Battle of the Bulge: Volume One: Losheim Gap / Holding the Line

by Hans Wijers

Battle of the Bulge: Losheim Gap / Holding the Line v. I Most accounts of the Battle of the Bulge focus on Bastogne, but the Germans' main thrust actually occurred to the north, where Sepp Dietrich's Sixth SS Panzer Army stormed through the Losheim Gap. In this region of thick forests, US troops halted the best of German war machine, including the 12th SS Panzer and the 3rd Fallschirmjager Divisions. Full description

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Vic Lauterbach · Rating 5 out of 5]

This meticulously researched study uses American and German primary sources but its focus is on the U.S. 99th Infantry Division, the main unit defending the Losheim Gap from December 16-20, 1944. This was a quick reread for content missing from the PDF I read years ago. (I obtained that PDF from a sketchy ebook site, a lesson learned!) Mr. Wijers excellent account sets the record straight and shows exactly why the Ardennes Offensive immediately fell behind schedule and never recovered. The only minor issue is that the limited number of maps provided makes identifying locations and keeping track of where units were challenging (but possible with effort). Highly recommended to anyone with serious interest in this battle (along with its companion volumes Hell at Bütgenbach/Race for the Bridges and The 3rd Fallschirmajäger Division in Action).

[Binston Birchill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great detail of the battle at the company and platoon level, including tremendous first person accounts of several soldier’s actions. Publisher sure, does need to work on on the editing so manym istakes. There are a lot of interesting pictures, unfortunately the details of the pictures are indecipherable in the paperback version. Aside from those annoyances the book provides a compelling look at the north shoulder of the battle of the bulge.