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The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany. June 7, 1944 to May 7, 1945
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Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Oct 1997, 512 pages
Paperback:
Aug 1999, 255 pages
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.
From the special advisor on Saving Private Ryan and 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 bitterest 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.
Chapter 14
Jerks, Sad Sacks, Profiteers, and Jim Crow
The GIs in ETO were highly selected in age and physical health, somewhat selected in
intelligence, well disciplined. The Army's training system added inches to their chests
and leg and arm muscles. It also instilled a sense of responsibility, along with a fear of
the consequences of disobeying an order, not to mention criminal behavior: nicely summed
up in the old drill sergeant's saying, "The Army can't make you do something, but it
sure as hell can make you wish you had." It also did a good job of recognizing and
promoting talented young men who were capable of standing the stress and leading
effectively.
War brings out the best in many men, as the tiny sample of the men of ETO quoted or cited
in this book testifies. To generalize, a large majority of the GIs in Northwest Europe in
1944-45 did their best at whatever they did, and ...
Joseph Heller
Citizen Soldiers is just about the most gripping account of the Second World War that I
have ever read. It is written with the art of a novelist, the clarity and immediacy of a
journalist, and the meticulous intelligence of a sensible historian. I cannot imagine a
motion picture that would be more thrilling than the individual vivid accounts of combat
activity in Europe from the Normandy landings in June until the final surrender the
following May. Ken Burns
What a wonderful book, an emotionally powerful argument for our wonderful, flawed system
and its homegrown heroics. I imagine Ambrose's writing room as supreme HQ where he is
standing over a huge map of Europe, barking orders, dispatching terrified subordinates,
surveying and understanding a vast, tragic human canvas at a glance. Ambrose's arsenal is
imposing and effective; his pen is a machine gun detached, hot, and devastating.
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