The Ardennes, 1944-1945: Hitler's Winter Offensive

by Christer Bergström

In December 1944, just as World War II appeared to be winding down, Hitler shocked the world with a powerful German counteroffensive that cracked the center of the American front. The attack came through the Ardennes, the hilly and forested area in eastern Belgium and Luxembourg that the Allies had considered a quiet sector. Instead, for the second time in the war, the Germans used it as a stealthy avenue of approach for their panzers.Much of U.S. First Army was overrun, and thousands of prisoners were taken as the Germans forged a 50-mile bulge into the Allied front. But in one small town, Bastogne, American paratroopers, together with remnants of tank units, offered dogged resistance. Meanwhile the rest of Eisenhower s broad front strategy came to a halt as Patton, from the south, and Hodges, from the north, converged on the enemy incursion. Yet it would take an epic, six-week-long winter battle, the bloodiest in the history of the U.S. Army, before the Germans were finally pushed back.Christer Bergstrom has interviewed veterans, gone through huge amounts of archive material, and performed on-the-spot research in the area. The result is a large amount of previously unpublished material and new findings, including reevaluations of tank and personnel casualties and the most accurate picture yet of what really transpired.The Ardennes Offensive has often been described from the American point of view; however, this balanced book devotes equal attention to the perspectives of both sides. With nearly 400 photos, numerous maps, and 32 superb color profiles of combat vehicles and aircraft, it provides perhaps the most comprehensive look at the battle yet published."

Genres: World War II

508 pages, Hardcover

First published December 19, 2013

About the author

Christer Bergström works professionally as a teacher in English and Swedish history and is the author of several highly-acclaimed books on Second World War aviation.

Reviews

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

-Muchas veces, el diablo está en los detalles; otras, los detalles son el propio diablo.-

Género. Historia.

Lo que nos cuenta. Con el subtítulo La batalla, acercamiento (de cerca, muy de cerca) a la batalla de las Ardenas (más conocida en inglés como la batalla del Bulge, que los alemanes conocieron primero como Operación Wacht am Rhein y después como Operación Herbstnebel, pero este último nombre no ha sido muy popular ni conocido), el canto del cisne alemán en invierno de 1944 durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

https://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com...

[Cold War Conversations Podcast · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat dry but comprehensive account of the Battle of the Bulge

Firstly Bergstrom is not the most easy to read however, there is a huge amount of information and it's worth sticking with if the Bulge is your thing.

3 stars on account of the turgid prose, maybe lost something in translation.

Thanks to netgalley for the review copy.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

SUMMARY OF REVIEW: No detail is too small for Christer Bergström. At times a tedious read, Bergström’s The Ardennes 1944-1945: Hitler’s Winter Offensive, is a compilation of an astonishing amount of information about the Battle of the Bulge, the infamous German surge into the Ardennes, across France, Belgium and Luxembourg towards the critically important Atlantic port, Antwerp. Bergström focuses on both the Allies and Axis, namely the Americans and the Germans, providing a clear picture of both sides of the “bulge.” Ardennes 1944-1945 is filled with captivating, well captioned pictures and artwork; highly informative yet brief “asides” illustrating important events and controversies (ex. “The German Railway Miracle” found on pages 60-61); and some of the most magnificent, clearly drawn and defined military maps I have come across. The vast amount of sources, including primary sources, diaries, recently released official documents, photographs, and other highly credible texts, makes this book particularly valuable to someone who is producing their own work on The Battle of the Bulge, for example a film director or author. The major drawback to The Ardennes 1944-1945 is also what makes it an important scholarly work – Bergström frequently gets trapped in minutia, which bogged me down and caused me to lose sight of the bigger picture. Overall I am giving Bergström’s The Ardennes 1944-1945: Hitler’s Winter Offensive a four out of five star rating: In several ways it earns five stars for being exceptionally well researched and full of remarkable photographs, maps, and charts; however, the actual prose is tedious and not well edited, leading me to give this book an overall rating of four stars.

FULL REVIEW: Christer Bergström’s The Ardennes 1944-1945: Hitler’s Winter Offensive is an excellent reference book on The Battle of the Bulge. Exquisite photos well paired with the material they appear near, are on nearly every page, portraying the faces, machines, and landscapes of this brutal assault. Hats off to Bergström for also including brilliantly executed maps, which masterfully show the positions of the troops, important topographical information, key landmarks, and the ultimate movements of the offensive and defensive lines of attack. Furthermore, The Ardennes 1944-1945 contains charts and graphs that help clarify dense text full of details.

