Liberation

World War II #14

by Martin Blumenson

Book 14 of the Time-Life World War II series.

Genres: History, World War II, Military History, War, Nonfiction, Military Fiction, Reference

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Martin Blumenson was a soldier in the US army, and a military historian, and a recognised authority on the life of Gen. George S. Patton Jr.

Blumenson received a Bachelors and Masters degree from Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. He received a second master's degree in history from Harvard University. He also was an exellent pianist, performing at Carnegie Hall as a young man.

He served as a U.S. Army officer in northwestern Europe during World War II.
After the war he lived in France for a number of years, where he met his wife of 55 years, Genevieve Adelbert Blumenson, who died in 2000.

Blumenson again served with the U.S. Army during the Korean War, and later worked in the Office of the Chief of Military History until 1967. After this he became an adviser on civil disorders for the Johnson administration.

Reviews

[Michel Siskoid Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Following directly from Time-Life's World War II: The Second Front, Liberation gets right into what happened after D-Day and the drive to free France - in the North, the South, and Paris itself - and even a bit of the Netherlands push as well - chronicling the military movements and personal anecdotes surrounding that part of the conflict. A lot of these books fall into what I might call statistical story-telling, which is to say that I get lost in all the numbers. Division number something of army number something had this number of every kind of troop, vehicle, weapon and/or provision, lost this number of men to this number of bombs, etc. I will retain none of it. More interesting to me are the personal stories and the stakes. Things like Paris' peril when Hitler ordered its complete destruction just for spite, prevented by a general who couldn't bring himself to do it (the next book over in my collection is on the Resistance, so that's going to fill in the gaps nicely), or what was going on between Allied leaders and where the push to Berlin stalled on a judgment call. But for the most part it IS one village or bridge capture after another.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

My rating of 2 stars doesn't quite reflect how I felt about this book. If you're looking for a book about the liberation of France during WWII, this is undoubtedly a good starting point, and as usual with these books, the photos included are fascinating and evocative. But like so many of the books in the Time-Life WWII series, this entry would have benefited enormously from the inclusion of more maps. With the never-ending stream of place names required to tell the story of the liberation, I was constantly lost and had no idea of just who was where and when they were there. Repeatedly flipping back to the couple of large maps got tiresome after a while, so I quit and had to be content with merely getting the gist of the story. Had the book included just a couple more good maps, I'd have rated it higher.

[Jared · Rating 4 out of 5]

Details the liberation of France, truly an inspiring adventure. Shows the complicated back stories of Allied concerns about Communist takeovers after war that hindered and influenced their actions. The final chapter detailing the tragedy of Holland at the end of 1944 leaves the reader with a feeling that the war is definitely not over.

[Valerie Sherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volume 14 of 39. I was interested in the logistical complications of the Allied invasion of France, as well as the view from the German side. Dragged on in the hedge rows of Normandy, as most soldiers would agree.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

It turns out that France also had a D-Day. I wonder if that's just a regular military term?

[George Brownfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done book focused on the time after D-Day and getting (mostly) through France on the Western Front.

[Robert Snow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this Life Time series in the early 1980's on WWII, a volume came to the house every 2 or 3 months so I could take my reading. It was very informative and enjoyable read, I still use it for reference.

[Jerome Otte · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best account of the liberation of France in WWII.