Published by Combined Publishing,, this is the first of a series of nine volumes on the campaign in northwest Europe, this is a new edition of the series first .published by Stain and Day. This title, written by Charles Whiting,, covers the period from September 1944 to March 1945. Whiting is a veteran of the war, and the author of a great number of books on the topic.The best feature of this one is a large number of anecdotes. Unfortunately, most of these seem to be taken without reference from other secondary sources rather than from interviews. A disproportionate number derive from the author’s book on Hemingway (which met with critical disdain). Ambrose or Breslin provides a much superior collection of soldier’s-eye viewpoints on events. As history, this volume can only disappoint the wargamer. There is no good sense of chronology or examination of command choices. Montgomery is portrayed as the sole architect of Allied victory, having struggled righteously to defeat not only the Germans, but an American command structure which is said to be vain, posturing, incompetent, and acting without purpose. (Oh, and philandering: “Most of the top brass kept a mistress.” She must have been a busy lady.) As might be expected of a book that takes as a given that Roosevelt had full knowledge of the impending attack at Pearl Harbor and chose to sacrifice his fleet to bring America into the war, Whiting asserts that Eisenhower knew of the coming attack in the Bulge, and actively encouraged it as a way of drawing the Germans into a vulnerable position. There are lots of assertions, little documentation, no citations, and lots of reconstruction of what commanders might have been thinking. Save your $27.95: there are lots of good histories of this period available. Available from Combined Publishing, PO Box 307, Conshohocken, PA 19428, www.combinedpublishing.com More Reviewing Stand Redoubt 25mm ACW Imperialist Enterprises 25mm Napoleonics 1794-1806 Calpe Miniatures 25mm Prussian Landwehr C & Q Equipment 20mm WWI Colonials Microfigs 1/285th Scale Buildings Mirliton 25mm 13th C. Italian Communal Historical Products Company 20mm Italian Bersaglieri Thoroughbred Models 1/600 ACW Ships Icon Miniatures WW II US Infantry Hot Wire Foam Factory Signifer La Petit Armée Honourable Lead Boiler Suit 25mm British Home Guard GASLIGHT Rules Victorian Sci-Fi GHQ’s Micro Armour: The Game Abanderado: Spanish Civil War Magazine Iron and Fire 1850-1880 Naval Rules Agincourt (Medieval book) Bloody Aachen (WWII book) Marine Tank Battles In The Pacific (book) Day of Battle 2nd Edition (Medieval Rules) Form Line of Battle Naval Wargame Rules 1650-1820 West Wall: The Battle for Hitler’s Siegfried Line (WWII book) Back to Table of Contents -- Courier #82 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com