No Less Than Victory: A Novel of World War II [Mass Market Paperback]

Jeff Shaara's "No Less Than Victory: A Novel of World War II" (Ballantine Books, 480 pages, $28.00) completes the prolific author's WW II in Europe trilogy that began with "The Rising Tide" and continued with "The Steel Wave." "No Less Than Victory" begins with The Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 and ends with the German surrender in May 1945.

Like Shaara's other novels, "No Less Than Victory" combines historical figures -- Eisenhower, Gen. George S. Patton, Gen. Omar Bradley, Lt. Gen. Walter Bedel "Beetle" Smith, Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, Albert Kesselring, Albert Speer, Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery and many others -- with fictional fighting men in the front lines, doing the grunt work of war and standing in for the millions of soldiers that served in the war. Two of them, Pvts. Eddie Benson and Kenny Mitchell, are particularly well drawn, while another, Sgt. John Buckley, a bombardier in a B-17 shot down by the Germans and sent to a Luft-Stalag prisoner of war camp, shows how dangerous it was in the Allied bombers that blasted much of Europe to rubble.

Mitchell and Benson owe their lives to another fictional soldier, Sgt. Bruce Higgins. In an "afterward" the author tells us what happens to the real and fictional characters.

The fictional characters have a "Willie & Joe" ring about them, with a reference to the bedraggled front line "dogfaces" portrayed by Army cartoonist Sgt. Bill Mauldin. Shaara provides a scene with Gen. George "Blood & Guts" Patton ranting about Mauldin's cartoons in Stars & Stripes. Shaara does a fine job with the historical figures and I recognize some of the details from my extensive reading about the war. His thorough research shines through and the book should serve as a useful introduction to the final six months of the fighting in Europe. Missing in Shaara's novel is any account in depth of the Russian advance on the Eastern Front, although there is a reference to the Soviet Army's halt outside Warsaw in August 1944 that gave the Germans the chance to destroy the Polish Home Army in the Warsaw Uprising.

Perhaps the best portrayal of German leaders is Shaara's depiction of Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, who was in charge of Wehrmacht forces facing the Americans, British, Canadian, French and other Allied forces in France, Belgium, Luxemburg and later in the German Homeland. Shaara also does a fine job with Hitler's favorite architect, Albert Speer, who was in charge of war production and slave labor efforts and who somehow escaped the hangman's knot at Nuremberg to serve a lengthy term in Spandau Prison.

The Ardennes Offensive that began on Dec. 16, 1944 -- quickly called by the news media The Battle of the Bulge -- was Hitler's last gasp on the western front, a desperate attempt to drive a wedge between the Allied forces and allow the Germans to retake the port of Antwerp. Shaara provides maps to help the reader see the big picture of the offensive and how Patton, Hodges, Montgomery and other leaders, under the command of Eisenhower, turned the tide.

German atrocities against civilians in Belgium and soldiers at the Malmedy Massacre led to a toughening of the attitude voiced by Gen. George Patton that the only thing better than killing Germans was killing more Germans. But it wasn't until the Allies liberated their first concentration camp that the extent of German crimes against humanity became apparent to Allies. Patton ordered the civilians of the nearby towns to visit the Ohrdruf concentration camp, near Gotha, Germany, part of the Buchenwald complex.

Ohrdruf was liberated on April 4, 1945 by Patton's 4th Armored Division and the 89th Infantry Division, the first camp liberated by the U.S. Army. The 89th Infantry division included Charlie Payne of Augusta, Kansas, the then 20-year-old great uncle of President Obama. In his introductory "To the Reader," Shaara relates how he was in Washington, DC at the time an 88-year-old Holocaust denier charged into the Holocaust Museum and shot and killed a security guard -- and the need to remind everyone of the atrocities committed by the Germans during the war.

