The 28th Infantry Division and the Battle of the Bulge (Hardback)

This book is not another battle chronicle; it is an examination of how the motivations of individual soldiers to fight and win can make the difference in battle, especially in the face of overwhelming odds. In December 1944, the American 28th Infantry Division occupied an 85-mile front extending along Germany’s borders with Belgium and Luxembourg. There they repelled a desperate attempt by Hitler to drive a wedge through the Allied lines to the port of Antwerp. Hitler had believed this would buy his scientists the time they needed to complete development of the super weapons forecast to turn the tide of the war.

The 28th Infantry Division and the Battle of the Bulge explores the first-hand accounts of the men who, with extraordinary tenacity, held the line through December 1944 and January 1945. Through these accounts, it examines the importance of the chaplains who tended the men’s religious needs, and in a wider sense, the efforts of the U.S. government to inspire its soldiers to fight for the American way of life. It shows how these efforts and interventions filtered onto the battlefield, shaping the resolve of those asked, if necessary, to make the ultimate sacrifice.