Patton's Last Gamble

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Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 0811765954
Total Pages : 241 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (117 download)

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Book Synopsis Patton's Last Gamble by : Duane Schultz

Download or read book Patton's Last Gamble written by Duane Schultz and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2018-05-01 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In March 1945, against the advice of his top subordinates, Gen. George Patton created a special task force to venture more than fifty miles behind enemy lines and liberate a POW camp near Hammelburg, Germany. The camp held some 1,500 American prisoners, including Patton’s son-in-law. Hampered by ambushes and a lack of fuel and even maps, the raid was a disaster, one of the worst mistakes of Patton’s legendary career. Out of some 300 men, only three dozen returned. Based on memoirs, diaries, combat reports, and interviews with survivors, Patton’s Last Gamble vividly recounts a mission Gen. Omar Bradley later said “began as a wild goose chase and ended in tragedy.”

Ardennes 1944

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Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0698411498
Total Pages : 480 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (984 download)

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Book Synopsis Ardennes 1944 by : Antony Beevor

Download or read book Ardennes 1944 written by Antony Beevor and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2015-11-03 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The prizewinning historian and bestselling author of D-Day, Stalingrad, and The Battle of Arnhem reconstructs the Battle of the Bulge in this riveting new account On December 16, 1944, Hitler launched his ‘last gamble’ in the snow-covered forests and gorges of the Ardennes in Belgium, believing he could split the Allies by driving all the way to Antwerp and forcing the Canadians and the British out of the war. Although his generals were doubtful of success, younger officers and NCOs were desperate to believe that their homes and families could be saved from the vengeful Red Army approaching from the east. Many were exultant at the prospect of striking back. The allies, taken by surprise, found themselves fighting two panzer armies. Belgian civilians abandoned their homes, justifiably afraid of German revenge. Panic spread even to Paris. While some American soldiers, overwhelmed by the German onslaught, fled or surrendered, others held on heroically, creating breakwaters which slowed the German advance. The harsh winter conditions and the savagery of the battle became comparable to the Eastern Front. In fact the Ardennes became the Western Front’s counterpart to Stalingrad. There was terrible ferocity on both sides, driven by desperation and revenge, in which the normal rules of combat were breached. The Ardennes—involving more than a million men—would prove to be the battle which finally broke the back of the Wehrmacht. In this deeply researched work, with striking insights into the major players on both sides, Antony Beevor gives us the definitive account of the Ardennes offensive which was to become the greatest battle of World War II.

Patton

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781594160110
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (61 download)

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Book Synopsis Patton by : Ladislas Farago

Download or read book Patton written by Ladislas Farago and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Book that Inspired the Academy Award-Winning Film "The best Patton biography."--Military Bookman He is America's most famous general. He represents toughness, focus, determination, and the ideal of achievement in the face of overwhelming odds. He was the most feared and respected adversary to his enemies and an object of envy, admiration, and sometimes, scorn to his professional peers. An early proponent of tank warfare, George S. Patton moved from being a foresighted lieutenant in the First World War to commanding the Third Army in the next, leading armored divisions in the Allied offensive that broke the back of Nazi Germany. Patton was an enigmatic figure. His image among his troops and much of the press achieved legendary status through his bold and colorful comments and combat leadership, yet these same qualities nearly jeopardized his career and forced him out of the battle on several occasions. Victory was impossible without Patton, and returning to the field, his army was responsible for one of the most crushing advances in the history of warfare. In Ladislas Farago's masterpiece, Patton: Ordeal and Triumph, the complete story of this fascinating personality is revealed. Born into an aristocratic California family, Patton rose in military rank quickly and was tapped to lead the Allied landings in North Africa in 1942. Under Patton's direction, American troops cut their teeth against Rommel's Afrikakorps, advanced further and more quickly than British General Montgomery's army in the conquest of Sicily, and ultimately continued their exploits by punching into Germany and checking the Russian westward advance at the end of World War II. A sweeping, absorbing biography and critically hailed, Patton: Ordeal and Triumph provides unique insights into Patton's life and leadership style and is military history at its finest.

