Hitler’s Winter: The German Battle of the Bulge: Anthony Tucker-Jones: Osprey Publishing

Hitler’s Winter

The German Battle of the Bulge

Hitler’s Winter

The German Battle of the Bulge

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.

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	09 Jun 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

Anthony Tucker-Jones's study of these battles is timely and important.

Professor Peter Caddick-Adams, author of 'Snow and Steel: Battle of the Bulge 1944–45'
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, author of 'Brothers in Arms'
Tucker-Jones has delivered another gem. Hitler's Winter takes the reader on a breath-taking ride from the “other side of the hill” and is a must-read compendium to the vast corpus of Allied accounts of the Battle of the Bulge. Simply stunning.

David O'Keefe, author of 'Seven Days in Hell'
Anthony Tucker-Jones offers a fresh insight into the Battle of the Bulge that few historians have matched. Although several books have been written about the Ardennes from the German perspective, very few authors have captured the spirit of the conflict through the eyes of the combatants themselves.

Mike Guardia, author of 'Arracourt 1944: Triumph of American Armor'
An excellent themed analysis of why the objectives set by Hitler could never be achieved.

Aspects of History
For those who want to fully understand the Battle of the Bulge, then this is a 'must read'.

Iron Cross