Bergström clearly knows weapons, often using the full names of the weapons, physical descriptions of the weapons and their mechanisms, and the impact of the weapons both in the immediate sense and in the battle (and sometimes the war) as a whole. For example, Bergström goes into great detail about the Nebelwerfer’s tactical, psychological, and statistical impact in battle. Still another example of the detail regarding military weapons comes from a caption under a picture of a U.S. tank destroyer on page 144: “A U.S. M18 Hellcat tank destroyer is made ready to open fire on approaching German tanks. With its 76mm M1 anti-tank gun in a turret, the Hellcat was a most dangerous opponent to the German tanks, especially since its high speed enabled it to quickly maneuver in the side of the German tanks, where these were not as heavily armored. A weakness of the Hellcat was its own weak armor, not more than a 25mm frontal armor.” This caption under a picture is essentially a distilled version of a more detailed description of the M18 Hellcat and the 76mm M1 anti-tank guns. I personally loved that Bergström often gives the degrees of the sloped armor in addition to the thickness of the armor. (Learn more about sloped armor here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloped_a...).

The author admirably keeps track of which troops and divisions are involved in each skirmish. He tells the reader the divisions’ names (both sides), provides a history of divisions, details their leader(s), explains their level of training and battle expertise, and goes over each division’s prior battle engagements. For example, on page 79 Bergström states: “The 62. Volksgrenadier-Division, which stood against mainly U.S. 424th Infantry Regiment, was provided with two tasks on this day of the offensive…” Later the author states, “Unlike the 18. Volksgrenadier-Division, the 62. Volksgrenadier-Division was an old and experienced German division, basically it was the 62 Infanterie-Division, which had participated in the war since the invasion of Poland in 1939.” The level of knowledge Bergström commands for both the Allies and Axis’ divisions is inspiring, and really helps the reader understand the unique challenges and strengths of each division. This leads me to another critical point and strength of this book; both sides of the “bulge” (Axis and Allies) are covered in great detail. At the end of The Ardennes 1944-1945, you will not be thinking, “I wonder how it was for the Germans?”

Bergström doesn’t shy away from controversy, arguing that it is a common misperception that the Germans suffered from a sever shortage of fuel and low productivity of military weapons throughout the offensive. Rather than lacking fuel and supplies, Bergström relies on countless sources to support his claim that the German’s suffered from a lack of maintaining adequate supply routes, particularly supply chains to the frontlines. (This idea is developed throughout the book, especially in the beginning and on pages 145-149)

Perhaps another example of Bergström’s unabashed style of writing are occasional statements like, “…the most inhumane political system the world has ever seen, Nazism…” Though a casual reader may overlook this statement, I couldn’t help but think about the Bolshevik revolution, the Japanese, particularly in Manchuria and Nanking, and later in history Pol Pot’s regime, North Korea, and the list goes on. [Note: Bergström said “world has ever seen” not “world had ever seen.”]. Overall, however, the author is extremely well balanced, and painstakingly backs up his statements with countless credible sources.

A personal pet peeve of mine is text littered with phrases like “more on this later,” “we shall see,” “as highlighted in a future chapter,” and so forth. An occasional “more to come” is perfectly fine and can be justifiable, but I found Bergström too often baiting me on with promises for more information when he could have very easily summarized the important bits here and now. Funny enough, I also found the author repeating himself, sometimes spending several paragraphs re-describing something already well established just fifteen pages prior.

As for making the reader wait, it took until page 73 (Chapter 4: “Panzerarmee: Panzer March Towards the Meuse!”) to actually get to the start of the German offensive. Chapters one through three thoroughly establish the events leading up to “one of the most carefully prepared military operations in the entire war.” (p. 35); however, the reader must get through nearly 1/5th of the book before he or she reaches the start of the offensive.