Eisenhower ordered the news media to document the horrors of Ohrdruf and other camps so that no one would be in a position to deny what happened there and chalk it up to Allied "propaganda." Shaara draws on Patton's diary in his description of the Ohrdruf liberation. Here's an extended version from Patton's diary:

"In a shed . . . was a pile of about 40 completely naked human bodies in the last stages of emaciation. These bodies were lightly sprinkled with lime, not for the purposes of destroying them, but for the purpose of removing the stench. When the shed was full--I presume its capacity to be about 200, the bodies were taken to a pit a mile from the camp where they were buried. The inmates claimed that 3,000 men, who had been either shot in the head or who had died of starvation, had been so buried since the 1st of January. When we began to approach with our troops, the Germans thought it expedient to remove the evidence of their crime. Therefore, they had some of the slaves exhume the bodies and place them on a mammoth griddle composed of 60-centimeter railway tracks laid on brick foundations. They poured pitch on the bodies and then built a fire of pinewood and coal under them. They were not very successful in their operations because there was a pile of human bones, skulls, charred torsos on or under the griddle which must have accounted for many hundreds."

"No Less Than Victory" is a powerful evocation of the war in Europe that will appeal to WW II buffs and the general reader alike. It's a book that literally impossible to put down until the very end.

As Veterans Day draws near, and the ranks of World War II veterans thins dramatically, it's important to remember what Shaara describes in this book.

I think this book was the best of the series.

In his usual style of "historical fiction" Mr. Shaara takes us through the European theatre in WWII as seen through the eyes of its generals, politicians and, the parts I found most interesting, the soldiers themselves.

This is solid storytelling, primarily focusing on the Battle of the Bulge, as seen through the eyes of the grunts, and as managed by the generals on both sides of the fence. Unlike the authors other books, this book has less characters (or so it seemed at least) which I find to be more appealing and less confusing. Even though it's always fun to read about the clashes between Montgomery and Patton the story focuses on Private Eddie Benson and his experiences at "mud level".

The reader's journey through the eyes of Benson, while peeking in the minds of the generals is a winning combination which makes the story more personal and engrossing.

Even though I have heard many people who condemn the oxymoron called "historical fiction" it has worked for me personally. Because of Mr. Shaara's Civil War books I read many other historical books and biographies of the characters I was interested in - so as you can see, I think that writing about history on a grounded, personal level has many benefits especially for those who don't' find history as fascinating as I do.

My only comment is that I think it would be wonderful if Mr. Shaara could provide some pictures of the personalities involved so we can see what they look truly look like (instead, for example, picture George C. Scott as General Patton or Ike as the President).

Although I found the two previous works on the European theater of World War II by Jeff Shaara informative and engaging, "No Less Than Victory" is the crowning achievement of the trilogy. The focal emphasis of this novel is the Battle of the Bulge and Shaara works his magic when getting into the heads of the principal combatant, namely: Hitler, Von Rundstedt, Montgomery, Tedder, Eisenhower, Patton, and the infantry grunts Edward Benson, Kenneth Mitchell, and Bruce Higgins.

Sharra writes convincingly that the Germans nearly pulled off a major reversal of fortunes on the Western Front when they amassed a surprising strength of arms, tanks, and artillery along a narrow span in the Ardennes Forest. The surprise offensive counterattack by the Germans is measured by immediate reaction of the defenders in harms way and the slow reaction of the British and American brass to the intense assault. Only the severe weather and lack of fuel thwarted more extreme damage to allied forces inflicted on them by the German thrust. Superior numbers of men and materiel would prove in the end to be the deciding factor in regaining the allied initiative and eventually lead to victory.

What makes this book such an interesting read is the revelation that in spite of the ferocious nature of combat, there is much downtime in the life of an infantry soldier. Marching, embedded in foxholes, awaiting orders, performing menial chores are major portions of existing even under the most strenuous of anticipated combat involvement. It comes as somewhat a surprise that many WW II soldiers never came into direct contact with the enemy they fired upon or killed. Military machinization accounted for most of the casulties; however, not to minimize their contribution, it was the foot soldier that was neccesary to do the dirty work of cleaning up the mess and ferreting out those that resisted to end.

Jeff Shaara has done himself proud with this concluding labor. I, as I'm sure many others, look forward to his writing about United States' role in the Pacific theater of World War II. Hopefully it will be as rewarding an experience for both author and reader.

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