Book description
In the winter of 1944-1945, Hitler sought to divide Allied forces in
the heavily forested Ardennes region of Luxembourg and Belgium. He
deployed more than 400,000 troops in one of the last major German
offensives of the war, which became known as the Battle of the Bulge, in
a desperate attempt to regain the strategic initiative in the West.
Hitler's effort failed for a variety of reasons, but many historians
assert that Lieutenant General George S. Patton Jr.'s Third Army was
ultimately responsible for securing Allied victory. Although Patton has
assumed a larger-than-life reputation for his leadership in the years
since World War II, scholars have paid little attention to his
generalship in the Ardennes following the relief of Bastogne. In Advance
and Destroy, Captain John Nelson Rickard explores the commander's
operational performance during the entire Ardennes campaign, through his
“estimate of the situation,” the U. S. Army's doctrinal approach to
problem-solving. Patton's day-by-day situational understanding of the
Battle of the Bulge, as revealed through ULTRA intelligence and the
influence of the other Allied generals on his decision-making, gives
readers an in-depth, critical analysis of Patton's overall
effectiveness, measured in terms of mission accomplishment, his ability
to gain and hold ground, and a cost-benefit analysis of his operations
relative to the lives of his soldiers. The work not only debunks myths
about one of America's most controversial generals but provides new
insights into his renowned military skill and colorful personality.
John Nelson Rickard, a captain in the Canadian Armed Forces and the
Directorate of Army Training in Ontario, Canada, is the author of Patton
at Bay: The Lorraine Campaign, 1944. He lives in Kingston, Ontario.