Patton

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Publisher : University of Missouri Press
ISBN 13 : 0826274455
Total Pages : 322 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (262 download)

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Book Synopsis Patton by : J. Furman Daniel

Download or read book Patton written by J. Furman Daniel and published by University of Missouri Press. This book was released on 2020-04-03 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: General George S. Patton Jr. is one of the most successful yet misunderstood figures in American military history. Despite the many books and articles written about him, none considers in depth how his love of history shaped the course of his life. In this thematic biography, Furman Daniel traces Patton’s obsession with history and argues that it informed and contributed to many of his successes, both on and off the battlefield. Patton deliberately cultivated the image of himself as a warrior from ages past; the more interesting truth is that he was an exceptionally dedicated student of history. He was a hard worker and voracious reader who gave a great deal of thought to how military history might inform his endeavors. Most scholars have overlooked this element of Patton’s character, which Daniel argues is essential to understanding the man’s genius.

General Patton

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Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0060009837
Total Pages : 850 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (6 download)

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Book Synopsis General Patton by : Stanley Hirshson

Download or read book General Patton written by Stanley Hirshson and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2003-08-05 with total page 850 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: General George S. Patton Jr, an inspirational leader and outstanding tactician, has intrigued and confounded his biographers. Utilising untapped archival materials in both the USA and UK, government documents, family papers, and oral histories, Hirshson creates the most balanced portrait of Patton ever written. It reveals Patton as a complex soldier capable of brilliant military manoeuvres but also of inspiring his troops with fiery speeches that resulted in horrendous acts, such as the massacres of Italian civilians. It explains Patton's belief in a soldier's Valhalla, connects the family's wealth to one of America's bitterest labour strikes, and disputes the usual interpretation of Patton's relief from command of the Third Army. In investigating this complex man, Hirshson has uncovered surprising material about a series of civilian massacres in Sicily, about the two slapping incidents, about attempts to exploit Patton's diary after his death, and about Patton's relations with top Allied generals. Patton emerges as a soldier of great imagination and courage, and his military campaigns make for edge–of–the–seat reading. All the drama of Patton's life comes alive in this meticulously documented volume.

Patton's Payback

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Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0593183401
Total Pages : 369 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (931 download)

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Book Synopsis Patton's Payback by : Stephen L. Moore

Download or read book Patton's Payback written by Stephen L. Moore and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-05-17 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A stirring World War II combat story of how the legendary George Patton reinvigorated a defeated and demoralized army corps, and how his men claimed victory over Germany’s most-feared general, Erwin Rommel “Moore brings you to the battlefield and into the mind of a fearless military genius.”—Brian Kilmeade, bestselling author of The President and the Freedom Fighter • “Essential reading.”—Kevin Maurer, #1 NYT bestselling coauthor of No Easy Day • “[Moore] has a smooth prose style and a firm grasp of detail.”—The Wall Street Journal In March 1943, in their first fight with the Germans, American soldiers in North Africa were pushed back fifty miles by Rommel’s Afrika Korps and nearly annihilated. Only the German decision not to pursue them allowed the Americans to maintain a foothold in the area. General Eisenhower, the supreme commander, knew he needed a new leader on the ground, one who could raise the severely damaged morale of his troops. He handed the job to a new man: Lieutenant General George Patton. Charismatic, irreverent, impulsive, and inspiring, Patton possessed a massive ego and the ambition to match. But he could motivate men to fight. He had just ten days to whip his dispirited troops into shape, then throw them into battle against the Wehrmacht’s terrifying Panzers, the speedy and powerful German tanks that U.S. forces had never defeated. Patton, who believed he had fought as a Roman legionnaire in a previous life, relished the challenge to turn the tide of America’s fledgling war against Hitler—and the chance to earn a fourth star.

Task Force Baum

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Publisher : Kensington Books
ISBN 13 : 1496723872
Total Pages : 338 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (967 download)

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Book Synopsis Task Force Baum by : James D. Shipman

