A new telling of the brutal siege of Bastogne, where vastly outnumbered American forces held off a savage German onslaught and sealed the fate of the Third Reich Hitler's last gamble, the Battle of the Bulge, was intended to push the Allied invaders of Normandy all the way back to the beaches. The plan nearly succeeded, and almost certainly would have, were it not for one small Belgian town and its tenacious American defenders who held back a tenfold larger German force while awaiting the arrival of General George Patton's mighty Third Army. In this dramatic account of the 1944-45 winter of war in Bastogne, historian Peter Schrijvers offers the first full story of the German assault on the strategically located town. From the December stampede of American and Panzer divisions racing to reach Bastogne first, through the bloody eight-day siege from land and air, and through three more weeks of unrelenting fighting even after the siege was broken, events at Bastogne hastened the long-awaited end of WWII. Schrijvers draws on diaries, memoirs, and other fresh sources to illuminate the experiences not only of Bastogne's 3,000 citizens and their American defenders, but also of German soldiers and commanders desperate for victory. The costs of war are here made real, uncovered in the stories of those who perished and those who emerged from battle to find the world forever changed.

Get the Summary of Peter Schrijvers's Those Who Hold Bastogne in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. "Those Who Hold Bastogne" is a detailed account of the experiences of American soldiers during the Battle of the Bulge, particularly focusing on the 28th Infantry Division's defense of Bastogne against a massive German counteroffensive in December 1944. The narrative follows Lieutenant Paul Yearout and his regiment, known as "The Bloody Bucket," as they face the harsh realities of infantry life and combat. The division, commanded by General Troy Middleton, is spread thinly along the Luxembourg border, with Yearout's regiment stationed in Clervaux, Luxembourg. Despite signs of an impending German attack, the American troops are caught off guard by a surprise artillery barrage, marking the beginning of the German offensive...

A brutal siege. A forgotten heroine. A war-torn romance. And a historian determined to uncover the truth. Untold millions who saw and read Band of Brothers can finally know the whole story of what happened to American soldiers and civilians in Bastogne during that arduous Winter of 1944/45. In the television version of Band of Brothers, a passing reference is made to an African nurse assisting in an aid station in Bastogne. When military historian Martin King watched the episode, he had to know who that woman was; thus began a multi-year odyssey that revealed the horror of a town under siege as well as an improbable love story between a white Army medic, Jack Prior, and his black nurse, Augusta Chiwy, as they saved countless lives while under constant bombardment. Based on the recent discovery of Prior's diary as well as an exhaustive and occasionally futile search for Augusta herself, King was at last able to bring belated recognition of Augusta's incredible story by both the U.S. Army and Belgian government shortly before she died. This is not only a little-known story of the Battle of the Bulge, but also the author's own relentless mission to locate Augusta and bestow upon her the honors she so richly deserved.

This chronicle of an armored division’s bravery during the Battle of the Bulge sheds new light on the legendary Siege of Bastogne in WWII. Before the 101st Airborne Division’s famous Siege of Bastogne, there was already a US unit holding the town when they arrived. This unit—the 10th Armored Division—continued to play a major role in its defense through the German onslaught. The Tigers of Bastogne offers a detailed chronicle of the young armored division that withstood the full brunt of Manteuffel’s Fifth Panzer Army in the Ardennes. The 10th Armored had only arrived in Europe that September as part of Patton’s Third Army. They soon faced the onslaught of Nazi panzers bursting across no-man’s-land on December 16. But they earned their nickname, “The Tiger Division,” as they went on the defensive at Bastogne, surrounded by an entire German army. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe of the 101st Airborne said, “It seems regrettable to me that Combat Command B of the 10th Armored Division didn’t get the credit it deserved at the Battle of Bastogne. All the newspaper and radio talk was about the paratroopers. Actually the 10th Armored Division was in there a day before we were and had some very hard fighting before we ever got into it.” Fortunately, in this book, the historical record is finally corrected.

