Battle of the Bulge: Hitler's Ardennes Offensive, 1944-1945

Confused by the 1965 film “Battle of the Bulge”? Want to read a history of the battle that falls somewhere between scholarly and popular? Consider this well-written primer on the Bulge. It’s relatively concise (342 pages of text), reads very well and, unlike some books on the subject, covers the entire battle from beginning (December 16, 1944) to end (January 28, 1945).The text is divided into four main parts and 48 chapters. Chronological chapters narrating a few days or weeks alternate with thematic ones that typically extend in time before, during, and after the battle. This unconventional structure makes the book repetitive at times and takes some getting used to, but it also explores topics not usually found in other more conventionally organized books.The analysis is clear and usually shows good judgment.There are 18 maps, most well placed in the appropriate chapters. Twelve are situation maps and all but three of them cover just two days, which helps make sense of the shifting tides of battle. There are also various tables dealing with quantitative issues, such as tactical air sorties and tank fuel economy.Further, the book comes equipped with 10 appendices, what appears to be a comprehensive index, and about 100 good-quality B&W photographs with highly informative captions. The abundant footnotes delve into detail on specific events or topics related to the battle.So, what’s not to like? A few things.Neither tables nor maps appear in the Table of Contents, which means having to search for them page by page. Most of the maps are faintly printed, the labels often illegible, and the rivers poorly drawn. No map exists for December 16 (the first day of the German offensive) or for December 19-20, and the map for December 17-18 is printed twice (114-115 and 156-157). The situation maps display only a few place names. To find other places named in the text, you’ll have to consult a Detail of Situation Map in the back of the book and, even then, it’s hit-and-miss whether you’ll find anything. In short, map quality falls far below that of Hugh Cole’s “Ardennes: The Battle of the Bulge.”Those curious about the veracity of the book’s claims are likely to be disappointed because, aside from a few sources occasionally mentioned in the text, there are no specific citations. No bibliography, either. Instead, you’ll have to make do with a list of 13 books and articles and a 3-page Recommended Reading essay.Strangely, Clausewitz’s “On War” is quoted five times (misquoted four times, e.g., should be “province,” not “providence” [98]), yet neither he nor his book appear in the index. Also, “On War” is not on the list of books and articles nor mentioned as Recommended Reading.Sadly, the Recommended Reading (368) does include “Hitler’s War” by the notorious Holocaust denier and pseudo-historian David Irving. It is described there as one of the three “best” books on “Hitler during the battle.” Perhaps, this was a forgivable lapse in 1992, when this book was first published; not so forgivable in 2004, when Da Capo Press published its “new edition.”Finally, this “new edition” contains an impressive number of typos, misprints, and solecisms.

This is an excellent book, and it well deserves all of the praise it receives. I can't possibly think of any kudos I could add that haven't already been mentioned, but...I have a problem with this particular edition, the First Da Capo Press edition 2004, and wish I had purchased another version from a different publisher. It seems this is one of those mass market paperbacks editions and they re-sized the book for their printing ease at the sacrifice of the quality of the book. This is most evident in the wonderfully full and detailed maps that Mr. Parker included in his original work.The dimensions of the hardcover edition is 12.1" L x 9" W x 1.2" D, the dimension of this edition is 9" L x 6" W x 1.1" D, a reduction of 3" in both the long side and width of the book. In processing these reductions it had a very serious impact on the maps and hinders the reader from using these maps properly in identifying some of the cities and troop positions and movements from map-to-map. The 'squishing' of the length from 12.1" to 9" caused, in some instances, the troop symbols to be repositioned and placed over tha name of a town, making both illegible and unidentifiable. The shortening of the width by 3" required Da Capo to shift the page contents to the left and right - on the double paged maps - toward the center of the book where it is bound, so the binding envelopes and covers up the probably a 1/4" or so on the edges of these maps and makes the info unaccessible. As much as I hate abusing a book I found myself flattening it as much as possible to reveal this info but it was to no avail. The battle lines, troop designations and positions and city names were unable to be seen.Another point is the faintness in the printing on the maps. Although the battle lines and the symbols for the American units are clealry discernible the quality of the ink for the German units is very faint. Combining this with the reduction of the size of the info contained therein I had to get a magnifying glass to make things visible. Even then, with the aforementioned over-imposing of some of the symbols, town names and so on I still couldn't make it out. The faintness of the ink also made the names of some of the rivers involved in this battle indiscernable, especially when the rivers wind thru a forested area, the letters of the names of the rivers blended into the squiggly lines and dots used to indicate the forests.There are a couple of more flaws in the butchering that Da Capo felt necessary to do to the maps but this should give you an idea of their disregard for offering a quality, readable book. I don't know if they eliminated any of the written content but I have a sneaking feeling they just may have. They reduced the size of the length and width and the finished book is thinner than Mr. Parkers original work, it just seems to me if you are squsihing something from all 4 sides the thickness would become greater not lesser.This is an excellent book on the Ardennes Offensive and deserves a proud place of display on the shelf of anyone interested in the European campaigns of WWII, be he/she a novice or seasoned reader of WWII history. However, Da Capo should be ashamed over how they butchered and abused this fine work to save expenses in their mass market printing.Buy this book, just not this edition! I totally enjoyed it but if it hadn't been for some of my previous readings and the 3 WWII atlases I have to fill in for Da Capo's omissions I am sure I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much. Personally, I will probably donate this edition of this book to a charity or something else and be on the lookout for a full-sized edition.

A very good book to read

Having read a few books on general WWII campaigns I wanted to "go deeper" into one particular battle. I had watched "Band of Brothers" and remembered the "Bastogne" chapter so I thought why not the Battle of the Bulge?I bought this book on the recommendation of other reviewers.If you want a very, unit by unit, day by day, event after event analysis then this book will suit you.I have only given it three stars because I didn't actually enjoy the book very much.I found the detail at times confusing. Excuse the pun, as far as the Ardennes forest goes, but I couldn't see the wood for the trees.The maps were particularly detailed and, strangely enough, particularly useless. There are tens of little boxes each marked with an army unit number, a few arrows, an odd town or village and nothing else - There are no roads, no rivers, no contours, no relief nothing. To make any sense of what was going on I had to go online and print a couple of maps from the internet.I did finish the book. I did learn somethings. But I did not leave with a feeling of what it must have been like to have been there.

Excellent book.I use this as a reference for tactics/strategies in playing SSG's The Ardennes Offensive (ver 1.0 thru 5).SSG's The Ardennes Offensive is a hard core simulation, not an arcade game.Ver1.0 to V2.4 will only run on win98se or earlier.Ver 3.0 to V5 run on win xp and higher.V4 is available in the demo of Matrix games SSG Battles in Normandy, which also includes tutorials.It is very useful in understanding the flow of the battle, the units involved and the decisions made.

Great narrative. Unfortunately the maps are some of the worst I have seen in years and are a hindrance to the understanding of the events - and to the enjoyment of the book. A new edition would be in order.

Fine as described arrived on time