The acclaimed World War II historian delivers “a panoramic and compelling boots-on-the-ground illumination of one of the Bulge’s most epic battles” (Patrick K. O’Donnell, author of Washington’s Immortals). 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 Gen. 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 three thousand citizens and their American defenders, but also of German soldiers and commanders desperate for victory. The costs of war are revealed, uncovered in the stories of those who perished and those who emerged from battle to find the world forever changed. “A fast-paced story . . . Schrijvers does an admirable job of weaving personal accounts into the larger picture of Bastogne’s horrors.” —The Wall Street Journal “Pulse-pounding . . . The first thorough treatment of the famous battle for Bastogne.” —John C. McManus, author of Fire and Fortitude

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 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.

Violent, destructive, and murderous like nothing before or since, the world wars mobilized entire societies to support the war effort. Propaganda, censorship, security demands, and military control of press credentialing pressured the media in new and novel ways. Blacks and women became war correspondents in numbers for the first time, while live radio broadcasts and combat film and photography enabled newsmen to report the heroism, tragedy and violence of war in new, more visceral, ways.

Includes the end of World War II, the death of FDR, Beginning of the atomic age, the murder of Mussolini's and the birth of the UN as recorded in the pages of Time Magazine.