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Hitler's Last Offensive
This is the full story of the Battle of the Ardennes. in the last weeks of 1944 the German armies in the west, after a continuous retreat since the battle of Normandy five months earlier were regrouping in what they thought was to be the last battle in defense of the Fatherland. But Hitler had other plans - to mount an offensive through the Ardennes that would deal such a blow to the Western Allies that they would be willing to negotiate a separate peace. This is the offensive known as the Battle of the Bulge.
Could Hitler's gamble have succeeded? Could he have reached his objective, the port of Antwerp? Peter Elstob unfolds the whole panorama of the "last offensive" which was one of the bloodiest battles of the Second World war, punctuated with many acts of individual acts of heroism and many errors of judgment by the firebrand General George Patton, the superb German generals and others. Paradoxically, all it ensured was that the Russians would reach Berlin first.
Could Hitler's gamble have succeeded? Could he have reached his objective, the port of Antwerp? Peter Elstob unfolds the whole panorama of the "last offensive" which was one of the bloodiest battles of the Second World war, punctuated with many acts of individual acts of heroism and many errors of judgment by the firebrand General George Patton, the superb German generals and others. Paradoxically, all it ensured was that the Russians would reach Berlin first.
- GenresHistoryWorld War II
432 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
About the author
Peter Elstob
27 books3 followersPeter Frederick Egerton Elstob was a British soldier, adventurer, novelist, military historian and entrepreneur. In his writing he is best known for his lightly-fictionalized novel Warriors For the Working Day (1960) and his military history of the Battle of the Bulge, Hitler's Last Offensive (1971).
He joined the Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War, and later served in the Royal Tank Regiment in World War II, in which service he was promoted to sergeant and was Mentioned in Despatches.
He joined International PEN in 1962 and served first as general secretary and later as vice-president for seven years during the 1970s, rescuing the organisation from financial failure; he also secured the future of the Arts Theatre Club in London in 1946.
He prospered as an entrepreneur with a facial product called Yeast Pac, with several partners. In his obituary in The Guardian newspaper, Elstob was said to be:
...one of those people born in the wrong century. With his charm and audacity, his passion for travel, and his love of risk-taking and financial gambles, he would have been more at home in the reign of Elizabeth I.
He joined the Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War, and later served in the Royal Tank Regiment in World War II, in which service he was promoted to sergeant and was Mentioned in Despatches.
He joined International PEN in 1962 and served first as general secretary and later as vice-president for seven years during the 1970s, rescuing the organisation from financial failure; he also secured the future of the Arts Theatre Club in London in 1946.
He prospered as an entrepreneur with a facial product called Yeast Pac, with several partners. In his obituary in The Guardian newspaper, Elstob was said to be:
...one of those people born in the wrong century. With his charm and audacity, his passion for travel, and his love of risk-taking and financial gambles, he would have been more at home in the reign of Elizabeth I.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 30, 2021
Like some of my generation our fathers and uncles served in World War II. I read this book to obtain a better understanding of what my Uncle Paul went through fighting in the Ardennes Campaign i.e. Battle of the Bulge. This book made me appreciate much more than I expected. Now I know enough to ask him a ton of questions but he is passed. I recommend this book to not only war buffs (lot of techincal) but also to those who have second-hand experience with The War against Genocide and Dictatorship.
January 12, 2023
It gives a detailed description of the battle but mostly the view is from the Allied prespective.
October 29, 2024
Didn't finish this. While hugely detailed, I must confess that compared to more modern histories produced by the likes of Hastings, Holland et al, this was hugely dry reading.
November 7, 2009
Peter Elstob's Hitler's Last Offensive is one of the few works I have read that successfully stradles the boundaries of the operational mask of command and the bloody face of battle (to borrow from keegan). This is quite an achievement as Elstob avoids the historian's all too common pitfalls of becoming overly dry and detached or ponderously encumbered by heroic anecdotes. The high drama of war experienced in the 'Battle of the Bulge' is retained through detailed descriptions of ferocious small unit actions, yet these are integrated with tremendous ease into the eb and flow of the overall battle. Avioding sensationalist claims concerning the complete tactical and operational surprise achieved by the Germans, Elstob's orthodox history is rarely stale. Deftly planted sketches of key leadership personalities combined with the tangibles of confusion, desperation and frenzied combat maintain the momentum of the history.
Still there are noticable strategic weaknesses to Elstob's work. As a British soldier who fought in WWII he betrays marked sensitivity to the criticism leveled at British/Commonwealth command. Describing the ensuing battles around Caen as a deliberate plan to draw in and tie down German heavy armor while American spearheads broke out of the Cotentin Peninsula Elstob does little service to the reputations of the Commonwealth Generals. Rather these commander's breakout attempts in Operations Goodwood, Epsom and supporting missions suffered appaling losses, dissolving into bloody stalemates, punctuated by German ambushes in the bocage. He further glosses over the friction in Allied high command while making only passing reference to the failure of Operation Market Garden, which stripped mostly American units in southern France of supplies to grant priority to the overly ambitious British plan. It seems very odd to the reader that the described minor nature of the disagreements could lead to the Supreme Allied commander in Europe threatening to resign as the Battle of the Bulge hung in the balance. Further, while many just critiques can be laid at the door of General Patton, Elstob rather unfairly criticizes the slow advance of III Corps to relieve Bastogne despite the fact that these units were given a minimum of supplies as a result of the aforementioned Operation Market Garden. This to such an extent that only elments of those mobile forces were combat effective.
Despite the contextual weaknesses Elstob has achieved quite an exhausitve and engrossing work. Overall he attempts and succeeds to deliver due credit or blame with great equity.
--Dominic Petzling
Still there are noticable strategic weaknesses to Elstob's work. As a British soldier who fought in WWII he betrays marked sensitivity to the criticism leveled at British/Commonwealth command. Describing the ensuing battles around Caen as a deliberate plan to draw in and tie down German heavy armor while American spearheads broke out of the Cotentin Peninsula Elstob does little service to the reputations of the Commonwealth Generals. Rather these commander's breakout attempts in Operations Goodwood, Epsom and supporting missions suffered appaling losses, dissolving into bloody stalemates, punctuated by German ambushes in the bocage. He further glosses over the friction in Allied high command while making only passing reference to the failure of Operation Market Garden, which stripped mostly American units in southern France of supplies to grant priority to the overly ambitious British plan. It seems very odd to the reader that the described minor nature of the disagreements could lead to the Supreme Allied commander in Europe threatening to resign as the Battle of the Bulge hung in the balance. Further, while many just critiques can be laid at the door of General Patton, Elstob rather unfairly criticizes the slow advance of III Corps to relieve Bastogne despite the fact that these units were given a minimum of supplies as a result of the aforementioned Operation Market Garden. This to such an extent that only elments of those mobile forces were combat effective.
Despite the contextual weaknesses Elstob has achieved quite an exhausitve and engrossing work. Overall he attempts and succeeds to deliver due credit or blame with great equity.
--Dominic Petzling
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May 13, 2008this man was my great grandfather.
i didnt know him for very long as he died when i was relitevely young but while i knew him he was an extremely interesting person.
i think that the real-life recounts he told us of the war could not be told in such detail and with such thrill in a book.however, this is a very truthful rendition of part of what happened.
i didnt know him for very long as he died when i was relitevely young but while i knew him he was an extremely interesting person.
i think that the real-life recounts he told us of the war could not be told in such detail and with such thrill in a book.however, this is a very truthful rendition of part of what happened.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews