Battle of the Bulge Reading/Watching List

[jeffd]

As a way of getting the discussion in here started, I thought it would be fun for people to post their favorite books, movies, and other media real and fictional about the Battle of the Bulge, along with some notes about why you enjoyed it. I can get us started:

A Time for Trumpets by Charles B. MacDonald. At the start of this project, which seems ages ago but was really only about a year or so, I asked John Butterfield what the best single-volume history of the Battle of the Bulge was. Without hesitating, he told me to get my hands on this book, and I'm glad he did. I've read a lot of history, and so far MacDonald is unique: he's a good writer, a dispassionate analyst, and a veteran of the events he describes. He writes about being at the front during the Bulge with a vividness and clarity you can only get from someone who was there, and still dispassionately analyzes the mistakes both sides made before and during the battle. Even reading closely, you'll be hard-pressed to tell which sections of MacDonald's narrative talk about his personal experiences as a rifle company commander and which don't, because it's all that well-written. Unfortunately, MacDonald died while still writing the book, and the later sections completed by other writers from his outlines are noticeably lacking in detail. Still very much worth the read.

The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge by Hugh M. Cole for the U.S. Army Office of Military HIstory. Another good one-volume history of the battle, which I found useful in cross-checking MacDonald and learning more about the later parts of the battle. Like most official histories, this one is bland and reluctant to criticize specific officers, even when such criticism may be warranted. (For an example, compare its treatment of General Jones, commander of the 106th Infantry Division, with MacDonalds'.) Still, this has a lot of good information and a series of very good maps that I found useful for tracing out the battle.

[DavOWG]

Battle: The Story of the Bulge by John Toland
Company Commander by Charles MacDonald
Board wargames including Ardennes '44, FAB:Bulge and Tigers in the Mist

[jeffd]

It's worth a quick note to say that Company Commander is by the same Charles MacDonald who wrote A Time for Trumpets. As the title suggests, it's a more personal memoir of his time as a rifle company CO during the war in Europe, including the Bulge.

And games...great idea, can't believe I forgot that.

[DavOWG]

Company Commander really is excellent, I think.

We tend to read about and spend more time thinking about the big, sweeping actions of armies... but this book gives such a feel for what the day-to-day life of a combat infantryman was like- the fatigue, the boredom, the misery of sitting in the dirt- broken suddenly by shock, terror, confusion and chaos when fighting erupts.

[AdmiralEggman]

Speaking of games, does anyone have an opinion on Bitter Woods? I have standing trade offer on BBG and I'm on the fence.

[rddfxx]

For perspective, Russell F Weigly's Eisenhower's Lieutenants. Gamewise, Hexasim's terrific Liberty Roads.

[John Butterfield]

Speaking of games, does anyone have an opinion on Bitter Woods? I have standing trade offer on BBG and I'm on the fence.

Bitter Woods is a great design with lots of nice chrome and fairly straightforward rules. In my historical assessment it gives the Germans more power than they were able to muster and sustain.

Ardennes 44 is my favorite from an historical and play value perspective. A mini-monster with gorgeous graphics playable in a day and half.

[Pat]

While hunting for reference material I came across a number of interesting sites. Here's a handful to get you started.

These first two are the official versions of the battle so take them with a pinch of salt.
The Ardennes Battle of the Bulge book http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/ ... NT.HTM#toc
.. and another version of the above http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA ... dex.html#A
another account of the battle http://www.7tharmddiv.org/bulge/index.htm

I really enjoy the personal accounts of warfare. That to me has always been what sparks my interest. How ordinary people deal with extraordinary situations and events.
Very interesting site dedicated to the Bulge http://www.isidore-of-seville.com/bulge/
Marc Brandos site - the Battle of Longchamps http://www.101airborneww2.com/warstories3.html
the American Experience http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperie ... ispatches/
an artillery observers reccolections http://www.87thinfantrydivision.com/His ... 00003.html
accounts from Bastogne http://www.personalizehistory.org/

The beginnings of a biography of von Rundstedt http://www.themarshalsbaton.com/vr1.htm

12th Army Situational maps .. sorry the forum doesn't like the URL so you'll have to copy and paste .. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?co ... p%20%3a%20[Battle%20of%20the%20Bulge--France,%20Belgium,%20Netherlands,%20and%20Germany]%20%2f%20prepared%20by%20the%20Engineer%20Section%2012th%20Army%20Group.&displayType=3&maxCols=3

Comparing modern photos of the area to the WW2 footage is invaluable. The period footage is great for atmosphere, weather and to get a feel for events. The modern images ground it in reality and provide fantastic reference material.

F Dijkstra's personal moden gallery of Foy and Bastogne https://picasaweb.google.com/1078774784 ... elgium2010
F Dijkstra's personal moden gallery of Foy and Bizory https://plus.google.com/photos/10787747 ... banner=pwa
F Dijkstra's personal moden gallery of Bois du Jacques https://plus.google.com/photos/10787747 ... banner=pwa
Hans de Regt's Flicker Photostream of a Bulge Museum. http://www.flickr.com/photos/hansderegt/page227/ start near the bottom and then go up in page numbers

youtube - Battle of St. Vith http://youtu.be/BGeC2Z6gHyM
youtube - Battle of the Bulge Newsreel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev6FIlexpsE
youtube - Battle at Bastogne http://youtu.be/J9FktEyCpwM
youtube - Secrets of the Battle of the Bulge http://youtu.be/ewGll8GKlsQ

In addition to these, doing searches for individual towns and village names brings up a wealth of pictorial and descriptive information. Google maps for general layout and landmarks (the churches/cathedrals in Namur and Liege are based on the real thing, Verviers less so). Aerial photos from town planning associations and photographers. Then there's the WW2 recce photos of which theres loads been released online.

And last not least is the library. Ours isn't very big but they've a few dozen books on the Bulge and biographies of the units that were there and I spent many hours pouring over them (I'm not allowed to borrow books from the library anymore. It's embarrassing and my doctor and lawyer advised me not to talk about it ).

[s_DundyO]

Ooh, I'm a neophyte with all of this "Bulge" reading, but thanks to everyone who posted good books. I think I'll start with A Time for Trumpets. Wonder if Amazon has it available for download. I'll give it a try.

Hope these forums blow up.

Thanks, Shenandoah!

[blahblah3502]

another computer game, (but old (1991) and difficult to find even if you had the setup to run it - so hardly a competitor), but I first learned about the Battle of the Bulge as a kid from Chris Crawford's Patton Strikes Back ( http://videogamegeek.com/videogame/1032 ... -the-bulge ) . I have very fond memories of it.