Horizon Information Portal

HSPLS site

eBooks/Audiobooks

Reading Program

War in the ruins : the American Army's final battle against Nazi Germany / Edward G. Longacre.

by Longacre, Edward G., 1946-

View full image

Yardley, Pennsylvania : Westholme Publishing, [2010]

United States. Army. Infantry Division, 100th -- History.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- Germany -- Heilbronn.

Heilbronn (Germany) -- History, Military.

9781594161179 (hardcover)

1594161178 (hardcover)

xv, 410 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

North wind -- The 100th Infantry Division -- To the Front -- The Vosges -- The Maginot Line -- Plan Tennessee -- "Sons of Bitche" -- From the Rhine to the Neckar -- Heilbronn : the assault crossings -- Heilbronn : the pincers close -- Heilbronn : out of the ruins.

By April 1945, the war in Europe appeared to be in its final stages. Optimism reigned up and down the Allied lines. But as the American Army?s 100th Infantry Division pushed along the west bank of the Neckar River across from bomb-shattered Heilbronn, resistance unexpectedly stiffened. In that 700-year-old city, a major industrial and communications center still operating for the benefit of the Nazi war machine, Hitler?s subordinates had battened down for a last-ditch stand. Here, American troops faced a grueling campaign of house-to-house fighting, with Hitler Youth, Volkssturm militia, and an SS division attempting to stop the American advance at this critical sector of the European theater. Having been repeatedly targeted by Alllied aircraft, the city resembled a vast, Hellish ruin, and as American soldiers inched their way forward, they encountered booby traps, withering sniper fire, deadly Panzerfaust rounds, and a fanatical enemy. The nine-day battle for Heilbronn would be the last major combat for American troops in Europe. Within three weeks of their securing the city, Hitler would be dead and Germany defeated. Edward G. Longacre recounts this neglected but essential chapter in the history of World War II, describing the 100th Division?s swift but grueling advance through the Vosges Mountains, their Rhine River crossing, the assault on the historic Maginot Line, and the ominous approach to Heilbronn. The author describes the entire bitter battle and its aftermath, using private letters, journals, German and American action reports.

Horizon Information Portal 3.25_9884

Powered by Dynix

© 2001-2013 SirsiDynix All rights reserved.

Horizon Information Portal