of Third Army units on the southern shoulder. I've studied the campaign enough to know the lay of the land and the correct unit numbers, but I couldn't help wondering how many new students of the BoB might be confused by the errors.

The captioning of the photos was also disappointing. The authors basically lifted text from the book and placed it in the caption--word for word in many cases. I found myself reading portions of the text and thinking that I'd just read that passage. When I figured out the duplication in the picture captions, I stopped looking at photos and stuck to the text only. In most cases the photos didn't complement the text and stopping to review them only interrupted the flow of the reading.

The one positive aspect of this book is the photos themselves. The authors provide a broad selection of photos and many I had not seen in other accounts. But I'd recommend that the reader read the text first in its entirety and then review the photos.

I would normally recommend this book to first-time readers of the BoB. It provides a basic overview and is not deeply researched; but that's OK for a first-time read. But I wouldn't recommend this book based on the errors mentioned above. Instead I'd highly recommend pressing ahead to a deeply researched account like "A Time for Trumpets" by Charles B. MacDonald.

Michael Green is hands-down the best author I have ever read on this subject. With his array of military books, I just can't seem to get enough of his well-informed and enlightening books. The pictures in this particular book are just astonishing and greatly complement the articulate and intelligent text. Green has once again taken my breath away with this book! I recommend it highly, as I do all of his books. My wife and I both know that they are at the top of my shelf!

What a wonderful presentation of what the men and officers endured at Bastogne. Having just completed a trip to the site, the story reminds me of the courage, sacrifice and commitment that was given by all in December 1945.
George Patton Waters

Michael Greens George Patton and the Battle of the Bulge is one creative piece that explains the details of the Battle of the Bulge. Michael Green has been one of the most profound authors on military issues and World War II related books. The book provided in depth information on what Patton and his third army did when the Germans launched a desperate counter-offensive called Wacht am Rhein, translated to be Watch the Rhine where the Nazi defenders charged through the Ardennes. Combat maps, quotes from the soldiers, Patton himself and even from accounts of German soldiers gave highlight to strength and weaknesses of both sides of the war. Real photographs and comments from soldiers interviewed at the time, including the American third army, the German Volksgrenadier divisions making Michael Greens George Patton and the Battle of the Bulge a great book for me to read.
Micheal Green is technically one of the most best authors on Patton and World War II related material, with his array of books already published like Patton's Tank Drive: D-Day to Victory and Patton: Operation Cobra and Beyond. All those experience gained from writing these previous books about Patton helped to make George Patton and the Battle of the Bulge better and more comprehensive. Michaels Wife, Gladys also contributed to his works as his co-author and assistant. As we all know, two brains is always better than one.
George Patton and the Battle of the Bulge is one meticulously crafted book with details to many fine elements of the war many books overlooked. One hundred sixty pages in font 10 San Serif and pictures describing the war that even tells what weapons the soldiers depicted are using.
The most important favor that influenced Hitlers decision to attack the Ardennes was the Allied advance across France to the German boarder, between August and September 1944. Hitler Considered this a more pressing danger to Germany than the Soviet advance in the east. The American crew of a .30-calibre (air cooled) machine gun, fires at German positions somewhere in France. National Archives
Details like this make this book an easy reading for the short time that I am pressed.
The book is divided into 4 large chapters/sections, Opening moves, The German attack and American reaction, The road to Bastogne, Clearing the Bastogne area. This concept of simplicity helps the reader to be not confused with useless details that ruin many great books and chapter titles with known settings (i.e. The road to Bastogne) help the reader to feel easy with what they already knew. A great book about the war has always been awarded for its simplicity and this one is no other. The first chapter, Opening moves starts out like this:
Many historians and writers have suspected that the idea for the German Ardennes counteroffensive of December 16, 1944. (Know to Americans as the Battle of the Bulge) was first conceived in Adolf Hitlers mind sometime during the last two weeks of July 1944.
Simplicity and word choice made the book a breeze and without much pain to read. Its like one of the shows from the History channel, the book gives its information in descriptive narratives. Despite this lack of confidence, Hitler still retained the respect and admiration of the Armys rank and file in late 1944 till the end of the war. This kind of writing in my opinion is much easier to read than writing with much high frequency words and have to dig through the dictionary to fully understand what the book is about.
Overall reading this book is a success and I enjoyed reading this book very much. Now I have purchased this book and that is one of the signs of my approval of its 1337ness. Counted over 190 pictures to help out my reading and that averages out more than one picture per page. Almost a picture book and still provide enough information for me to take the information from the text and process it with efficiency. This book should definitely be published in hardcover and should be a collectors must have for Patton enthusiasts.