Book description
Traditional histories of the hard-fought Battle of the Bulge
routinely include detailed lists of the casualties suffered by
American, British, and German troops. Conspicuously lacking in most
accounts, however, are references to the civilians in Belgium and
Luxembourg who lost their lives in the same battle. Yet the most
reliable current estimates calculate at approximately three thousand.
the number of civilians who perished during the six weeks of fighting.
Telling the stories of ordinary people caught up in the maelstrom of
war, The Unknown Dead surveys this crucial battle and its consequences
from an entirely new perspective. Renowned historian Peter Schrijvers,
a native Belgian, describes in vivid detail the horrific war crimes
committed by German military units on the front lines and by Nazi
security services behind the battle lines, as well as the devastating
effects of Allied responses to the enemy threat, including massive
bombings of small towns. During the offensive, inhabitants of the
villages of this region of Belgium lived in a state of chaos.
Countless men, women, and children were killed in cold blood for
aiding American soldiers, and the GIs themselves were often highly
suspicious of German-speaking Belgians. Local services ground to a
halt, and citizens formed volunteer groups to obtain water and meet
other basic needs. Even after the violence had ended and the postwar
reconstruction had begun, the small communities remained in turmoil.
The countryside was dotted with abandoned land mines and explosives,
and the emotional tension between civilians and battle hardened
veterans often took years to dissipate. Based on recently discovered
sources including numerous personal testimonies, municipal and parish
records, and findings of the Belgian War Crimes Commission, The
Unknown Dead vividly recounts the experiences of innocents in the
violence of one of World War II's seminal battles.
"Draws on newly discovered sources to tell the forgotten
story of those civilian victims.... Sheds new light on the complicated
nature of relations between the civilians and the German and U. S.
armies." -- Military Trader
