Notes

by Deborah Hopkinson
198 pages
illustrations, maps, portraits
Summary: In the dead of winter, deep in Belgium's forests of Ardennes, a desperate Nazi army launched a surprise attack on American forces the week before Christmas of 1944, even as the devastation of World War II was drawing to a close. As the ground was blown apart by mortar shells and an endless barrage of bullets rained down upon them, inexperienced and exhausted American soldiers scrambled to survive the Nazis and the weather. Blinded by dangerous snow and freezing rainstorms and hampered by the rough terrain, they fought to hold their positions until reinforcements arrived. It would take a combination of determination, grit, and unimaginable courage to thwart Hitler's plans and drive the Nazis back, once and for all. Drawing on the true accounts of soldiers, rare family photographs, little-known memoirs, and unpublished primary sources, the author transports readers to the blistering cold to tell the stories of the men and women who risked everything
World War II close up