Download or read book Task Force Baum written by James D. Shipman and published by Kensington Books. This book was released on 2019-11-26 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the tradition of Saving Private Ryan and Bridge Over the River Kwai, bestselling author James D. Shipman delivers a powerful, action-packed novel based on the true story of General Patton’s clandestine unauthorized raid on a World War II POW camp. March, 1945. Allied forces are battle-worn but wearily optimistic. Russia’s Red Army is advancing hard on Germany from the east, bolstering Allied troops moving in from the west and north. Soon, surely, Axis forces must accept defeat. Yet for Captain Jim Curtis, each day is a reminder of how uncertain warfare can be. Captured during the Battle of the Bulge, Curtis is imprisoned at a POW camp in Hammelburg, Bavaria. But whispers say General Patton’s troops, and liberation, are on the way. Indeed, fifty miles away, a task force of three hundred men is preparing to cross into Germany. What makes Hammelburg so special they don’t know, but orders are orders. Yet hope quickly evaporates as the raid unravels with shattering losses. For inmates, the liberation becomes a struggle for survival marked by a stark choice: stay, or risk escaping into danger—while leaving some behind. For Curtis, the decision is an even more personal test of loyalty, friendship, and the values for which one will die or kill. It will be another twenty years before the unsanctioned mission’s secret motivation becomes public knowledge, creating a controversy that will forever color Patton’s legacy and linger on in the lives of those who made it home at last—and the loved ones of those who did not.

Those who Hold Bastogne

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Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300179022
Total Pages : 341 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (1 download)

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Book Synopsis Those who Hold Bastogne by : Peter Schrijvers

Download or read book Those who Hold Bastogne written by Peter Schrijvers and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2014-01-01 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new telling of the brutal siege of Bastogne, where vastly outnumbered American forces held off a savage German onslaught and sealed the fate of the Third Reich Hitler's last gamble, the Battle of the Bulge, was intended to push the Allied invaders of Normandy all the way back to the beaches. The plan nearly succeeded, and almost certainly would have, were it not for one small Belgian town and its tenacious American defenders who held back a tenfold larger German force while awaiting the arrival of General George Patton's mighty Third Army. In this dramatic account of the 1944-45 winter of war in Bastogne, historian Peter Schrijvers offers the first full story of the German assault on the strategically located town. From the December stampede of American and Panzer divisions racing to reach Bastogne first, through the bloody eight-day siege from land and air, and through three more weeks of unrelenting fighting even after the siege was broken, events at Bastogne hastened the long-awaited end of WWII. Schrijvers draws on diaries, memoirs, and other fresh sources to illuminate the experiences not only of Bastogne's 3,000 citizens and their American defenders, but also of German soldiers and commanders desperate for victory. The costs of war are here made real, uncovered in the stories of those who perished and those who emerged from battle to find the world forever changed.

The Guns at Last Light

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Publisher : Henry Holt and Company
ISBN 13 : 142994367X
Total Pages : 897 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (299 download)

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Book Synopsis The Guns at Last Light by : Rick Atkinson

Download or read book The Guns at Last Light written by Rick Atkinson and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2013-05-14 with total page 897 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The magnificent conclusion to Rick Atkinson's acclaimed Liberation Trilogy about the Allied triumph in Europe during World War II It is the twentieth century's unrivaled epic: at a staggering price, the United States and its allies liberated Europe and vanquished Hitler. In the first two volumes of his bestselling Liberation Trilogy, Rick Atkinson recounted how the American-led coalition fought through North Africa and Italy to the threshold of victory. Now, in The Guns at Last Light, he tells the most dramatic story of all—the titanic battle for Western Europe. D-Day marked the commencement of the final campaign of the European war, and Atkinson's riveting account of that bold gamble sets the pace for the masterly narrative that follows. The brutal fight in Normandy, the liberation of Paris, the disaster that was Operation Market Garden, the horrific Battle of the Bulge, and finally the thrust to the heart of the Third Reich—all these historic events and more come alive with a wealth of new material and a mesmerizing cast of characters. Atkinson tells the tale from the perspective of participants at every level, from presidents and generals to war-weary lieutenants and terrified teenage riflemen. When Germany at last surrenders, we understand anew both the devastating cost of this global conflagration and the enormous effort required to win the Allied victory. With the stirring final volume of this monumental trilogy, Atkinson's accomplishment is manifest. He has produced the definitive chronicle of the war that unshackled a continent and preserved freedom in the West. One of The Washington Post's Top 10 Books of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2013

Patton

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Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 9780060927622
Total Pages : 1028 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (276 download)

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Book Synopsis Patton by : Carlo D'Este