“Fleshes out in vivid detail the entire story of the Screaming Eagles’ valiant struggle . . . This is must reading for any student of World War II history” (Kepler’s Military History). The Battered Bastards of Bastogne is the product of contributions by 530 soldiers who were on the ground or in the air over Bastogne. They lived and made this history, and much of it is told in their own words. The material contributed by these men of the 101st Airborne Division, the Armor, Tank Destroyer, Army Air Force , and others is tailored meticulously by the author and placed on the historical framework known to most students of the Battle of the Bulge. Pieces of a nearly 60-year-old jigsaw puzzle come together in this book, when memoirs from one soldier fit with those of another unit or group pursuing the battle from another nearby piece of terrain.

“A comprehensive and vivid account of the heroic defense of Bastogne... McManus has taken a great old story and made it new again.”—Rick Atkinson, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author of An Army at Dawn During the Battle of the Bulge, the 101st Airborne made their legendary stand at Bastogne. But their heroics never could have happened if not for the unsung efforts of others. This is the powerful yet little-known story of the bloody delaying action fought by the 28th Infantry Division, elements of the 9th and 10th Armored Divisions, and other, smaller units. Outnumbered and outgunned, they made the Germans pay for every icy inch of ground they gained. It was their gallant efforts that allowed the 101st Airborne to reach and fully occupy Bastogne and prepare for the ferocious attack to come. Featuring numerous helpful maps and a complete list of the soldiers, local civilians, and German commanders whose actions it recounts, Alamo in the Ardennes provides a compelling, day-by-day account of this pivotal moment in America's greatest war.

When Hitler's huge counterattack was overwhelming First U.S. Army's thin line in the Ardennes Forest in December 1944, the 10th Armored Division of Patton's Third Army secretly roared 75 miles north overnight, flung its tanks in front of the German panzers at Bastogne--and held. This book, rich with new accounts of the men who fought there, is written by one of them. It will help history catch up to the too-long-secret dimension of one division's stand which its corps commander said he doubted any armored unit in the U.S. Army could parallel.

In Patton at the Battle of the Bulge, Army veteran and historian Leo Barron explores one of the most famous yet little-told clashes of WWII, a vitally important chapter in one of history’s most legendary battles. Includes photographs! “Barron captures the fiery general’s command presence and the pivotal commitment of his Third Army tanks to relieve the embattled crossroads town of Bastogne.”—Michael E. Haskew, Author of West Point 1915: Eisenhower, Bradley, and the Class the Stars Fell On December 1944. For the besieged American defenders of Bastogne, time was running out. Hitler’s forces had pressed in on the small Belgian town in a desperate offensive designed to push back the Allies. The U.S. soldiers had managed to repel repeated attacks, but as their ammunition dwindled, the weary paratroopers of the 101st Airborne could only hope for a miracle. More than a hundred miles away, General George S. Patton was putting in motion the most crucial charge of his career. Tapped to spearhead the counterstrike was the 4th Armored Division, a hard-fighting unit that had slogged its way across France. But blazing a trail into Belgium meant going up against some of the best infantry and tank units in the German Army. And failure to reach Bastogne in time could result in the overrunning of the 101st and turn the tide of the war against the Allies.

Jerome Corsi’s newest opus, No Greater Valor, examines the Siege of Bastogne—one of the most heroic victories of WWII—with a focus on the surprising faith of the Americans who fought there. In December of 1944, an outmanned, outgunned, and surrounded US force fought Hitler’s overwhelming Panzer divisions to a miraculous standstill at Bastogne. The underdogs had saved the war for the Allies. It was nothing short of miraculous. Corsi’s analysis is based on a record of oral histories along with original field maps used by field commanders, battle orders, and other documentation made at the time of the military command. With a perspective gleaned from newspapers, periodicals, and newsreels of the day, Corsi paints a riveting portrait of one of the most important battles in world history.

The 101st Airborne had orders to hold Bastogne, Belgium, as German forces moved in on the offensive during what became known as the Battle of the Bulge. Brigadier General McAuliffe's answer to German envoys requesting surrender was succinct: "Nuts!" This is the story of a vital position held under difficult conditions and against tremendous odds.