HITLER’S WINTER The German Battle of the Bulge

Anthony Tucker-jones Publisher: Osprey Publishing Web: www.ospreypublishing.com ISBN: 978-1-4728-4739-3 Hardback: 320 pages

RRP: £20.00

This author needs no introduction to readers of Iron Cross magazine as a fine military historian and writer with a good many titles already to his credit. In his latest work, Tucker-jones looks at the Battle of the Bulge from a German perspective. This alone makes the title attractive before one even opens the first page, as so many accounts are written almost entirely from the Allied perspective. While it is true to say – to coin an oft-used expression – that history is written by the victors, this work bucks any perception of that. And it is certainly grounded in facts and objective assessments.

The author has produced a masterful and readable book which sets out a narrative of key events and draws on myriad sources – as one would expect from such an accomplished historian. For the reviewer, this was a book which he truly found difficult to put down. Quite literally, it is packed with fascinating fact alongside compellingly engaging drama of conflict. Not so much a ‘page turner’ in the hackneyed old understanding of the term, but because, with each page, there were facts and revelations new to the reviewer - who most certainly wanted to know what happened next!

For those who want to fully understand the Battle of the Bulge, then this is a ‘must read’ as it is only possible to properly understand a battle by looking at things from both combatant's sides.

The reviewer was left with a clear appreciation of events as they unfolded during the unforgiving last winter of the war. It is a book which will be reached for by the reviewer, time and again, for reference.

The work is fully referenced, enhanced with maps, photographs, and appendices. A wonderful book which is very highly recommended.

Reviewed by Andy Saunders