Voices of the Bulge: Untold Stories From Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge by Michael Collins and Martin King (review)

The massive German counteroffensive operation, codenamed Wacht am Rhein (Watch on the Rhine), was launched in the early morning hours of December 16, 1944. Referred to by most Americans as the “Battle of the Bulge,” which was fought from December 1944 through January 1945, it threatened to turn the tide of the war in Western Europe, which made it one of the most crucial battles of World War II. The Battle of the Bulge involved more than a combined million men on both sides and was the largest land battle in U.S. military history. American troops suffered some 80,000 casualties, of which 19,000 were killed.

Voices of the Bulge is told through numerous first-person accounts taken from the authors’ interviews with American officers and enlisted personnel who eventually repelled the German attack through their personal courage, tenacity, and blood. The authors also interviewed a few German veterans, including SS soldiers, who gave their accounts of the massive buildup and onslaught. Collins and King loosely divide the book into four sections. First, there is the historical timeline (what was going on during that particular day of the battle). Second, there are the veterans’ recollections, what they experienced that day. Third, they include stories about their personal heroes. Fourth, they talk about the bigger picture, what the veterans who participated did not know at the time. The authors deliberately make no effort to reinterpret or analyze existing accounts of the battle. Their mission, rather, is to collage as much factual information as possible and then present the story from the ground up, based as much as possible on the recollections of the surviving veterans. Other than the excerpted interviews, the authors cite almost no other primary or secondary sources. They do, however, include helpful maps that illustrate various phases of the campaign, and they have a collection of photographs that are second to none.

Collins and King corroborate a statement attributed to General George S. Patton that “Wars may be fought by weapons, but they are won by men.” This theme runs through several of the accounts from the veterans’ experiences. A couple of examples will suffice to illuminate this point. With reference to his officers, William Hannigan of H Company, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, observed, “these people didn’t send us into battle . . . they led us, that was important” (73). As the men of the 589th Field Artillery Battalion were retreating from St. Vith with the Germans hot on their trail, Major Arthur C. Parker, who was in charge of this group, realized the strategic importance of the crossroads not only between Vielsalm and Laroche but also between Bastogne and Manhay, on a wide road that led to Liège. Just as they were heading to safety in the west, Major Parker ordered his men to dig in and make a stand. Here, Major Parker exclaimed, “We will run no more! Here we will stand and fight, and here we will make a difference” (127). His group immediately dug in, convinced several other retreating units to join them, and then held off the 560th Volksgrenadier Division for 24 hours, until overwhelmed after the arrival of the 2nd SS Panzer Division. Nevertheless, a handful of determined GIs held back the German forces long enough to save the lives of other GIs and allow them to organize yet another stand. One man could make a difference.

As is almost always the case in interviews with the so-called “boots on the ground,” these men rarely have knowledge of the “Big Picture,” that is, grand strategy. As one veteran explained, “Now the battle is a confusion of things that I just know a very small amount about” (73). Another observed, “Here is my ‘little picture’ within the big picture. This may be a lot about me, but how else can I...