Alamo In The Ardennes: The Untold Story of the American Soldiers Who Made the Defense of Bastogne Possible

by John C. McManus

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780451225580
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/07/2008
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	276,592
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

John C. McManus, author of The Dead and Those About to Die and September Hope: The American Side of A Bridge Too Far, earned a PhD in American and Military History from the University of Tennessee, where he served as Assistant Director of the Center for the Study of War and Society and was a Normandy Scholar. As a leading authority on the Normandy invasion, he holds a Cantigny First Division Museum Fellowship. He is currently a full professor of U.S. Military History at Missouri University of Science and Technology, where he teaches a variety of courses, including one on World War II and another on the Modern American Combat Experience. He also serves as the official historian for the United States Army’s Seventh Infantry Regiment.

Table of Contents

Preface xi Acknowledgments xiv Staff Positions in the U.S. Army xix Typical Unit Structure in the World War II U.S. Army xx Cast of Characters xxi Maps xxix Introduction 1
1 Before the Fury 7
2 Friday, December 15 29
3 Saturday, December 16 40
4 Sunday, December 17 84
5 Monday, December 18 133
6 Tuesday, December 19 171
7 Wednesday, December 20 233 Postscript 254 Notes 257 Photo Credits 281 Index 283

What People are Saying About This

Thomas Fleming

Will become one of the classics of the literature of World War II combat. (Thomas Fleming, author of The New Dealers' War)

Rick Atkinson

Comprehensive and vivid...John C. McManus has taken a great old story and made it new again. (Rick Atkinson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of An Army at Dawn)

Editorial Reviews

A comprehensive and vivid account of the heroic defense of Bastogne, the linchpin in the Battle of the Bulge. With a scholar’s precision and a writer’s keen eye for the telling detail, John C. McManus has taken a great old story and made it new again.”—Rick Atkinson, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author of An Army at Dawn
 
“McManus's absorbing and forthright narrative will hopefully dispel several myths, namely that Bastogne was the decisive engagement of the Battle of the Bulge, and give long-overdue credit to the many brave Americans, some of them still alive today, who made victory possible in America's greatest ever battle. You can't ask for more. Bravo!”—Alex Kershaw, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Longest Winter and Avenue of Spies
 
“I have read hundreds of books about men in battle but seldom have I seen one that comes close to the intensity that John McManus achieves in Alamo in the Ardennes. To an unparalleled degree, his amazing research has enabled him to get inside the minds and hearts of dozens of soldiers, from generals to privates. This is a book that will become one of the classics of the literature of World War II combat.”—Thomas Fleming, Author of The New Dealers' War
 
“This definitive and eminently readable history is destined to be a classic among Bulge histories.”—Patrick K. O'Donnell, Author of Washington’s Immortals

From the Publisher