Dark December (Annotated): The Full Account of the Battle of the Bulge Paperback – January 15, 2019

About the best, most honest and illuminating account of this famous battle I have ever read. The Germans nearly pulled it off! If they had got to Antwerp the whole history of the world would have been changed. Eisenhower was heavily criticized by Alanbrook and Montgomery for his 'wide front' attack plan, but he emerges from this study as being correct. Eisenhower towers above his critics as a great American General who could keep this huge Army together and finally win the battle. I doubt if any other man could have done what he did, certainly not Monty even though he was a great General!.One major criticism! No way near enough maps to follow the battles. I found it impossible to understand what was going on without maps, also some illustrations would help.

One major complaint; unless you are really familiar with the geography of the area, some maps would really be most helpful. Towns, villages and cities become just words on a page and trying to mentally picture the physical action happening, which I wanted to understand, I simply could not fully visualize without trying to find a map to clarify what was going on. (Which I didn't have.) The superb detail of the thinking of the protagonists was extremely enlightening.

This battle is probably one of the hardest in history to fully describe. Merriam does this without prejudice, giving an accurate and unbiased account of the German plans, the vital acts of heroism at key junctures, the contributions to the effort on both sides, and the various turns of fortune that culminated in the ultimate Allied victory. I thoroughly enjoyed the read, but it would have been greatly helped by maps that showed the various positions and movements of the armies., divisions, and regiments described on both sides. Much is left to the imagination of anyone but a scholar already familiar with the geography and topology of the Ardennes.

Well written and concise, but needs maps. Lots of maps. Without them, it's impossible to visualize what's going on.

IT was a good book for the most part. Sometimes there was a lot of build up to a certain event that could have been omitted and got straight to the subject. But it was very informative and I enjoyed it.

I'm sure there have been hundreds of books written to recount the events and chronology of the great German offensive that came to be known as The Battle of the Bulge, and I have personally read several. But this author, considering how complicated this battle became, did a great job of reconstructing all of these events in a way that it all comes together and makes sense to the reader. Kudos to the author. To anybody interested in the battle this is certainly a book they will want to read. I certainly would recommend it.

The author who was obviously someone who actually interviewed high ranking officers of the WW II German Army gives detailed historical events in this blow by blow account. The only fault in reading the book is on the part of the reader not being familiar with place names and the many people involved in the last effort of Hitler to regain the offensive in the last months of the second World War. The author speaks of events, battles, strategies, mistakes and political issues important at the time. This is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the battles of that era from both the British-American and the German point of view.

The picture your mind will envision will give a true understanding of just how the men fighting went through. How no matter what was thrown at them they doing in and held on. They stood for what was and still is right. God bless the American soldier then and now.