Paintings and drawings by Horst Helmus, a German artist who served in the Unteroffizier in the 26. Volksgrenadier-Division, are used throughout The Ardennes 1944-1945. I found the inclusion of his art to be particularly compelling because of its beauty, simplicity, and because of the source. Bergström didn’t shy away from using art by the Germans, instead his inclusion of Helmus’s drawings, and other German art and pictures, helps to make the enemy all that more human. Frequently, pictures of war-torn Americans are juxtaposed with similarly destroyed German soldiers. While the colossal amount of detail in the text can at times feel alienating, the pictures alongside the text made this bloody battle real, relevant, and at times eerily relatable.

The photos, art, maps, charts, and graphs make Christer Bergström’s The Ardennes 1944-1945 Hitler’s Winter Offensive, a book worth checking out at the library. For military buffs looking for an excruciatingly detailed book covering both sides of the Battle of the Bulge, this may be what you’re looking for. If you’re working on your own project (writing a book? Thesis? Movie?) that involves this seminal battle, you would be remiss to overlook this book, if for no other reason than to check out its copious sources and pictures. I am a fast reader, yet this book took me several weeks to finish, both because of the high level of monotonous detail, and because the prose wasn’t compelling. For a reader looking for a fast paced, easy read on the Battle of the Bulge, this is probably not the book for you because of its immense detail, complicated terminology, and tedious prose. Overall I am giving Bergström’s The Ardennes 1944-1945: Hitler’s Winter Offensive a four out of five star rating: In several ways it earns five stars for being exceptionally well researched and full of remarkable photographs, maps, and charts; however, the actual prose is wearing and not well edited, leading me to give this book an overall rating of four stars.

Tags: WWII, Battle of the Bulge, Germany, US, Military History, Military Tactics, Nazi Military, Non-Fiction, Military Weapons, Hors

[Eric Zern · Rating 1 out of 5]

This author is very pro-german and rather anti-American. He had nothing but praise for the German Ardennes offensive while the Americans did almost nothing right. When the Americans lost a battle, this author was rather graphic with "American body parts hanging from trees and scattered around fields soaked with American blood." When the Germans lost a battle they were simply "pushed back" without all the graphic descriptions. Additionally, there are quite a few photos. 95% are of destroyed American tanks and equipment. Very few of German equipment. Time and again this author states the Americans would have likely lost had it not been for American airpower. Well, the Germans would have certainly brought their airpower to bear had they been in the same situation. Bottom line, however, the Americans mopped the Nazi "supermen" up in 30 days.

Because this was not an "objective" analysis of the Ardennes offensive, I'll not read another book from this author.

[Alan Carlson · Rating 1 out of 5]

At least when British historian Charles Whiting wrote SS fanboy accounts of WW2, he did it under a pseudonym (Leo Kessler). This purports to be balanced history, all the while "regaling" the reader with endless, repetitious tales of headlong panzer charges scattering demoralized American GIs, interspersed with fantastic "what ifs" of how SS boy colonel Peiper (29 y-o) could have crossed the Meuse, won the battle - and the war? - with simple course changes. Each combat is followed with assertions that German losses were overstated by the "Amis," who in this account lost dozens of Shermans to fire and flame (the "Ronson lighter" myth). Finally, in this account, the "superior" German tanks and their supposedly brilliant leaders were defeated by American airpower and artillery, as commanded and directed by British general Montgomery, American generals being uniformly hopeless, blind, or stubborn.

The careful reader, even here, will note how many times the German forces, by this time in the war composed of poorly trained and inexperienced troops, made headlong rushes at the American defenders. Against troops equally green, those worked. Against battle-hardened trrops such as those of the 1st and 2nd Infantry divisions, the 2nd and 3rd Armored, or the 82nd and 101st Airborne, Americans held the ground and genuinely inflicted debilitating losses. Battles against such experienced GIs did not appear often in this recounting. The well-informed reader will recall that the "Ronson lighter" story of US Sherman tanks easily going up in flames is a recent myth - and even Bergstrom later in the narrative starts to note how many German Panthers are burned out.

Bergstrom concludes that the Bulge was a German tactical defeat but a German strategic victory, in that it delayed the Western Allied final offensive by two months. He gets this exactly backwards. The Germans ALMOST reached the goal line - but as in sports, that gets you no points. Strategically, a two month delay in the Western GROUND offensive just delayed the end by two months: two months of more military deaths, more aerial devastation of German cities and towns, two more months to facilitate the Soviet - Communist - advance into Eastern Europe, ratified by the West at Yalta only after the Ardennes Offensive.