Download or read book Patton written by Carlo D'Este and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 1996-09-27 with total page 1028 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Patton: A Genius for War is a full-fledged portrait of an extraordinary American that reveals the complex and contradictory personality that lay behind the swashbuckling and brash facade. According to Publishers Weekly, the result is "a major biography of a major American military figure." "This massive work is biography at its very best. Literate and meaty, incisive and balanced, detailed without being pedantic. Mr. D'Este's Patton takes its rightful place as the definitive biography of this American warrior." --Calvin L. Christman, Dallas Morning News "D'Este tells this story well, and gives us a new understanding of this great and troubled man."-The Wall Street Journal "An instant classic." --Douglas Brinkley, director, Eisenhower Center

Patton at the Battle of the Bulge

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Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0698143515
Total Pages : 434 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (981 download)

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Book Synopsis Patton at the Battle of the Bulge by : Leo Barron

Download or read book Patton at the Battle of the Bulge written by Leo Barron and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2014-10-28 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Patton at the Battle of the Bulge, Army veteran and historian Leo Barron explores one of the most famous yet little-told clashes of WWII, a vitally important chapter in one of history’s most legendary battles. Includes photographs! “Barron captures the fiery general’s command presence and the pivotal commitment of his Third Army tanks to relieve the embattled crossroads town of Bastogne.”—Michael E. Haskew, Author of West Point 1915: Eisenhower, Bradley, and the Class the Stars Fell On December 1944. For the besieged American defenders of Bastogne, time was running out. Hitler’s forces had pressed in on the small Belgian town in a desperate offensive designed to push back the Allies. The U.S. soldiers had managed to repel repeated attacks, but as their ammunition dwindled, the weary paratroopers of the 101st Airborne could only hope for a miracle. More than a hundred miles away, General George S. Patton was putting in motion the most crucial charge of his career. Tapped to spearhead the counterstrike was the 4th Armored Division, a hard-fighting unit that had slogged its way across France. But blazing a trail into Belgium meant going up against some of the best infantry and tank units in the German Army. And failure to reach Bastogne in time could result in the overrunning of the 101st and turn the tide of the war against the Allies.

Getting to Yes

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Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN 13 : 9780395631249
Total Pages : 242 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (312 download)

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Book Synopsis Getting to Yes by : Roger Fisher

Download or read book Getting to Yes written by Roger Fisher and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 1991 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes a method of negotiation that isolates problems, focuses on interests, creates new options, and uses objective criteria to help two parties reach an agreement.

Patton's First Victory

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Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 0811766071
Total Pages : 313 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (117 download)

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Book Synopsis Patton's First Victory by : Leo Barron

Download or read book Patton's First Victory written by Leo Barron and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-10-20 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American troops invaded North Africa in November 1942, but did not face serious resistance until the following February, when they finally tangled with Rommel’s Afrika Korps—and the Germans gave the inexperienced Americans a nasty drubbing at Kasserine Pass. After this disaster, Gen. George Patton took command and reinvigorated U.S. troops with tough training and new tactics. In late March, at El Guettar in Tunisia, Patton’s men defeated the Germans. It was a morale-boosting victory—the first American success versus the Germans and the first of Patton’s storied World War II career—and proved to the enemy, the British, and the Americans themselves that the U.S. Army could fight and win.

Infantry Attacks

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Publisher : Greenhill Books
ISBN 13 : 1784389862
Total Pages : 449 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (843 download)

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Book Synopsis Infantry Attacks by : Erwin Rommel

Download or read book Infantry Attacks written by Erwin Rommel and published by Greenhill Books. This book was released on 2023-11-30 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Legendary German general Erwin Rommel analyzes the tactics that led to his success. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel exerted an almost hypnotic influence not only over his own troops but also over the Allied soldiers of the Eighth Army in the Second World War. Even when the legend surrounding his invincibility was overturned at El Alamein, the aura surrounding Rommel himself remained unsullied. In this classic study of the art of war Rommel analyses the tactics that lay behind his success. First published in 1937 it quickly became a highly regarded military textbook, and also brought its author to the attention of Adolph Hitler. Rommel was to subsequently advance through the ranks to the high command in the Second World War. As a leader of a small unit in the First World War, he proved himself an aggressive and versatile commander with a reputation for using the battleground terrain to his own advantage, for gathering intelligence, and for seeking out and exploiting enemy weaknesses. Rommel graphically describes his own achievements, and those of his units, in the swift-moving battles on the Western Front, in the ensuing trench warfare, in the 1917 campaign in Romania, and in the pursuit across the Tagliamento and Piave rivers. This classic account seeks out the basis of his astonishing leadership skills, providing an indispensable guide to the art of war.

