Advance and Destroy (eBook)

Patton as Commander in the Bulge

John Nelson Rickard (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2011
528 Seiten
The University Press of Kentucky (Verlag)
978-0-8131-4051-3 (ISBN)

Infos

In the winter of 19441945, Hitler sought to divide Allied forces in the heavily forested Ardennes region of Luxembourg and Belgium. He deployed more than 400,000 troops in one of the last major German offensives of the war, which became known as the Battle of the Bulge, in a desperate attempt to regain the strategic initiative in the West. Hitler's effort failed for a variety of reasons, but many historians assert that Lieutenant General George S. Patton Jr.'s Third Army was ultimately responsible for securing Allied victory. Although Patton has assumed a larger-than-life reputation for his leadership in the years since World War II, scholars have paid little attention to his generalship in the Ardennes following the relief of Bastogne.In Advance and Destroy, Captain John Nelson Rickard explores the commander's operational performance during the entire Ardennes campaign, through his "e;estimate of the situation,"e; the U.S. Army's doctrinal approach to problem-solving. Patton's day-by-day situational understanding of the Battle of the Bulge, as revealed through ULTRA intelligence and the influence of the other Allied generals on his decision-making, gives readers an in-depth, critical analysis of Patton's overall effectiveness, measured in terms of mission accomplishment, his ability to gain and hold ground, and a cost-benefit analysis of his operations relative to the lives of his soldiers. The work not only debunks myths about one of America's most controversial generals but provides new insights into his renowned military skill and colorful personality.

Autor

John Nelson Rickard is a captain in the Canadian Armed Forces and currently works at the Canadian Army Command and Staff College in Kingston, Ontario. He is the author of Patton at Bay: The Lorraine Campaign, 1944.

Inhalt

List of Illustrations
Key to the Maps
Series Editor's Foreword
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Studying Patton
Part I: The Road to the Bulge
1. Origin of the Ardennes Counteroffensive
2. The Opposing Armies in December 1944
Part II: Panzers in the Ardennes
3. Onslaught
4. Enter Patton
5. The Verdun Conference
Part III: Descent on Bastogne
6. The Ninety-Degree Turn
7. Third Army Attacks, December 22-23
8. A Rendezvous with Eagles, December 24-26
Part IV: The Incomplete Victory
9. Patton's Alternative Lines of Action
10. Path to Attrition, December 27-29
11. Slugging Match, December 30-31
12. Culmination, January 1-4
13. The Harlange Pocket, January 5-8
14. No Risk, No Reward, January 9-25
15. Assessment
Appendixes
A: Eisenhower's Order of Battle, December 16, 1944
B: German Order of Battle, December 16, 1944
C: German Reinforcements versus Third Army, December 22, 1944–January 18, 1945
D: Selected ULTRA Messages
E: Weather Conditions in Third Army's Area, December 23, 1944–January 10, 1945
F: XIX TAC Daily Fighter and Fighter-Bomber Sorties, December 22, 1944–January 28, 1945
G: Third Army Reinforcements versus Casualties, December 22, 1944–January 28, 1945
H: Patton's Staff
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index of Military Units
General Index

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 28.10.2011
• Reihe/Serie: American Warriors Series
• Reihe/Serie: American Warriors Series
• Reihe/Serie: American Warriors Series
• Vorwort: Roger Cirillo
• Zusatzinfo: 18 b&w halftones, 22 maps, 3 figures, 36 tables
• Verlagsort: Lexington
• Sprache: englisch
• Maße: 150 x 150 mm
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► 1918 bis 1945
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte
• Schlagworte: Ardennes 1944 • Battle of the Bulge • famous generals of wwii • General George Patton • Military Operation • military operational strategy • Military Strategy • Military tactics • operational warfare • us third army • Western front ww2 • World War II History
• ISBN-10: 0-8131-4051-X / 081314051X
• ISBN-13: 978-0-8131-4051-3 / 9780813140513