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CITIZEN SOLDIERS : The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany -- June 7, 1944-May 7, 1945 | 
 enlarge | Author: Stephen E. Ambrose
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Category: Book
List Price: $27.50
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Avg. Customer Rating:  267 reviews
Sales Rank: 538859
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 512
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.6
ISBN: 0684815257
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.5421
EAN: 9780684815251
ASIN: 0684815257
Publication Date: November 3, 1997
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Amazon.com
Stephen E. Ambrose combines history and journalism to describe how American GIs battled their way to the Rhineland. He focuses on the combat experiences of ordinary soldiers, as opposed to the generals who led them, and offers a series of compelling vignettes that read like an enterprising reporter's dispatches from the front lines. The book presents just enough contextual material to help readers understand the big picture, and includes memorable accounts of the Battle of the Bulge and other events as seen through the weary eyes of the men who fought in the foxholes. Highly recommended for fans of Ambrose, as well as all readers interested in understanding the life of a 1940s army grunt. A sort of sequel to Ambrose's bestselling 1994 book D-Day, Citizen Soldiers is more than capable of standing on its own.
Book Description
From the bestselling author of Undaunted Courage and D-Day, the definitive book on the most important day of World War II, comes 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 bitterrest days of the war. 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.-Lô, 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 recreates 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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 262 more reviews...
 Perfect. July 4, 2008
Just like a book from Barnes & Noble. Perfect Quality. No issues. No complaints. Delivered before it was supposed to be and arrived early. Great!
Another WWII classic from Ambrose April 30, 2008
Ambrose has a great writing style of interweaving the basics of battlefield strategy and tactics in enough detail to explain the historical significance of events, while keeping the focus on the men who fought the battles.
This book, like Band of Brothers : E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest (see my review here), consists primarily of anecdotes from first-hand accounts of front-line soldiers on both sides of the front, and this is where it gets its impact. Truly, it need not be said, that here was America's greatest generation, a phrase which has gotten its upper-case appelation from another author's book, and is richly deserved.
Pemberley Remembered January 28, 2008
Maggie Joyce, an idealized young American living in post World War II London, is an avid fan of Jane Austen and specifically Pride and Prejudice. Taking advantage of her stay in England, she attempts to learn the true identities on which Jane Austen's characters in P&P were based. There is a story within a story when Maggie falls for another American working in London. Rob McAllister flew B-17 bombers during the war and is carrying some of the scars from that war which affect their relationship.
If you are a devotee of Miss Austen's P&P, then this book is a must read. There is also a lot of research on Regency Era and England immediately after the end of WWII.
The Interviews Make It an Exceptional Read January 28, 2008
Call me a late bloomer but I never had much of an interest in history or World War II until fairly recently. The light went on for me after I read Playing with the Enemy by Gary Moore. Shortly after finishing that book I asked a good friend of mine, who happens to be a history buff, what he recommends for me to read next. I was looking for a great overview of the war but something that felt engaging and doesn't read like a text book. He suggested Stephen Ambrose's Citizen Soldiers and I'm glad he did.
The thing that makes Citizen Soldiers so special is that Ambrose spent so much time and effort interviewing so many WWII vets. You truly get a feel for the horror they went through and the challenges they faced. What an incredible generation indeed. The interviews and excerpts that are liberally spread throughout the entire book give you the feeling that you're right there chatting with these heroes. Now that I've finished reading it I need to check back in with my buddy to see what he recommends next, although it's hard to imagine any other book that could stack up to this one.
Front Row Seat! December 9, 2007
Steven Ambrose's "Citizen Soldiers" is a front-row seat and a bird's eye of the last year of WWII, from D-Day to VE-Day, June 6, 1944 to May 7, 1945. The story seemed to be in real-time as it reflected thousands of interviews with injured soldiers just off the battle fields, and eventually stored at the Eisenhower Center in New Orleans, and through some interviews Ambrose did later himself with the participants, including the Germans. The feel of the book was immediate and often visceral; you felt like you were there seeing things for the first time.
It was a great unvarnished history lesson, warts and all, of life on the front lines as well as back in the command headquarters. Most of these guys had no idea what they were getting into, but did their duty as best they could. As the War ground on, the untested replacements were high school grads or college students with no experience at all. They were sent to the front cold-turkey, with no prior orientation from vets who had been there, often not even knowing anybody they were fighting with. Ambrose pounces on this fact and calls it almost criminal. Meanwhile, the generals were very much behind the lines and calling bold shots, which is another gripe that Ambrose made. The guys in the foxholes were cold, isolated, shot at, with no idea of what would happen next; the outpost foxholes were often within 100 meters or so of the enemy. There wasn't an evening-to-dawn break as in the American Civil War, when Johnny Reb and Billy Yank actually met, talked, and exchanged items. In WWII, the enemy would try to shoot you if he could at night, which, of course, added sleep deprivation to the list of miseries.
It was the total air superiority, outstanding radio ground-to-ground and ground -to-air communication, and the impressive technology and mass-production of the US that eventually won the war. Also, the Allied leadership and the average GI's were so much more flexible, learn-on-the-fly and "entrepreneurial". Hitler, of course, was a terrible military leader who ignored his own intelligence reports, while Ike was sound at every step, even if maybe a little cautious. Patton was clearly the best commander of WWII, energetic, imaginative, always innovating. Monty was portrayed as too cautious and defensive, not very effective, and retaining his rank only because of Allied political pressures; while, Patton said he would resign if they ever asked him to fight a defensive battle. It was interesting that Ike may have been the only one initially pleased by news of the Battle of the Bulge counteroffensive; he saw it as the Germans exposing themselves - - finally. (It's easy to understand that today when you think of the shadowy Al Qaeda forces; it would be great if we knew where they were). Also, Ike took great care to cut the German supply lines, while protecting his own. The Allied supply lines were longer but stronger and steadier, and they even had an under seas pipeline of fuel from England, called PLUTO. It was just a matter of time before the full power of the Allies gathered against the crumbling Germans. Ike also had the great foresight to call in the media near the end, as soon as he himself saw the horrific results of the atrocities at the concentration camps; he wanted to make sure the world didn't think it was just made-up.
The impetuous for driving the tired, cold Allied front-line GI's were the V1's and V2's raining down on London, and the fear of new German secret weapons being developed. A lot of the Bulge was attrition type of warfare, including the Operation Market Garden, presented as such in "A Bridge Too Far" movie. It was a meat-grinder for sure.
There was a lot about life on the front lines and the attendant emotions. They were real heroes on both sides; nothing could have prepared them for what they went through, and many suffered from battle fatigue for which they usually got a 24-hour break. There were good guys and bad guys on either side of the conflict. I was glad that Ambrose was so even-handed. I've seen too many movies (mostly of the Pacific War) where the Americans were glorified and the enemies were demonized. "Unit cohesion", more than anything else, kept the men going; they were willing to die for the other guy. You had to admire their guts. There were also a fair share of "jerks and sad sacks" that tried to rob or work the system to their advantage, or find a way out of doing their duty.
There was not a lot of Allied sympathy for the burning German towns because of the havoc brought by Germany on the rest of Europe in WWI and WWII, and WWI ended before German towns were attacked. But the truth of the matter is that the townspeople had nothing to do with the conflicts. They were victims too.
It was a complex and fascinating story, well-worth the read.
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