Citizen Soldiers : The U.S. Army From the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany June 7, 1944, to May 7, 1945

A look at the last year of World War II in Europe--from D-Day to the surrender of Germany--draws on hundreds of interviews with and oral histories of the enlisted men and junior officers who helped win the war. 250,000 first printing. Citizen Soldiers opens at 0001 hours, June 7, 1944, on the Normandy beaches, and ends at 0245 hours, May 7, 1945. In between come the battles in the hedgerows of Normandy, the breakout at St.-Lo, the Falaise Gap, Patton tearing through France, the liberation of Paris, the attempt to leap the Rhine in Operation Market-Garden, the near-miraculous German recovery, the battles around Metz and in the Hurtgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge - the biggest battle in the history of the U.S. Army - the capture of the bridge at Remagen, and finally the overrunning of Germany. From the high command (including Eisenhower, Bradley, and Patton) on down to the enlisted men, Stephen E. Ambrose draws on hundreds of interviews and oral histories from men on both sides who were there. Ambrose once again re-creates the experiences of the individuals who fought the battles. The women who served as nurses, secretaries, clerks, code-breakers, and flyers are part of the narrative, as are the Germans who fought against us. Within the chronological story, there are chapters on medics, nurses, and doctors; on the quartermasters; on replacements; on what it was like to spend a night on the front lines; on sad sacks, cowards, and criminals; on Christmas 1944; on weapons of all kinds. Ambrose reveals the learning process of a great army - how to cross rivers, how to fight in snow or hedgerows, how to fight in cities, how to coordinate air and ground campaigns, how to fight in winter and on the defensive, how citizens become soldiers in the best army in the world. Ambrose evokes the suffering of warfare, fighting in the cold and wet, gruesome wounds, combat exhaustion, looting, shooting prisoners, random destruction, and more. Throughout, the perspective is that of the enlisted men and junior officers. Even when writing about Ike, Monty, Patton, and Bradley, Ambrose does so from the point of view of the men in the front lines and focuses on how the decisions of the brass affected them. Citizen Soldiers is a biography of the U.S. Army in the European Theater of Operations, June 7, 1944, to May 7, 1945. Allied citizen soldiers overcame their fear and inexperience, the mistakes of the high command, and the enemy to win the war. Once again, Stephen E. Ambrose shows that free men fight better than slaves, that the sons of democracy proved to be better soldiers than the sons of Nazi Germany. Includes Maps Indicating The Normandy Beachhead Expansion, July 1-24, 1944; The Pursuit To The Siegfried Line, Aug. 26-sept. 14, 1944; The Ardennes Campaign, Dec. 16-25, 1944, Dec. 26, 1944-jan. 16 1945, And Jan. 17-feb. 7, 1945; The Battle Of The Rhineland, Feb.8-mar. 28, 1945; And The Drive To The Elbe, Apr. 4-may 7, 1945. Pt. I. The Battle For France: Expanding The Beachhead, June 7-30, 1944 ; Hedgerow Fighting, July 1-24, 1944 , Breakout And Encirclement, July 25-august 25, 1944 ; To The Siegfried Line, August 26-september 30, 1944 ; The Siegfried Line, October 1944 -- Pt. Ii. At The German Border: Metz And The Hurtgen Forest, November 1-december 15, 1944 ; The Ardennes, December 16-19, 1944 ; The Ardennes, December 20-23, 1944 ; The Holiday Season, December 24-31, 1944 -- Pt. Iii. Life In Eto: Night On The Line ; Replacements And Reinforcements, Fall 1944 ; The Air War ; Medics, Nurses, And Doctors ; Jerks, Sad Sacks, Profiteers, And Jim Crow ; Prisoners Of War -- Pt. Iv. Overrunning Germany: Winter War, January 1945 ; Closing To The Rhine, February 1-march 6, 1945 ; Crossing The Rhine, March 7-31, 1945 ; Victory, April 1-may 7, 1945 -- Epilogue : The Gis And Modern America. Stephen E. Ambrose. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. From Stephen E. Ambrose, bestselling author of Band of Brothers and D-Day , the inspiring story of the ordinary men of the U.S. army in northwest Europe from the day after D-Day until the end of the bitterest days of World War II. In this riveting account, historian Stephen E. Ambrose continues where he left off in his #1 bestseller D-Day. Citizen Soldiers opens at 0001 hours, June 7, 1944, on the Normandy beaches, and ends at 0245 hours, May 7, 1945, with the allied victory. It is biography of the US Army in the European Theater of Operations, and Ambrose again follows the individual characters of this noble, brutal, and tragic war. From the high command down to the ordinary soldier, Ambrose draws on hundreds of interviews to re-create the war experience with startling clarity and immediacy. From the hedgerows of Normandy to the overrunning of Germany, Ambrose tells the real story of World War II from the perspective of the men and women who fought it. This sequel to D-DAY opens at 00:01 hours, June 7, 1944 on the Normandy Beaches and ends at 02:45 hours, May 7, 1945. In between comes the battles in the hedgerows of Normandy, the breakout of Saint-Lo, the Falaise gap, Patton tearing through France, the liberation of Paris, the attempt to leap the Rhine in operation Market-Garden, the near-miraculous German recovery, the battles around Metz and in the Huertgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge, the capture of the bridge at Remagen and, finally, the overunning of Germany. From the enlisted men and junior officers, Ambrose draws on hundreds of interviews and oral histories from those on both sides of the war. The experience of these citizen soldiers reveals the ordinary sufferings and hardships of war. They overcame their fear and inexperience, the mistakes of their high command and their enemy to win the war
In this riveting account, historian Stephen Ambrose continues where he left off in his #1 bestseller D-Day. Ambrose again follows the individual characters of this noble, brutal, and tragic war, from the high command down to the ordinary soldier, drawing on hundreds of interviews to re-create the war experience with startling clarity and immediacy. From the hedgerows of Normandy to the overrunning of Germany, Ambrose tells the real story of World War II from the perspective of the men and women who fought it. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and oral histories, Ambrose recreates life on the front lines during one of the bloodiest periods of World War II: From D-Day to the surrender of Germany. "The most gripping account of the second World War that I have ever read"--Joseph Heller. Photos, maps A skillful blending of eyewitness accounts gives the reader an intimate feel of what war was like for infantrymen in the European theater of operations, from the beaches of France to victory at the Elbe River