The Siegfried Line Campaign: U.S. Army Center of Military History, "U.S. Army in World War II: The European Theater of Operations"

by Charles B. MacDonald

The Siegfried Line Campaign parallels the effort in Lorraine, following the U.S. First and Ninth Armies during the fall of 1944, through similar costly fighting. The narrative takes the reader from the first crossings of the German border on September 11, 1944, to the enemy's counteroffensive, which ended the campaign abruptly inside Germany along the Roer River on December 16. Highlighted are the piercing of the West Wall, the reduction of Aachen, the bitter fighting in the Huertgen Forest, and the operation of the First Allied Airborne Army in Operation Markey-Garden in the Netherlands . American participation in opening Antwerp and clearing the Peel Marshes is also included. The Siegfried Line Campaign is primarily a history of tactical operations in northwestern Europe from early September to mid-December 1944. In addition to the detailed coverage of the campaigns of the U.S. First and Ninth Armies and the First Allied Airborne Army, it sketches the concurrent operations of the Second British and First Canadian Armies. Organized into chapters at the corps level, the story is told primarily at division level with numerous descents to regiment and battalion and even at times to lover units. Logistics and high-level planning (for example, the controversy over single-thrust versus broad-front strategy) are treated where they affected the campaign. Staff operations at army or corps level are discussed when relevant to the development of tactical plans and operations.

Genres: History, World War II

704 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Charles B. MacDonald was a former Deputy Chief Historian for the United States Army. He wrote several of the Army's official histories of World War II.

After graduating from Presbyterian College, MacDonald was commissioned as a US Army officer through the Army ROTC and deployed to Europe. By September 1944, as a 21 year old Captain , he commanded a rifle company in the 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. MacDonald received the Silver Star and the Purple Heart.

His first book, ''Company Commander'', was published in 1947, while his wartime experiences were fresh in his mind.

MacDonald wrote the final volume of the Green Series on the European Theatre, ''The Last Offensive''. He retired as Deputy Chief Historian, United States Army Center of Military History in 1979.

After his retirement, MacDonald wrote ''A Time for Trumpets'', his last book, a personal history of the Ardennes Offensive which concentrates on the first two weeks of the battle, which he spent five years researching. MacDonald also wrote or co-wrote two other books of the Green Series, ''The Siegfried Line Campaign'' and ''Three Battles: Arnaville, Altuzzo, and Schmidt''. He also contributed to ''Command Decisions''.

MacDonald suffered from cancer and lung disease and he died on December 4, 1990 at his home in Arlington, Virginia.

Reviews

[John F · Rating 5 out of 5]

A detailed operational history, it can get tiresome to read, but at the same time fascinating. Activities are listed by days, details of fighting and casualties.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

During World War II the Siegfried Line was a major defensive stand by the Germans. This work chronicles the actions of both the Allies and the Germans. It gives a look at one of the major European campaigns of the war.

[Paulo Migliacci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thorough, accurate and understatedly sympathetic to the men in the foxholes - as we came to expect from every book by Captain MacDonald. The chapters about the battles for the Hürtgen Forest are particularly enlightening, and though MacDonald is too much of a pro to portray General Courtney Hodges as a WW1-style butcher, a German appraisal he chooses to quote serves as an indication that the sacrifices imposed upon a succession of American infantry divisions forced to fight singlehandedly in the woods without adequate support were needless - a brave point to make in an official history, and just the sort of thing one gets from every book of his.