The Battle of the Bulge: A Graphic History of Allied Victory in the Ardennes, 1944-1945

Vansant, Wayne. The Battle of the Bulge: A Graphic History of Allied Victory in the Ardennes, 1944-1945. 2014. 104p. ISBN 978-0-7603-4622-8. Available at 940.54 VAN on the library shelves.

In the fall of 1944, the German army slowly but inexorably retreated in front of Allies onslaughts. On the Eastern Front, the Russians were pushing into Poland. On the Western Front, combined French, British, and American forces had landed in Normandy and had liberated Paris. Cornered, Adolf Hitler placed his dwindling hope on one more grand attack. The German army would push through the Ardenne forest in an attempt to reach the Meuse River and encircling off a large Allied force in Belgium and Holland.

What became known as the Battle of the Bulge was fought in miserable conditions as the Germans launched their attack during heavy fog in December. The temperature often dropped below freezing, and relentless bombardments and attacked tired both men and machines. The German push threw off the American divisions but quick thinking and the rallying of green forces stemmed the tide, stopping the Germans in their tracks.

The Battle of the Bulge proved to be the last offensive launched by Germany. Henceforth, the Allies would have the strategic initiative until the fall of Berlin and the German capitulation in May 1945.

In this beautifully and accurately illustrated story, Vansant tells the story of the men who fought under harsh conditions and of the units that participated in the largest land battle ever fought by the U.S. Army.

Other books in this illustrated series include The Bombing of Nazi Germany and Normandy: A Graphic History of D-Day. The Invasion of Hitler’s Fortress Europe.