Patton's Vanguard

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Author :
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 0786455160
Total Pages : 497 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (864 download)

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Book Synopsis Patton's Vanguard by : Don M. Fox

Download or read book Patton's Vanguard written by Don M. Fox and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-08-01 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stirring accounts of the almost legendary campaigns of the United States Fourth Armored Division, universally recognized as "Patton's Best," from its pre-World War II origins up through its famous relief of the 101st Airborne Division during the Battle of the Bulge are presented in this book. The break out of Normandy at Avranches, the isolation of the Brittany peninsula, the armored thrust across France, the tank battles at Arracourt that cemented the reputation of the Fourth Armored, the brutal struggle in Lorraine, and, ultimately, the legendary drive to Bastogne are among the topics. The accounts were assembled through the use of original unit combat diaries and after-action reports, memoirs of key historical figures and abundant supplementary documents and correspondences. But the essence of the book are the first-hand recollections from members of the division gathered by the author. With maps, drawings and photographs.

The Longest Winter

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Publisher : Hachette UK
ISBN 13 : 0306815966
Total Pages : 324 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (68 download)

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Book Synopsis The Longest Winter by : Alex Kershaw

Download or read book The Longest Winter written by Alex Kershaw and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2007-04-02 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The epic story of the vastly outnumbered platoon that stopped Germany's leading assault in the Ardennes forest and prevented Hitler's most fearsome tanks from overtaking American positions On a cold morning in December, 1944, deep in the Ardennes forest, a platoon of eighteen men under the command of twenty-year-old lieutenant Lyle Bouck were huddled in their foxholes trying desperately to keep warm. Suddenly, the early morning silence was broken by the roar of a huge artillery bombardment and the dreadful sound of approaching tanks. Hitler had launched his bold and risky offensive against the Allies-his "last gamble"-and the small American platoon was facing the main thrust of the entire German assault. Vastly outnumbered, they repulsed three German assaults in a fierce day-long battle, killing over five hundred German soldiers and defending a strategically vital hill. Only when Bouck's men had run out of ammunition did they surrender to the enemy. As POWs, Bouck's platoon began an ordeal far worse than combat-survive in captivity under trigger-happy German guards, Allied bombing raids, and a daily ration of only thin soup. In German POW camps, hundreds of captured Americans were either killed or died of disease, and most lost all hope. But the men of Bouck's platoon survived-miraculously, all of them. Once again in vivid, dramatic prose, Alex Kershaw brings to life the story of some of America's little-known heroes-the story of America's most decorated small unit, an epic story of courage and survival in World War II, and one of the most inspiring stories in American history.

Patton's Prayer

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Author :
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0593183797
Total Pages : 385 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (931 download)

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Book Synopsis Patton's Prayer by : Alex Kershaw

Download or read book Patton's Prayer written by Alex Kershaw and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2024-05-21 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Alex Kershaw, author of the New York Times bestseller Against All Odds, comes an epic story of courage, resilience, and faith during the Second World War General George Patton needed a miracle. In December 1944, the Allies found themselves stuck. Rain had plagued the troops daily since September, turning roads into rivers of muck, slowing trucks and tanks to a crawl. A thick ceiling of clouds had grounded American warplanes, allowing the Germans to reinforce. The sprint to Berlin had become a muddy, bloody stalemate, costing thousands of American lives. Patton seethed, desperate for some change, any change, in the weather. A devout Christian, he telephoned his head chaplain. “Do you have a good prayer for the weather?” he asked. The resulting prayer was soon printed and distributed to the 250,000 men under Patton’s command. “Pray when driving,” the men were told. “Pray when fighting. Pray alone. Pray with others. Pray by night and pray by day. Pray for the cessation of immoderate rains, for good weather for Battle. . . . Pray for victory. . . . Pray for Peace.” Then came the Battle of the Bulge. Amid frigid temperatures and heavy snow, 200,000 German troops overwhelmed the meager American lines in Belgium’s Ardennes Forest, massacring thousands of soldiers as the attack converged on a vital crossroads town called Bastogne. There, the 101st Airborne was dug in, but the enemy were lurking, hidden in the thick blanket of fog that seemed to never dissipate. A hundred miles of frozen roads to the south, Patton needed an answer to his prayer, fast, before it was too late.