Hitler’s Winter

The German Battle of the Bulge

Hitler’s Winter cover

Description

'What a brilliant book this is… a terrific narrative of Hitler's Ardennes offensive of December 1944 – superb storytelling that achieves a skilful balance between drama and detail.' - James Holland

The Battle of the Bulge was the last major German offensive in the West. Launched in the depths of winter to neutralize the overwhelming Allied air superiority, three German armies attacked through the Ardennes, the weakest part of the American lines, with the aim of splitting the Allied armies and seizing the vital port of Antwerp within a week.

It was a tall order, as the Panzers had to get across the Our, Amblève, Ourthe and Meuse rivers, and the desperate battle became a race against time and the elements, which the Germans would eventually lose. But Hitler's dramatic counterattack did succeed in catching the Allies off guard in what became the largest and bloodiest battle fought by US forces during the war.

In this book, Anthony Tucker-Jones tells the story of the battle from the German point of view, from the experiences of the infantrymen and panzer crewmen fighting on the ground in the Ardennes to the operational decisions of senior commanders such as SS-Oberstgruppenführer Josef 'Sepp' Dietrich and General Hasso von Manteuffel that did so much to decide the fate of the offensive.

Drawing on new research, Hitler's Winter provides a fresh perspective on one of the most famous battles of World War II.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Professor Peter Caddick-Adams
Prologue: The Pied Piper
List of Maps
List of Illustrations

PART ONE: A DARING PLAN
1. Scarface
2. Big or Small Solution
3. The Holy Grail
4. How Many Rivers?

PART TWO: SCRAPING THE BARREL
5. People's Grenadiers
6. Exhausted Panzers
7. Unleash the Tigers

PART THREE: WHERE'S THE LUFTWAFFE?
8. Fighter not a Bomber
9. The Big Blow
10. 'Stubble-hoppers'

PART FOUR: INTO BATTLE
11. Peiper Leads the Charge
12. Krauts Speaking English
13. The Losheim Gap
14. Falcon Takes Flight

PART FIVE: RACE AGAINST TIME
15. Victory at St Vith
16. Stalled at Bastogne
17. Clear Skies

PART SIX: HERE COME THE AMERICANS
18. Almost to the Meuse
19. American Counter-attack

PART SEVEN: TOO LATE TO HELP
20. Rockets to Antwerp
21. Battle of the Airfields
22. Alsace Diversion

PART EIGHT: COMPLETE FAILURE
23. Back Where They Started
24. Where Did It All Go Wrong?

Appendix
Notes and References
Bibliography
Index

Product details

Published Jun 07 2022
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 320
ISBN 9781472847393
Imprint Osprey Publishing
Illustrations 16-page plate section in black and white
Dimensions 234 x 153 mm
Series General Military
Short code GNM
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Anthony Tucker-Jones

Anthony Tucker-Jones, a former intelligence office…

Resources

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