
“NUTS!” - Among the many military legends that abound from the fighting of the Second World War, the one word reply to a German summons to surrender must rank highly in terms of its resonance, importance and sheer grit. General Mcaulliffe decided that despite the odds and the lack of supplies and ammunition his troops would continue to hold the important communication hub of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. This dramatic, yet authoritative account brings all of the action to the fore as the Battered Bastards of Bastogne wrote their names into legend. THIS STORY OF BASTOGNE was written from interviews with nearly all the commanders and staff officers and many of the men who participated in the defense of Bastogne during the first phase of that now celebrated operation—the days during which the American forces were surrounded by forces of the enemy…Thus it is essentially the account of how a single strong defensive force was built from separate commands of armor, airborne infantry and tank destroyers—a force convinced that it could not be beaten.
This work investigates the tactical and logistical mechanisms that allowed the 101st Airborne Division to maintain the defense of Bastogne during the initial eight days of the German encirclement. S. L. A. Marshall, a prominent military historian and combat analyst, utilizes his methodology of immediate post-combat interviews to reconstruct the events. By synthesizing accounts from commanders, staff officers, and enlisted personnel, the author constructs a detailed framework of how disparate units of armor, infantry, and tank destroyers were integrated into a cohesive defensive force under extreme duress.
What You Will Find
Scope Limits
Historians and military scholars frequently cite this work as a foundational primary-source-based account of the defense of Bastogne. Readers often note the clinical, reportorial density of the prose, which prioritizes tactical accuracy over narrative embellishment.
Page Count:
273
Publication Date:
1988-01-01
Publisher:
United States Govt Printing Office
ISBN-10:
0160019729
ISBN-13:
9780160019722
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!