Death on a Distant Frontier: A Lost Victory, 1944

by Charles Whiting

Book Overview

A veteran of the campaign reveals a lost opportunity for Patton's Third Army and British SAS troops to finish off retreating German troops in September 1944. Describes the dramatic period when the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1885119321
• ISBN13: 9781885119322
• Release Date: June 1996
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Good combat writing marred by axe-grinding.

Charles Whiting is a prolific author with a real gift for describing the war as experienced by the soldier on the ground, but his work is marred by a regrettable tendency to demonize others, particularly Americans, which whom he disagrees. The present work, concerning the final assault on Germany in 1944-45, takes the position that Eisenhower's Broad Front Strategy was wrong and caused thousands of unnecessary casualties as its result. Ike's strategy, as the Oxford Companion to World War II puts it: ..."is almost universally accepted as having been the correct one". but honest men may disagree about strategy. Whiting however seems to be able to peer into the hearts of commanders, particularly Eisenhower, to find base motives others have unaccountably overlooked. A case in point is Whiting's view that Eisenhower's error in strategic thinking "perhaps unwittingly" caused many deaths. "Perhaps unwittingly". This leaves open the interpretation that the Supreme Commander deliberately caused those deaths, an accusation which in the absence of supporting evidence must be dismissed as egregious slander. Whiting's works are breezy and easy to read, but basically sensationalist and lacking the intellectual honesty which characterizes reliable military history. (The numerical rating above is imbedded in the format and cannot be removed. This reviewer does not employ numerical ratings).