- Hardcover: 168 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins Canada / Perseus Books (Sep 15 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1580970540
- ISBN-13: 978-1580970549
- Product Dimensions: 24.2 x 16.4 x 2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 476 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Book Description
As the Allied armies advanced out of France and Belgium in September 1944, they finally came up against the West Wall, the first of the main German defenses, anchored by the ancient city of Aachen. Experienced American units such as the 1st Division, 30th Division, and 3rd Armored Division took nearly as much time to capture the city as they had spent liberating all of France after the Normandy breakout.
About the Author
Volume three in the West Wall series tell the extraordinary story of the bloody battle of Aachen. As the Allied armies advanced out of France and Belgium in September 1944, they finally came up against the West Wall. Astride the Wall was Aachen, the first major German city in the path of the Allies. The city's defenders were ordered by the German command to hold out at all costs.
Under-strength German units put up a determined resistance against the battle-hardened U.S. First Army. American units such as the 1st Division, 30th Division, and 3rd Armored Division took nearly as much time to capture the city as they had spent liberating all of France after the Normandy breakout.
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Aching for a Better Aachen,
By
This review is from: Bloody Aachen (Hardcover)
Aachen was the first major German city captured by American forces in WWII, and therefore rates more attention than it has so far received by the writers of military history. From this persepective, Whiting's book is valuable. There seems to be no other book currently available on the subject. Having noted this, the book is somewhat of a disappointment. There is no source documentation (bibliography or foot/endnotes), although by the introduction, Whiting makes it obvious that he used some personal interviews (but apparently not always conducted by himself). Readers looking for a reasonable amount of detail will also be disappointed. Whiting rarely descends below the division level in reporting the engagements, and when he does, it is not always easy to identify the parent organization to which the soldiers belong, when he describes them in combat. Aachen was a major engagement for the 1st Infantry Division (the Big Red One), yet Whiting spends far more time reporting the activities of the 30th Infantry Division and the 3rd and 5th Armored Divisions. The 26th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Division was assigned to assault the central city, yet Whiting gives no specifics on the difficulties and experiences of the American forces (or individual soldiers), as they encountered their first major urban street fighting in Germany. This is incomprehensible, since fighting in the city itself was a major component of the battle. Some maps and photos are included, but many of the photos show participants as they appeared in the mid 1970's (when the book was written), and not as they appeared at the time of the battle. Since Whiting reports that a number of correspondents came to Aachen after its capture, it is disappointing that he failed to include more of the photographs that must have been taken; they would have served to enhance the "feel" of combat. The maps are adequate, but again lack detail, and do not always include places mentioned significantly in the text (for example, Crucifixion Hill). Neither do the maps contain indications of troop movements--they show cities and topographcal features only, so they don't help to clear up confusion regarding the maneuvering of the soldiers. Finally, Whiting's style is uneven, and it lacks the poetry in prose that some authors (notably Bruce Catton) can employ to describe war. Sometimes Whiting's prose is turgid and declamatory; other times it borders on the sensational. It is frequently banal and cliche ridden. This is not a great book, but since there is no alternative, it is marginally adequate. The reader will come away with a general idea of how Aachen was captured, and some idea of the horror the troops experienced, but the reader will finish the book wishing that some other author would take up the challenge to report the capture of Aachen in a manner that the event truly deserves. I give it three stars--two for the book itself, and one because it is the only available book on the subject, so far as I know.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews) 24 of 25 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Aching for a Better Aachen,
By J. R. Krebs - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Bloody Aachen (Hardcover)
Aachen was the first major German city captured by American forces in WWII, and therefore rates more attention than it has so far received by the writers of military history. From this persepective, Whiting's book is valuable. There seems to be no other book currently available on the subject. Having noted this, the book is somewhat of a disappointment. There is no source documentation (bibliography or foot/endnotes), although by the introduction, Whiting makes it obvious that he used some personal interviews (but apparently not always conducted by himself). Readers looking for a reasonable amount of detail will also be disappointed. Whiting rarely descends below the division level in reporting the engagements, and when he does, it is not always easy to identify the parent organization to which the soldiers belong, when he describes them in combat. Aachen was a major engagement for the 1st Infantry Division (the Big Red One), yet Whiting spends far more time reporting the activities of the 30th Infantry Division and the 3rd and 5th Armored Divisions. The 26th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Division was assigned to assault the central city, yet Whiting gives no specifics on the difficulties and experiences of the American forces (or individual soldiers), as they encountered their first major urban street fighting in Germany. This is incomprehensible, since fighting in the city itself was a major component of the battle. Some maps and photos are included, but many of the photos show participants as they appeared in the mid 1970's (when the book was written), and not as they appeared at the time of the battle. Since Whiting reports that a number of correspondents came to Aachen after its capture, it is disappointing that he failed to include more of the photographs that must have been taken; they would have served to enhance the "feel" of combat. The maps are adequate, but again lack detail, and do not always include places mentioned significantly in the text (for example, Crucifixion Hill). Neither do the maps contain indications of troop movements--they show cities and topographcal features only, so they don't help to clear up confusion regarding the maneuvering of the soldiers. Finally, Whiting's style is uneven, and it lacks the poetry in prose that some authors (notably Bruce Catton) can employ to describe war. Sometimes Whiting's prose is turgid and declamatory; other times it borders on the sensational. It is frequently banal and cliche ridden. This is not a great book, but since there is no alternative, it is marginally adequate. The reader will come away with a general idea of how Aachen was captured, and some idea of the horror the troops experienced, but the reader will finish the book wishing that some other author would take up the challenge to report the capture of Aachen in a manner that the event truly deserves. I give it three stars--two for the book itself, and one because it is the only available book on the subject, so far as I know.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Recommended, Despite Its Occasional & Lesser Flaws,
By Don Reed "Don" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Bloody Aachen (Paperback)
"BA" = Bloody Aachen, Charles Whiting; Stein & Day (1976)Not bad, but do be forewarned about Whiting's occasional bursts of eccentric writing - during which emerge the brief, odd statements of fact (better located earlier in the narrative) & his frantic & comically baffling use of exclamation points ("!' "!" "!"). But he's sincere & compassionate, which are no small virtues. And to paraphrase a far better writer than myself, authors such as Whiting display the talent of knowing how not to get in the way of the story itself - this pointless & seemingly interminable six-week battle of World War II. (At one point, the German commanders were ordered to continue to defend the besieged city - where kings for centuries had been crowned - with a mere 2,000 soldiers...many of whom were last-ditch draftees - men of advanced years, incapable of surviving an ordeal that routinely defeats the stamina of much younger men.) The endnote is that Whiting's candor is, above all, greatly appreciated. It is good to be reminded of the wildly-optimistic Allied military commanders' assessments of how the war was going for them in early September 1944 - which, by mid-October, were proven to have been guided by the same logic that, a decade earlier, had inspired playwright Robert Sherwood to entitle his Pulitzer Prize-winning farce, "Idiot's Delight." Aachen, Germany, World War II, J. Lawton Collins, Clarence Huebner, U.S. Army, Gerhard Graf von Schwerin, Bernard Montgomery |
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