Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
No new insight that compliments other sources, December 1, 1999
I have read many books on this battle. One of them was a very good book called 'Battle of the Bulge' by Danny S. Parker. In addition to a high reguard for Parker, the Amazon's professional review and reader's review were both excellent. So, for me, this was a 'must buy'. I was disappointed. The book has six chapters. Each chapter is an interview experience with an important German officer with real responsibility in the battle. Some of these chapters are hardly comprehensible. One, General Kramer, is poorly translated. There is personal puffery, poor memories, and precious little real insight into the battle. Only General Brandenberger's narrative is concise and informative. The bottom line, if I had gone to Borders or another of the big book stores and had reviewed the book before buying, I would have passed.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Rumbling thru the Ardennes, December 31, 2006
Hitler's Ardennes Offensive gives the story of the German Generals who lead the 6th Panzer Army, 5th Panzer Army, and the 7th Army. To build the story, Mr. Parker pulled together the US Army's interviews of these generals and assembled the German viewpoint of the Battle of the Bulge. For each of the sections (each section focus's on one general; Oberstgruppenfuher Dietrich, Generalmajor Kramer (Dietrich's Operations Officer), General der Panzertruppen Manteuffel, General der Panzertruppen Brandengerger, Generalfeldmarschall Keitel and Generaloberst Jodl [they share a section], and General der Infanterie Blumentritt), Mr. Parker provides the general's remembrances of the battle (I believe the generals were able to consult unit histories because some of the remembrances are to detailed...). Several of the sections contain a question and answer section between the general and US interrogators.
Try as I might, I can't give this book more than three stars. While parts of the book are interesting, others are drawn out. Where you might get good analysis from a general the battle, in another area the same general drags thru details that I personally believe would be below an Army generals level. Other factors that I found distracting was the lack of maps (there are two, both are higher level maps), especially given that the generals sometimes discussed very small towns their forces were fighting in; the lack of corp or divisional level generals inputs; and the photos have been heavily used. I'd like to see this same book written with input from the key divisional generals and maps to support the general's discussion (I really missed this when General der Panzertruppen Manteuffel talked about the fighting around St. Vith and Bastogne, in both cases he referenced towns that were much smaller than the book's maps supported). Who knows, maybe Mr. Parker will read this review and re-release this book with some additional material.
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Battle of the Bulge, March 18, 2007
The book was in excellent condition, and a very good description of events at the Battle of the Bulge. My husband was there, and says it is very authentic.
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