Bergstrom dismisses one American general (Patton?) as merely a superb military policeman, able to get his forces where they needed to be when they needed to be there. Given how snarled the German forces were in this campaign, unable to advance forces let alone supplies to the front, maybe the Germans needed a Patton.

No one should read this without reading the standard accounts: Hugh M Cole: The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge (US Army in World War II: European Theater of Operations); Charles B MacDonald: A Time For Trumpets: The Untold Story of the Battle of the Bulge; and for a good look at German side, Danny S Parker, Hitler's Ardennes Offensive: The German View of the Battle of the Bulge.

[Roi · Rating 3 out of 5]

El regreso del general Rommel a Alemania tras su derrota en el norte de África fue algo así como la marcha fúnebre de "El Ocaso de los Dioses" de Wagner.
El genial estratega se reúne con Adolf Hitler en marzo de 1943 y aprovecha la ocasión para, de buena fe, advertirle del poderío militar, sobre todo aéreo de los Aliados y de que la guerra está perdida.
Pero especialmente, y pese a que Alemania aún dominaba casi toda Europa, para aconsejar al fuhrer que debía evitar la agonía y destrucción del país.Y negociar.

Rommel, como militar experto y ya conocedor de las barbaridades militares y humanas de las que el régimen era capaz, fue de los escasos generales germanos con agallas de decirle al rey que estaba desnudo.
Su clarividencia le valió su progresiva postergación y finalmente, liquidación.

El sueco Christer Bergström en su libro: "Ardenas: la batalla" abunda en esta idea. Hitler, ascendido al reino de los dioses había decidido hacía mucho tiempo que la única alternativa a la victoria era la destrucción total.
Acosado en al menos dos frentes, tras el desembarco de Normandía y el debacle de sus fuerzas en Francia y con los rusos adentrándose por Polonia, el ejército alemán buscaba en diciembre de 1944 una victoria que diera crédito al régimen al menos ante los suyos.
Un país masacrado por los bombardeos y las incongruentes operaciones militares nazis.

Hitler llevaba "nazificando" al ejército desde el principio de la guerra ; no quería una fuerza militar dirigida por profesionales capaces de planificar y decidir según las necesidades, sino fanáticos con ganas de escalar y dispuestos a obedecer y hacer obedecer.
Las SS no eran ya un cuerpo paramilitar que acompañaba a la "Wehrmacht" para purgar las regiones conquistadas de judíos y rojos. Ahora formaban divisiones tan poderosas o más que las del propio ejército regular, mejor dotadas y equipadas, aunque mucho menos eficaces.

En su ataque por la región belga de las Ardenas incluso se da el papel central de la ofensiva a las divisiones SS. El objetivo: llegar al norte de Bélgica, envolver y destruir a la mayor parte de los ejércitos aliados, devolverlos al mar.
Todo ello con la enorme experiencia adquirida en el frente oriental, utilizando tácticas, métodos e incluso tropas trasladadas desde el frente ruso aprovechando el parón invernal soviético.

Bergström narra los hechos con una minuciosidad que le avala como historiador militar aunque a veces exaspere a incautos como este lector que deambula entre cuerpos de ejército, kampfgruppes, divisiones Panzer y rugientes P-47s yankis como pollo sin cabeza.
Bien es cierto que una descripción tan real de los sucesos te deja una noción auténtica de lo que es la guerra y en concreto de lo que significó este cúmulo de despiadados combates :
el perfecto avance nocturno de la Wehrmacht en el ataque inicial; la consabida superioridad aérea norteamericana, decisiva; la suicida y torpe embestida de las estrellas SS, Dietrich y Peiper; la profesionalidad y calidad del ejército alemán a pesar de su deterioro; la notable aportación del abrumador potencial industrial yanki y la gran diferencia combativa entre los "cowboys" (soldados veteranos) y los estudiantes (reclutas de reemplazo) de la tropa estadounidense.

Todo ello en un libraco totalmente recomendable a quien disfrute las historias de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Guerra total, sin concesiones, con todo detalle, testimonios directos de los protagonistas, imprescindibles mapas y excelentes fotos de las escasas que hay disponibles. En lo negativo se pueden señalar erratas y errores incomprensibles en una edición española por lo demás de calidad.

