West Wall: The Battle For Hitler's Siegfried Line (Charles Whiting ""West Wall"" Series) [Hardcover]

Charles Whiting (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2000 | Series: Charles Whiting ""West Wall"" Series

Over 60 years after Adolf Hitler ordered its construction, the West Wall fortification system (or "Siegfried Line" as it was known in Britain) still survives. Overcoming the West Wall and the numerous river and forest obstacles integral to it was the culminating campaign of World War II in Europe. Six months of fighting along a 350-mile front left 250,000 American, British, Canadian and French casualties.Best-selling World War II historian Charles Whiting served in an armored reconnaissance regiment that was attached to both British and American units during the campaign. His comprehensive coverage of the West Wall battles will be the first to recognize them as part of a single grand campaign.Charles Whiting's vivid account brings to life not only the massive armies of the campaign but the famous personalities like George Patton, Bernard Montgomery, Omar Bradley and Walther Model who took part in the struggle for the West Wall. Whiting is an authority on Ernest Hemingway's wartime career and many will be surprised at how large a role the famous author, theoretically just a war correspondent, played in the campaign. West Wall's detailed text is backed up by 32 photos, 5 maps, a bibliography, and an appendix with little-known information about the final fate of the battle's leading participants.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (December 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580970443
• ISBN-13: 978-1580970440
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,784,612 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Easy Reading, But Lacking Extensive Details, May 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: West Wall: The Battle For Hitler's Siegfried Line (Charles Whiting ""West Wall"" Series) (Hardcover)

This book describes the battles along the Siegfried Line. Included are several photos of the men involved in the fighting and maps of the area in which they fought. While several high ranking officers such as Patton and Model are discussed along with a "what ever happened to..." chapter for the leaders, I was a bit disappointed that not more detail was given as to the West Wall itself. Its development and construction is not really discussed at all while its guns, bunkers, dragon's teeth, etc. are only mentioned when they are involved in one of the many battles which occurred along the 350 miles of contested defenses.

Overall, it's actually a decent book which is easy to read (perhaps becuase of the lack of extensive detail I was seeking) and it shows that the many seperate battles along the West Wall should be considered to be more like one large campaign. But the lack of a detailed discussion of "the what & why" of the defenses themselves left be wanting, hence the 3 star rating.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars this author WAS a soldier................, December 22, 2003

By 

Guy Incognito "montyofalamein" (Ayrshire, Scotland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: West Wall: The Battle For Hitler's Siegfried Line (Charles Whiting ""West Wall"" Series) (Hardcover)

The last reviewer claimed that Charles Whiting 'has no idea what ww2 combat is about'.This is an offensive lie.Whiting was a teenage infantryman with the Scottish 52nd Lowland Division from 1944-45.Such information is on the endpapers of many of his books.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars West Wall The Battle for Hitler's Siegfried Line, April 9, 2003

By 

Douglas J Harvey (Sterling Heights, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: West Wall: The Battle For Hitler's Siegfried Line (Charles Whiting ""West Wall"" Series) (Hardcover)

From my experience as an infantryman with the 84th Infantry Division in WW2 I feel much of the book is fiction. His discussion of the action around Geilenkirchen in November - December 1944 is void of the actual time line. Dates in general are inored in the book. The author has no feeling of what WW2 combat was. So far my search to find biographic information on the author has not turned up much. He has written a lot of books.