Casemate UK The Ardennes Battlefields - Casemate UK

[Julien]

The Ardennes Battlefields

ISBN : 9781612005348

Casemate UK

 

 

I think I like a lot of people know about the Battle of the Bulge, but only generally from watching a few films and the excellent Band Of Brothers min series. However like a lot of things there is much more to it once start to get under the surface. By late 1944 the front was all but stationary in the 85 mile area of the Ardennes. It was here on the "ghost" front that Hitler would stage his final gamble to halt the Allies push into Germany. In what was a risky plan carefully hoarded reserves of men and equipment would be thrown through the heavily forested Ardennes into weak allied positions with the aim to be at Antwerp within a week. Through almost total secrecy the attack came as a great shock to the allies but in the end they were able to rally their troops, and a combination of this, the weather, and poor German logistics saw this last hurrah defeated; and then the way into Germany was more open than it was before.

 

 

This book from Casemate looks at the complete battlefield. It is A4 hardback with 192 pages. It is lavishly printed through out with Black and white contemporary photos, complemented by colour photos of the areas today; and many colour maps of the battles which took place. The authors have looked at all aspect of the battles; the original German plan, the units on all sides, the attacks and counter attacks. The photos also look at the many memorials which litter the towns in the area, and which are still kept in excellent condition to this day. 

 

 

 

Conclusion

This is very much a complete look at the Ardennes Battles fields, the photos and maps show how the battle panned out, and the modern photos show in some cases how little things have changed. If you are interested in WWII history then this book is a must. For the military modeller the wealth of contemporary photos give a very good idea of how the vehicles and troops looked at this time. 

 

Highly Recommended.

 

Review sample courtesy of

 

 

[stevehnz]

Thanks for this review Julien, I've recently read Beevor's, Ardennes 1944 & Parker's, To Win the Winter Sky but as a visualiser ( ie need photos & maps to fill in the mental picture, this looks like just what I want that I found lacking in the other volumes.

Steve.

[Julien]

20 minutes ago, stevehnz said:

Thanks for this review Julien, I've recently read Beevor's, Ardennes 1944 & Parker's, To Win the Winter Sky but as a visualiser ( ie need photos & maps to fill in the mental picture, this looks like just what I want that I found lacking in the other volumes.

Steve.

Thx for the words.

 

This will give you that visualisation,  the maps are first class an in colour to help with anotations etc. I really do like the period photos next to current ones as well.