Battle Of Bulge 1944 Bastogne (Campaign)

Rating:
Summary: Another Great Volume from Zaloga
Review: The Battle of the Bulge is one of those subjects in military history that has been so over-covered that readers must be wary of new volumes on this subject, many of which only repackage what other writers did earlier. Fortunately, Steven Zaloga's second volume in the Osprey Campaign series is a well-written narrative that can stand on its own merits. This second volume focuses the southern half of the Ardennes front, including the fighting around Bastogne. Zaloga's writing style is in fine fettle in this volume and although much of the material is familiar, it is presented with incisive comment and penetrating analysis. Even if you have other "Bulge" books on your shelf already, this volume and its companion are well worth having.

Zaloga's opening sections on the strategic situation, opposing plans, opposing leaders and opposing armies are a bit shorter than usual since much of this material was also covered in the first volume. The order of battle provided is a bit overly succinct since it lists only division-level units; certainly the German Volks artillery corps and the US engineer units at Bastogne should have been listed. The elements of Patton's 3rd Army that broke through to Bastogne as well as the 101st Airborne Division are omitted. Zaloga provides five 2-D maps (German objectives in the southern sector, 5th Panzer army vs. 28th Division, 7th Army vs. XII Corps, Patton's Relief of Bastogne, Eliminating the Bulge) and three 3-D maps (Bastogne Encircled, Battle for the road junctions, Blunting the Spearhead). The three color battle scenes by Peter Dennis and Howard Gerrard are: Christmas in Bastogne, Operation Bodenplatte and Spearhead to the Meuse.

The author's description of the 5th Panzer Army's attack on the 28th Infantry Division is excellent, although I wish he had given some mention of what was left of the "Bloody Bucket" after this 2-day epic fight. As Zaloga describes it, the German Panzer Lehr Division had a brief opportunity to get into Bastogne on the third day of the offensive (December 18) but squandered the chance due to over-caution. Although Bastogne was the major intermediate objective for 5th Panzer Army, it is clear that the Germans never allocated sufficient forces to deal with this thorn in their side. Zaloga also briefly covers air operations over the Ardennes, although much of the focus is on Operation Bodenplatte, the surprise German air attack on New Years day.

Zaloga also covers the futile attack of the German 7th Army on the southern flank (which is usually ignored in many accounts), the final German effort to push 2nd Panzer Division and Panzer Lehr toward the Meuse and the Allied counterattack. Zaloga also includes some of the controversies of the campaign, such as Field Marshal Montgomery's temporary command over US forces near the Meuse and his unwillingness to counterattack the over-extended Germans. Like most authors, Zaloga also believes that the Allied failure to cut off the German salient in a pincer operation was overly-cautious and allowed more Germans to escape to fight again. In sum, this volume provides an excellent operational summary of a hard-fought and close-run campaign.