Customer Reviews

Seven Roads to Hell: A Screaming Eagle at Bastogne

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As a former paratrooper, and having several uncles and older cousins who served in airborne units in World War II, I can only say that Mr. Burgett captures the essentials of airborne combat in WWII. One of my uncles had great difficulty reading this book. "It brought back too many memories". Mr. Burgett's earlier book, "Currahee", brought the reader to England prior to the NOrmandy invasion, and then to Normandy with all the confusion, savage combat and gallows humor found in line outfits. This volume continues in that line, and complements greatly works like "A Time For Trumpets" and Toland's "Battle". The book offers no political insights, second guessing of commanders. It offers the insight and observations of a young American GI fighting far away from home, watching friends die, and wondering who was next. A fine job!

Mr. Burgett was a 19 year old paratrooper in the 101st airborne who had the luck (good or bad) to witness some of the fiercest fighting that took place during the second world war. This book provides you with the feel from the trenches of those terrible dark days when it looked like the Wehrmacht and Hitler's Germany were striking forward again. The terrible cold, fear, and the brutality of the combat spring to life in this well written account. This text is an easy and quick read, I finished it on one 3 hour plane flight.
Mr. Burgett participated in multiple attacks and defenses and his writing of them is extremely detailed as I suppose those memories linger quite clearly. This is not a book of strategy or an overview of the Battle of Bastogne, but simply how one man experienced the combat and the losses. No quarter was given or asked for. Prisoners were given no solace as there was no food, medicine or even men to guard them. This was combat in its rawest form. A good reminder to all of what war really is in its basic form - young men killing other young men. Mr. Burgett experienced this at arms length and is kind enough to share his experiences. Read this and be thankful for the freedom from fascism that we share!

If you are looking for a personal account of the siege of Bastogne during the battle of the bulge and the tremendous feat of the 101 Screaming Eagles or are just looking for a great non fiction thriller then get this book. Burgett was a member of the 506th and fought in some of the most bloody battles around Bastogne. But besides the awesome fighting sequences he describes the misery of the foxhole, freezing temps and patrols. But look for the cheap 5 dollar version of the books because it is the same thing including the pics. And if you like this then go back to the start and read Burgetts Curahee...an awesome account of his part in the airdrops during Normandy, also available in the cheap version...

This is the finest account of paratroopers in the Bulge that I have ever read, barring none, including Ambrose. That is not to say that Burgett is a better writer - Burgett does a fine job for a former free-lance roofer - but Don's story in Seven Roads to Hell is so utterly captivating, so riveting that I found myself unable to stop reading and read the entire book in a single night.

Burgett will help you feel the overwhelming futility of brave men, who after the Battle of Noville, after their unspeakable losses, being told just two days later that they must go into action again. Burgett will stab you with the lonely bitternes of exhausted men, scrambling for a hot meal over a small cooking fire, being ordered out to clear the Bois Jaques Woods of a battalion of Germans and then returning the same day, with more losses of heroic men - the dead men's un-claimed mess kits by the cold fire.

Surely these are some of the most touching images ever laid to paper.

I should add, that if you have never read an account of the battle of Noville and Bois Jaques Woods, you must buy this book. Buy it for this reason alone, and love it for so many others.

The personal heroism of the American paratrooper looms into full focus in these pages, framing the phrase, "The greatest generation" like nothing else can.

The sacrifice of these great Americans is more carefully and painfully detailed here than in any other book I have read.

We all indebted to Don Burgett. And not just for his fine book.

"Seven Roads to Hell" is paratrooper Donald Burgett's memoire of the defense of Bastogne by elements of the 101st Airborne and 9th Armor Divisions during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. Burgett, a member of A Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, has captured the foxhole-level details of the heroic defense of that key Belgian crossroads.

Burgett picks up the story as his unit goes into a rest area after the fierce fighting of Operation Market-Garden in Holland. His unit has been decimated by weeks of combat, and desperately needs rest and refit; instead, the tired and poorly equiped paratroopers are rushed to the front in the Ardennes to help stem a sudden German offensive. The paratroopers lack winter clothing, food, water, and ammunition, but with the elan of the airborne, undertake the defense of Bastogne against German tank and infantry units.

Burgett has provided some commentary on the larger picture, but sticks largely to telling the story as it was visible to him. Burgett is nothing if not honest in his telling and graphic in his details. He and his fellow paratroopers freeze, starve, fight, and strive to make sense of the chaos that is ground-level combat. Burgett's prose is straightforward and he has a terrific eye for details. There is no sense here of the false heroic; Burgett and his mates are fighting for each other.

This book, like Burgett's earlier book on D-Day, is highly recommended to the reader with an interest in the Second World War and especially in infantry combat. Those present and former members of the 506th Infantry may find it an especially inspiring piece of regimental history.