Del mismo modo, puede poner los pelos de punta al lector ocasional que desconoce hasta qué punto puede llegar la locura de la guerra y la devoción patriótica que rodean siempre este tipo de altercados.

Reseñable la reacción negativa a este excelente relato por parte de algunos lectores de habla inglesa que acaban acusando al autor sueco de "filonazi" debido al tratamiento dado a las fuerzas de combate germanas y a su reconocible superioridad en cuanto a material, disciplina y combatibidad.
Yo también empecé con "Hazañas Bélicas" y "Sargento Gorila", pero si algo tienen estas obras es el intento de acercamiento a la verdad.


"Cuando los restos desmoralizados de la división recibieron órdenes de efectuar un contraataque acaudillado por la SS, Heilman no pudo menos de indignarse . "En ese instante -escribió- reparé en que el militarismo prusiano y el fanatismo de la SS eran capaces de cualquier acto de locura en cualquier momento ". Y seguía diciendo: "En aquella situación decidí, por primera vez en mi trayectoria militar, actuar por cuenta propia. Sin más propósito que el de salvar vidas humanas, retiré del frente a mi batallón de zapadores y al 15° regimiento aerotransportado y los aposté detrás del pueblo de Wiltz para que no pudieran ponerlos a las órdenes de la SS...."

"Frecuentemente las tropas de la SS, en lugar de acatar las órdenes, se desvanecían sin dejar rastro"

General de la 15° división aerotransportada, Ludwig Heilmann


"Es imposible que ganéis la guerra: tenemos demasiadas armas secretas"
Soldado del 6° ejército blindado SS Hitlerjugend al levantar las manos para rendirse.


"Los alemanes tienen más frío y más hambre que nosotros, pero luchan mejor".
George S. Patton

[Richard Hakes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe not the greatest of the history of World War 2 but readable. Probably gets bogged down in endless part stories of incidents never quite going down to a detail that would have interest and not really going far enough in the overview and backgrounds.

[Tom "Black" Schwartz]

Agree with what some of the other reviewers have said. Very pro-german (yes lower case was on purpose) to the point that its unreadable.

The allies are made out to be lucky, whole the Germans were heroic

Utter drivel and Propaganda I didn't think we'd ever see again

[Zeb Kantrowitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

On December 15, 1944, over 300k soldiers, 1200+ tanks, and thousands of other armored vehicles and weapons, backed up by over 1000 planes, attacked the US First Army through the Ardennes Forest. The German Offensive was in the exact area where the Germans had attacked in WW One and at the beginning of WW Two. But even knowing this history, the Allies were totally unprepared for this onslaught. The Offensive had been delayed multiple times, while the Germans waited for a time when there would be heavy cloud cover to keep the Allied Air Forces on the ground.

If the Germans could make it over the River Meuse in two weeks, the would break out into flat country and attack through to Antwerp, thereby taking the largest port north of Cherbourg and cut off the English Army in the southern Netherlands from the other Allies. With that victory, the Germans felt they would be able to force the Allies to sue for peace and split them away from the Soviet Union. With the war in the West over, the Nazis could then turn the full Armed Forces against Stalin, and hopefully (for them) stop the Red Army in its’ tracks.

Because this was considered a “quiet sector” many of the troops at the Front were new divisions that had just finished their training and been fed into the front lines for their first taste of battle. Many of the German front line troops were veterans of the War on the Eastern Front and their experience of fighting in cold weather was another issue in their favor. In addition to their experience, these German soldiers were motivated to end this battle quickly so they could go East and saved Germany proper from the approaching Soviet Army.

Another major point in the Germans favor, was their material. The Allies had nothing to compare to the German heavy tanks, Panzer IV, Panthers, Tigers and King Tigers. They were superior in weaponry and armor. Shells from American Shermans and Stuarts were seen to bounce off the German tanks who would then blast the medium and light tanks to pieces. (During the battle the Germans had a ratio of over four to one in tank kills.) Coming from the Eastern battlefront, the German troops were dressed in white winter clothing.

