The Longest Winter The Battle of the Bulge and the Epic Story of World War II's Most Decorated Platoon

by Kershaw, Alex

• ISBN13: 9780306814402
• ISBN10: 0306814404
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-10-25
• Publisher: Da Capo Press

Summary

On the morning of December 16, 1944, eighteen men of the Intelligence and Reconnaissance platoon attached to the 99th Infantry Division found themselves directly in the path of the main thrust of Hitler's massive Ardennes offensive. Despite being vastly outnumbered, they were told to hold their position "at all costs." Throughout the day, the platoon repulsed three large German assaults in a fierce day-long battle, killing hundreds of German soldiers. Only when they had run out of ammunition did they surrender to the enemy. But their long winter was just beginning. As POWs, the platoon experienced an ordeal far worse than combat-surviving in wretched German POW camps. Yet miraculously the men of the platoon survived-all of them-and returned home after the war. More than thirty years later, when President Carter recognized the platoon's "extraordinary heroism" and the U.S. Army approved combat medals for all eighteen men, they became America's most decorated platoon of World War II. With the same vivid and dramatic prose that madeThe Bedford Boysa national bestseller, Alex Kershaw brings to life the story of these little-known heroes-an epic tale of courage, duty, and survival in World War II and one of the most inspiring episodes in American history.The Longest Winteris an intensely human story about young men who find themselves in frightening wartime situations, who fight back instinctively, survive stoically, and live heroically.

Author Biography

Alex Kershaw is the author of the widely acclaimed and bestselling books The Bedford Boys, The Longest Winter, and The Few, and two biographies: Jack London and Blood and Champagne: The Life and Times of Robert Capa. He lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Roster of the 394th I&R Platoon at the Battle of the Bulge	xi
PART ONE WATCH ON THE RHINE
1 The Wolf's Lair	3	(6)
2 Camp Maxey	9	(20)
3 Wacht am Rhein	29	(10)
4 The Ghost Front	39	(18)
5 Shadow Soldiers	57	(20)
PART TWO THE BATTLE OF LANZERATH
6 Sturm!	77	(26)
7 The Last Sunset	103	(14)
8 The Café Scholzen	117	(8)
9 Terror	125
PART THREE WAR BEHIND WIRE
10 Guests of the Reich	153	(18)
11 The Stalags	171	(20)
12 The River	191	(16)
13 Task Force Baum	207	(16)
14 Last Days of the Reich	223	(12)
PART FOUR LAST BATTLES
15 Moosberg	235	(20)
16 Summer of '45	255	(8)
17 Justice	263	(6)
18 Reunion	269	(18)
Notes	287	(24)
List of Awards: Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon, 394th Infantry Division, 99th Infantry Division, and 394th I&R Presidential Unit Citation	311	(2)
Bibliography	313	(6)
Index	319