The Unknown Dead: Civilians in the Battle of the Bulge (review)

Many books have been written on the Battle of the Bulge; the dramatic German breakthrough; the agonizing retreat of dazed and confused American soldiers; the heroic defense thrown up by overrun units who refused to surrender; the Malmédy Massacre; the famous bon mot, "Nuts!", delivered to the Germans by the 101st Airborne Division's General McAuliffe; Patton's nearly impossible drive north to rescue Bastogne; and finally, the hotly debated frontal assault on the Bulge in the dead of winter. American and German soldiers suffered the weather, wounds, and death, but little attention has been paid to the civilians caught in the middle of this horrendous struggle. The Unknown Dead fills this historical gap and tells the story in all its gruesome detail.

Civilians caught in battle have always been imperiled, but the situation in eastern Belgium and western Germany became more complicated when Hitler annexed Luxembourg and a swath of Belgium in front of the West Wall. American liberators who arrived in the fall of 1944 soon discovered that the population was divided in its loyalties. Many welcomed their liberation, volunteered to aid the American army, and cooperated fully. This was especially true of younger men who had deserted the Wehrmacht, were in hiding to avoid labor service in the Reich, or were members of the Maquis.

Other civilians, however, were loyal to the Nazi regime and had sons, husbands, brothers, and fathers who served in the German army. Many had been impressed, some were volunteers, and a few had even joined the Waffen SS. Léon Degrelle had recruited his volunteer SS Legion among the Walloons of southern and eastern Belgium. If the Rexists had a stronghold this was it. Gestapo agents accompanying the advancing German spearheads hunted deserters, collaborators, draft dodgers, and Jews in hiding. Any persons they thought suspicious were arrested or killed. The Gestapo was ruthless, but when it came to random and senseless killing the SS was worse. On a whim, soldiers indulged in random shootings, hangings, and beatings of civilians. "An SS trooper in an armored vehicle," one in Joachim Peiper's Kampfgruppe, "laughed hysterically as he emptied his machine gun into the house that belonged to the Gengoux family. The fourteen-year-old son dropped to the ground. Blood gushed from his stomach. Moments later he was dead."

In the face of these mounting atrocities those who could, fled with the Americans in an effort to reach safety. These desperate refugees, thrown into snarled traffic as they moved west, were often overtaken by forward German units. Occasionally retreating U.S. soldiers, as well as civilians, were forced off the roads as armor and truck columns attempted to move to the Front. Many of those fleeing the battle were killed in this wild chaotic attempt to find a safe haven. Others succumbed to exposure in the biting cold or ran out of food and water, arriving in towns in deplorable condition—frostbitten, dehydrated, and often wounded. To complicate matters, refugees were often infested with lice, covered with scabies, weakened from dysentery, or had contracted a plethora of communicable diseases. The American forces were generally helpful, but they shared with the Germans a distrust of their charges and occasionally wrongly arrested or detained the innocent. Bastogne quickly filled up with those who sought the protection of the American army. Thousands were fed, sheltered, and given medical attention. Others were allowed to continue their flight to stay out of harm's way, plodding along congested roads loaded down with whatever they considered most precious, and driven forward by artillery shell bursts that licked the heels of their serpentine columns. Hundreds were killed in their effort to escape, families became separated and children were abandoned.

In Bastogne, civilians and soldiers alike prepared for the coming battle. Food was not a problem for the Bastognards, but distribution was extremely difficult. On...