The Battle of the Bulge: The Film and The Books

I recently watched the Battle of the Bulge (1965), yet again. It is one of those star-studded historical epics that Hollywood use to make that actually honored America and its military. I am conflicted on this film because while an excellent and entertaining movie, it is poor history.

It contains many memorable scenes. Charles Bronson and Henry Fonda have several interesting conversations. Bronson's Major Wolenski, "I'm regular army. I don't get into beefs between colonels." Telly Salvalas as Sgt. Guffy steals every scene he appears in. One high point is James MacArthur as Lt. Weaver. Weaver's development into a real leader is one of the most interesting aspects of the movie, "I'm giving the orders."

Charles Bronson's best scene is his confrontation with Robert Shaw's Colonel Hessler as Germany's - fictitious - greatest panzer commander. Shaw's performance alone makes this film worth watching. Undoubtedly, the most famous scene in the film is the singing of the "Panzerlied" by Hessler's tank commanders.

In many respects, The Battle of the Bulge is one of my favorite war movies. It is excellent drama, but bad history. The open question is how much dramatic license filmmakers (and novelists) should take when depicting historical events. Which leads me to the "big four" books on the Battle of the Bulge, aka The Ardennes Offensive.

The most comprehensive is still the US Army's "Green Book" official history of the battle: The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge, by Hugh M. Cole. The Army's Center for Military History has made the book available online. It is mainly descriptive and doesn't have much analysis. It may be a little too long and dry for most non-specialists in military history.

The Bitter Woods by John S.D. Eisenhower is excellent and well-written. The author is Ike's son, a graduate of West Point, European Theater veteran and a first-rate historian in his own right. His book provides much interesting insight on the Allied high command during the battle.

A Time for Trumpets by Charles B. MacDonald delves into more recently available information on why the US Army was surprised by the German counteroffensive. It is a clear narrative of the campaign written by a veteran of the battle who became a professional historian after the war. MacDonald served as a company commander with the 2nd Infantry Division during the campaign and received the Silver Star and Purple Heart. His memoir Company Commander is one of the best to come out of the war. In it he vividly describes his experiences.

I have saved my favorite for last. Battle: The Story of the Bulge by John Toland is the oldest of these books having been originally published in 1959. Toland's work is base on extensive interviews with American, British, German and civilian participants. It is peppered with remarkable and unforgettable vignettes of the actual fighting. For example, after a week of fighting and retreating a sergeant encountered some reinforcements:

An hour later [Lt.] Rogers' tank destroyer reached the road. [Sgt.] Banister saw a bazookaman digging a foxhole. Dirty, unshaven, unperturbed, exhausted, he could have posed for Mauldin's "Willie." "Are you looking for a safe place?" he drawled. "Yeah," said Banister. "Well, buddy, just pull your vehicle behind me." He hitched up his droop pants. "I'm the 82nd Airborne. And this is as far as the bastards are going."

 

John Toland's theme is that the battle was won in its first two weeks. And, that it was not won by overwhelming airpower or firepower. The Germans were stopped by the American soldier who was often surrounded and out of contact with higher headquarters. As Toland noted, great issues were sometimes decided by a handful of determined men at some lonely crossroads that nobody has ever heard of. All subsequent works on the battle follow Toland's lead and observe that in the Ardennes the American soldier ultimately stopped everything the Germans threw at him and helped to seal Hitler's fate.