The Key to the Bulge: The Battle for Losheimergraben

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

This text tells the story of a pitched and decisive battle that unhinged the German plan for a swift and successful counteroffensive in December 1944 (a battle that was the key to the counteroffensive later called the Battle of the Bulge). A lone regiment of the 99th US Infantry Division, the 394th, successfully defended a critical road intersection, the Losheimergraben Crossroads, for 36 hours from 16 to 17 December 1944. This valiant defense incurred a delay from which the 6th SS Panzer Army, the main efforts of Hitler's Wacht am Rhein counteroffensive, could never recover. When the 394th finally withdrew in 17 December, the Germans already had to shift their focus farther south, to St Vith and Bastogne, a move that sealed their eventual defeat. The battle for Losheimergraben is, in fact, the most significant action that occurred in the early hours of the Battle of the Bulge.

Reviews

"From the growing pile of books about the Battle of the Bulge. Steven M. Rusiecki's story emerges as a well-crafted and incisive histoy of the remarkable battle between Americans and Germans from 16 to 17 December 1944 at the Losheimergraben Crossroads in the Ardennes....This is a superb first effort for the author. The book is a tribute to both armies' courage, determination and discipline....[T]he book is well supplemented with maps, photos, notes, idex, bibliography, glossary, orders of battle and other appendixes and is a suitable companion to Michael Reynold's The Devil's Adjutant."-Military Review
From the growing pile of books about the Battle of the Bulge. Steven M. Rusiecki's story emerges as a well-crafted and incisive histoy of the remarkable battle between Americans and Germans from 16 to 17 December 1944 at the Losheimergraben Crossroads in the Ardennes....This is a superb first effort for the author. The book is a tribute to both armies' courage, determination and discipline....[T]he book is well supplemented with maps, photos, notes, idex, bibliography, glossary, orders of battle and other appendixes and is a suitable companion to Michael Reynold's The Devil's Adjutant.-Military Review

Author Bio

STEPHEN M. RUSIECKI is a Major in the U.S. Army serving on the faculty of the English Department at the United States Military Academy at West Point./e