The Ghost Front (Battle: The Story of the Bulge - John Toland)

Member Name: Jake Speed

Product:	Battle: The Story of the Bulge - John Toland
Date:	01/10/09 (129 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very readable, well researched

Disadvantages: Lacks a grand overview at times

The Story of the Bulge was first published in 1959 and written by John Toland. It tells the story of Hitler's last desperate gamble in the Western theatre of World War 2. On December the 16th, 1944, he launched the Ardennes Offensive - destined to become equally well known as The Battle of the Bulge because of the 'bulge' it created in the Allied front line positions. It was an audacious but impossible gambit that squandered Germany's last coherent armoured reserves in the West and probably hastened the end of the war by a good few months. The dense and snowy forests of the Ardennes, where relatively scant and inexperienced American forces were resting and refitting in what was assumed to be a serene sector, were chosen for the location of the counteroffensive which would involve three entire German armies - ordered to smash the unsuspecting Americans and swing the tide of the war back in Germany's favour. The senior German officers involved in the operation were appalled by Hitler's ludicrous and unrealistic aims which ridiculously expected them to navigate the almost impenetrable Ardennes, capture bridges on the Meuse River and then steam into Belgium to secure the vital port of Antwerp thus - according to Hitler's dubious logic - splitting Montgomery's 21st Army Group from the Americans and driving a wedge into the Western Alliance between the US, Britain and Canada.

'In the Ardennes it was now past midnight,' writes Toland. 'All was quiet along the 85-mile Ghost Front except for a slight mysterious rumbling a few miles to the east. Over trails and roads matted with straw to muffle the noise, 250,000 Germans, 1,900 pieces of heavy artillery, and 970 tanks and assault guns were slowly moving West to final attack positions. Within six hours Christrose, the greatest and most deceptive attack ever launched on the Western Front, would begin.'

In the cold, limited daylight and confusion of the Ardennes it seemed for a very brief time that Hitler's gamble might be reaping dividends. The inexperienced and outnumbered Americans were initially overwhelmed by this unexpected onslaught of men and machinery from apparently nowhere and the Allied Supreme Command were caught completely off-guard, erroneously assuming the Germans were no longer incapable of a counteroffensive of this scope and ambition. Heavy fog kept the Allies out of the sky, a crucial element as they were vastly superior in aircraft numbers, and it was left to the isolated pockets of American troops to hold fast while a plan for their reinforcement and relief was quickly put into operation. 'The power, fervour and surprise of their attack was met by a stubborn if makeshift defence by the green American troops,' Toland tells us. 'Cooks and bakers, clerks and musicians, loggers and truck drivers were thrown pell-mell into the line to stem the tide. Some ran; many stood and fought.' In the freezing temperatures of the forest where trenchfoot was rife, the German attack was slowed by bitter fighting and began to peter out after a month - the German Armies lacking sufficient fuel for Hitler's wildly grandiose and preposterously optimistic plans.

The author reminds us that the most salient thing about the battle was the fact that the Allies could make good their losses in tanks, guns and equipment fairly easily whereas any squandering of armoured resources and especially men was a disaster for Germany at this stage of the war. The Germans lost over 100,000 killed, wounded and captured in the battle. Toland's book concentrates for the most part on the ordinary American soldier in the conflict rather than become too bogged down in Allied strategy. He includes many little scenes written as if for a novel with a lot of quoted dialogue. You do wonder at times how Toland knew what individual soldiers said to each other trapped in the murky Ardennes forest in 1944 although in an author's note he tells us that the dialogue in the book is not fictional and that all conversations were reported to him by participants or listeners. Toland also tells us he interviewed more than a thousand people in ten countries to research the book and walked extensively around the Ardennes, sleeping in foxholes and cellars!

Toland also does a good job in taking the reader across over to the German side and the battle from their point of view, both for the German soldier down at the coal face up to Hitler and his personal motivation for this grandly ambitious but ultimately fruitless endevour. 'Politically the Reich was friendless, deserted. Italy was finished, Japan had politely suggested that Germany start armistice negotiations with the Soviet Union, the Rumanians and Bulgarians had switched sides, Finland had broken with Germany.' Germany had been constantly in retreat since Normandy five months ago and Hitler was sick of it. He felt Germany had to do something outrageously bold in they were to ever turn things around.

There is a lot of interesting factual detail in addition to the familiar story of Bastogne, including the infamous retort of General McAuliffe ('Nuts!') when asked to surrender by the Germans and their defiant defence while General Patton's Third Army speed to their aid. The battle saw the Allies come under attack from modern jet bombers for the first time with the introduction of the German Me-262 but the lack of sufficient fuel on the German side became disastrous after a relatively short period of fighting. The 1st SS Panzer Division, led by the young and fanatical Lieutenant-Colonel Joachim Peiper and responsible for the Malmédy Massacre, made the most progress but was eventually forced to disgustedly abandon their vehicles and retreat on foot in small, increasingly desperate and bedraggled pockets when fuel or support failed to appear in their deep advanced positions. A ruse by Hitler designed to provoke panic in Allied ranks had English speaking German soldiers dressed in American uniforms operating behind enemy lines to spread misinformation and cut telephone lines. Although planned with great relish, this deception failed to have the devastating effects Hitler imagined although it did lead to wild rumours that Eisenhower was a target of German parachute units. The book conforms to the general perception of Eisenhower as a great gentleman and diplomat who knitted the Allied factions together with considerable charm despite being far from a genius in the field of military affairs or strategy.

Although I would have preferred a little more of a grand overview at times, Toland does a good job in focusing on the personal stories of those involved at ground level and giving the reader a sense of the confusion, fear and bitter cold of the Ardennes in these troubled times. There are also some very helpful maps scattered throughout the book. The Story of the Bulge is no Defeat in the West or Stalingrad but it is a very readable and interesting account of Hitler's last throw of the dice on the Western battlefield and written and put together with a great deal of care and research.

Summary: Interesting and well written history