Many of the Allies were in ‘light’ cotton olive green uniforms without winter boots or white camouflage clothing. (Some Allied troops took to wrapping themselves in bed sheets to better hide in the snow.) Without Allied Air Forces to provide close air support to take out the larger tanks, the Allies were at a major disadvantage. With the Allies split in half this made coordination of counter-attack difficult to work out.

Almost half of the tank brigades (Panzer Korps) were Waffen SS, and though they were not as good as the Wehrmacht at strategy, they were fanatical at fighting. Where other troops would have withdrawn from a fight, the SS would cause casualties way out of proportion to what would normally been expected. They would be almost suicidal in holding conquered land that had little or no strategic value.

Except for the Paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne, few units were able to stop the attacking Germans. The hold-out at Bastogne proved to be a thorn in the side of the German attack, and blocked the bringing up of replacements and supplies to the troops that had by-passed the city. This more than anything, else slowed down the offensive and allowed the Allies to recover and begin to counter attack with the Third Army under Patton and the Seventh under the control of Montgomery. With the clearing of the skies, the German Panzer armies were decimated from the air sealing their fortunes.

Christer Bergstrom has gone into the archives of all the participating Armies and in his narrative, inserts after action reports, news reports and personal interviews with soldiers from both sides describing the conditions they fought under. Bergstrom’s reporting is so detailed that at some battles we have the names of the tank commanders and the officers (and enlisted) men who fought there. Most impressive is the number of maps showing battles for two or three towns at a time and the movements by units in support of these attacks.

Though some will take umbrage to Bergstrom’s description of some famous Generals and their competency during battle, in most cases this is a well balanced view of the battles and their outcomes.

Zeb Kantrowitz zworstblog.blogspot.com

[patrick Lorelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book about the Ardennes or the battle of the bulge. The author takes a through look into entire battle from both sides and gives you details of the size of troops and the history. While some of ours were green, never been in battle the Germans had troops from the Western and Eastern fronts and some of the German troops were battle tested. Also the only American that even thought of this being a possibility was a staff member on Patton’s staff and so that is one reason why Patton already had plans for an attack in place. Another the author points out was the lack of information that was getting back to the high command. They the high command were still thinking that the officers were over reacting to troop size and to the number of Panzer tanks. Ordering troops to hold ground not to give ground or hold at all costs. With that last order being followed, many units either ran out of gas, or ammo, or both. That is one of the reasons for so many units being captured and over run. Most of the units did fight until they had no more ammo. That was one part of the story that I had never heard before. This is a through look at the entire battle not just Bastogne which everyone talks about. For their other troops surrounded and 11 African American soldiers from 333rd artillery unit that was executed by the s/s troops. Once Gen. Gavin, activated the 82nd and 101st and then Patton’s now supplied they had to retake what was lost, hold Bastogne and the 82nd to the north had to stop the Germans from the Allied fuel depot. Those along with the Germans running out of gas and the clouds lifting were their down fall. A good book in seeing both sides of the battle and the mistakes that were made and advantages that each side took when they could. A lot of information from both sides well researched. Really liked this book. I got this book from net galley.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was one of the most painful history books I have ever read. I think there may be a 4 star book hidden in there somewhere, maybe in its native Swedish. An Amazon reviewer said it best "This book is crying out for an editor and a translator". I found Snow and Steel to be vastly superior.

I can live with differing opinions, so that didn't bother me that much. The Bodenplatte operation to me was the highlight of the book. I didn't note criticism of the SS leadership in this battle until the conclusions of the book. (So that was a saving grace.) In a nutshell the Allies won because of air power and Monty. Oh, can't forget, 3rd Army performed poorly.

Translation lead to some sentences being unreadable. Abbreviations to me were bizarre at times, maybe fine in Swedish. 3USA was Patton's 3rd Army, I've never seen it like that. Time on target artillery was explained well, until the grenades landed almost together. Another sentence had a German general reporting to Von Manstein who was not really on active duty at the time. He was in disfavor with Hitler.

The book was recommended on a historical gaming site and was praised for it's maps. They were decent, but always seemed to be a few pages ahead or behind what I was reading.

There are some gold nuggets in this book, it's just painful getting to them. 7.5 months to read this book. I could do 3-10 pages at a time. And some nights didn't have the willpower to even try.

I won't say don't read it, but if you do, be prepared. If it's this book or Snow and Steel, grab Snow and Steel.