Kriegstagebuch

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John L. Stewart

"A nineteen-year-old navigator with the illustrious 8th Air Force during World War II ... kept a private journal of each of his 31 missions, along with maps he routinely gathered in briefings."--Jacket.

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Steven L. Ossad and Don R. Marsh

Major General Maurice Rose (1899-1945), commander of the First Army's legendary 3rd Armored "Spearhead" Division, was the highest-ranking American Jewish officer ever killed in battle, and the only officer in World War II whose death sparked a war crimes investigation. This, the first and only biography of Rose, recounts the dramatic story of his life --^ from his childhood as the son of a rabbi, through his experiences in World War I and the US Cavalry, to his meteoric rise as America's answer to Rommel. In 1943, Rose negotiated and accepted the surrender of the German Army in Tunisia, the first large-scale surrender to an American force during World War II. At the Battle of Carentan in June 1944, he saved the 506th Parachute Infantry (of Band of Brothers fame), and might very well have saved the entire Normandy beachhead from a catastropic German counterattack. His brilliant, daring, and aggressive defensive tactics during the Battle of the Bulge prevented an enemy breakthrough to the Meuse River and beyond, thereby frustrating the German advance. Rose commanded the longest single-day armored drive in history --^ more than 100 miles, a record that still stands. He also led the greatest encirclement battle in American history, capturing 350,000 enemy troops in the "Ruhr Pocket." Renamed the "Rose Pocket," this battle remains the only major World War II battle to be named for an American officer. Based on original archival research and exclusive interviews, this biography shatters old myths and factual distortions, and offers a refreshingly inquisitive and critical perspective. Steven L. Ossad and Don R. Marsh reveal new insights into Rose's controversial death -- was he killed because he was Jewish or even because he went for his weapon? -- and about the even more controversial investigations that followed. The authors' own inquiries and shocking conclusions are certain to spark futher debate. As compelling and extraordinary as the life that it describes, this biography pays long-overdue tribute to one of America's greatest heroes. - Jacket flap.

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William Lowell Putnam

In early 1943, William Lowell Putnam joined what was to become the 10th Mountain Division, the mountain warfare unit of the U.S. Army. Green Cognac: The Education of a Mountain Fighter is a superb account of the mountain and ski troops as seen from Putnams's often wary perspective. What transpired during the brief, eventful years of war is the story of Green Cognac, as told by one who was well acquainted with the mountains and mountaineering before he became a mountain fighter. Putnam applied his knowledge while serving in the infantry regiments of the 10th Mountain Division. The elite Mountain Troops were sent to break the German Gothic Line in the Apennine Mountains of Italy. Brilliantly led, they fought their way northward with magnificent dash, seizing control of ten mountain crests. Their determined drive broke the German resistance and brought on the first large-scale enemy surrender of World War II. Much celebrated and studied after the war for their striking success and spirit in the field, the Mountain Troops presented an awe-inspiring picture of camaraderie and courage. From the bold ski-trooper concept, first suggested in 1940, to the final days of demobilization at the end of 1945, this is their story.

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Bruce Gamble

The story of the people, places, and events that made the legend of the Marine Fighting Squadron (VMF) 214, of WWII fame, and of the squadron's pugnacious skipper, Greg "Pappy" Boyington.