This is book 3 in a set of 4 books by the author, the books start with his training as a paratrooper, and follow his time in the war until he gets discharged after the war. The books in chronological order are 1)Currahee! 2) The Road to Arnhem 3) Seven Roads to Hell 4) Beyond the Rhime.

For those who call WWII, the last "good war", this is a wake up. This war was just as full of horror and nightmare as any conflict, and the men treated as poorty. We get a view of the daily misery of the troops between the episodes of their bravery driven by the urge to kill or be killed.

The author was a member of the Screaming Eagles 101st division, who was rushed to the participate in the Normandy invasion in order to hold Bastogne, where 7 roads converged. He who held Bastogne controlled the speed of access to the country and Bastogne was critical to the Battle of the Bulge.

The division had not been able to receive the usual rest and resupply that comes after the big battle they had just returned from, when they were rushed into this fight and left there alone and outnumbered. They had little blankets, cold weather clothing, weapons, ammunition, heavy mechanized armour, medicical support, air support, or anything else they needed in order to do their job. This was not only due to poor planning, incompetence by commanders, confusing and conflicting orders, but even due to theft by other units of their precious goods. It is a miracle that they held out.

They won and lost their positions many times, as the US troops frantically held onto the positions that would help keep other troops alive. This book is the most graphic and honest description of being an active fighting soldier in WWII I have read and left a deep impression on me. It is a great read, and I could not put it down. The authors style, language and pacing are very good, top notch!

Burgett's heart-stopping account of his role in the Battle of the Bulge is very skillfully written in his latest book Seven Roads to Hell. This book by far surpasses any other war book I have come across. The story is told to the T, with all the stops pulled. If you are looking for the real and unbridled version of World War II, then this book is a must-have. I recommend this book to the best of my ability. Terrific job Burgett!

Having read Burgett's book in one 3 hour sitting, I can't say enough about it. I can't help but feel a need to meet him personally to thank him for the courage to endure the most extreme of circumstances. The book is a fast read and one is able to get a great sense of the horror, fear, desperation and drudgery of war. How men withstood the conditions is beyond me. The courage of these men is felt throughout the book and their ability to answer the call of duty in a hostile foreign land is without comparison. To think Burgett was a mere 19 at the time is amazing, yet the honor with which these men faced such tribulation is not known by anyone in our present society. His descriptions of the grind and wait between fierce attacks was compelling. Also his unabashed hatred for the enemy was brought vividly to the forefront of the book. One can't help but feel, why did some survive and others perish. Burgett details the enormous amount of skill and luck that enabled one to become an "old man" in the platoon. His gruesome descriptions of the horror and reality of war were riveting. Yet just as compelling was his matter of fact attitude that there was a duty to be done. I couldn't put this book down.

"Seven Roads to Hell" refers to the seven key roads coming out of Bastogne, Belgium. This confluence of roads was a pivotal logistic point as armies could then move men and materials about the area. Understanding this, and seeing its declining position in the war, the Nazis were determined to take the road. Having difficulty holding in the onrush, the US Army sends the 101st Airborne to hold the area. This narrative discusses the Screaming Eagles part in the Battle of the Bulge.

As mentioned before, this is a narrative. Donald Burgett was a private with the 101st during World War II and wrote his memories down soon after the war. Since this is not a diary, he establishes a flow and understanding of what is going on in the area. The narrative is very engaging.

Having been to visit the battle site as well as read other books and seen movies about the battle, I always wondered why the American soldiers were not properly outfitted to fight a prolonged engagement in the snow. From this narrative, I learned that although they were short of some gear, the soldiers did have winter gear but were told to leave it behind because it would only slow them down.

The soldier's perspective makes for a very good reading of the battle and its conditions. I would recommend this to any fan of military history.

It has taken me far too long to review this book. But what I should say is, this book was single handedly responsible for sponsoring my adoration of military history books and the history of the Second World War.

It is very well written, easy to read, accurate to the finest detail without ever losing the story. It stands alone as one of the finest examples of a first person account of the war by an American paratrooper of the 506th PIR of the 101st Airborne. It would have been a classic by itself, but it the companion piece to a priceless series of four part series by Burgett.

I really enjoyed the descriptions of battles so clearly written I'm sure you could find the streets today. The story of destroying German tanks in the dead of a fog is gripping as anything that happened during the epic Battle of the Bulge.

The impact of this book was one that made me want to be a paratrooper, helped spawned a life-long (over twelve years at this point) love affair with history, one trip to Europe and lead to my BA in History. My copy has been dog eared, read three times and kept in a place of honor among my over 250 World War Two history books.

My only regret is I haven't met the author.