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Battle of the Bulge, 1944 — historical photograph 50.2°N 5.7°E Western Europe
1944 · 50.2°N 5.7°E

Battle of the Bulge

Ardennes, Belgium · battle · Western Europe

Briefing

On 16 December 1944 Germany threw 200,000 men through the snow-bound Ardennes in a final gamble to split the Allied armies and retake Antwerp. The surprise was total, the defence of Bastogne became legend, and the month-long battle that followed was the largest in US Army history, costing some 19,000 American dead.

Books Covering This Event (11)

Popular History

A Time for Trumpets cover
A Time for Trumpets Charles B. MacDonald · 1985

The definitive history of the Battle of the Bulge, by a historian who fought in it as a company commander.

Intermediate
Band of Brothers cover
Band of Brothers Stephen Ambrose · 1992

The story of Easy Company, 506th PIR, from D-Day to Hitler's Eagle's Nest.

Accessible
Citizen Soldiers cover
Citizen Soldiers Stephen Ambrose · 1997

The American soldier's experience from the Normandy beaches to the fall of Germany.

Accessible
Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944-1945 cover
Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944-1945 Max Hastings · 2004

The western Allies' grinding advance into Germany from the Rhine to the Elbe.

Intermediate
The Longest Winter cover
The Longest Winter Alex Kershaw · 2004

Eighteen men of an intelligence platoon hold off a German battalion on the first morning of the Bulge — then vanish into POW camps.

Accessible
The Guns at Last Light cover
The Guns at Last Light Rick Atkinson · 2013

The final volume of the Liberation Trilogy: from D-Day to the fall of the Third Reich.

Intermediate

Memoir

Company Commander cover
Company Commander Charles B. MacDonald · 1947

A 21-year-old captain leads a rifle company through the Siegfried Line and the Bulge.

Accessible
War As I Knew It cover
War As I Knew It George S. Patton · 1947

Patton's war diary from Morocco to the Rhine, published two years after his death.

Intermediate
Crusade in Europe cover
Crusade in Europe Dwight D. Eisenhower · 1948

The Supreme Commander's own account of the war in the West, from Torch to the German surrender.

Intermediate
If You Survive cover
If You Survive George Wilson · 1987

A replacement infantry officer from Normandy to the Bulge — of his original company, almost no one else lasted.

Accessible
Beyond Band of Brothers cover
Beyond Band of Brothers Major Dick Winters · 2006

Easy Company's commander tells his own story — Brécourt Manor, Bastogne, and the burden of leading men you love.

Accessible

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