The Ghost Front

by Frank Bonham

In June, 1944, Tom and Andy Croft, Eighteen-year-old twins, enlisted in the 106th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army. They believed, as did the Allied Forces and Army intelligence, that the Germans had been permanently put to rout after the Normandy Invasion. It seemed a military impossibility that the Third Reich could plan—much less launch—a counteroffensive.
And the, on December 16,1944, Hitler's army broke through the thin line of American defense provided by the 106th Division in the Ardennes mountains. The Battle of the Bulge had begun.
Suddenly, Tom and Andy found themselves part, not of a victorious army, but of an army whose lines had been broken, whose communications had been all but destroyed, and whose commanding headquarters had less of an idea about what was going on than did the small bands of men roaming the countryside in search of leadership.
Before the German counteroffensive began, Tom and Andy had become separated. For the first time in their lives, in the chaos that followed the enemy breakthrough, each was on his own. This is the story of their separate experiences during the first days of the Battle of the Bulge.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Frank Bonham (February 25, 1914 – 1988) was an author of Westerns and young adult novels. Bonham wrote 48 novels, as well as TV scripts. Bonham was born in Los Angeles. He was a UCLA graduate. Bonham was known for his works for young adults written in the 1960s, with tough, realistic urban settings, including The Nitty Gritty and Durango Street, as well as for his westerns. Several of his works have been published posthumously, many of which were drawn from his pulp magazine stories, originally published between 1941 and 1952. Durango Street was an ALA Notable Book.

Reviews

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frank Bonham's Durango Street was a very memorable read from my youth. It was about gangs in Watts and felt really racy and dangerous to my pre-adolescent white bread sensibilities. My mother gave it to me along with this book, a novel about the Battle of the Bulge, because Frank Bonham lived in San Diego County. The Ghost Front sat, undeservedly unread, on a bookshelf in my old bedroom in my mother's house for thirty-five years. I was impressed with this book - the prose is tight and evocative and the dialogue manages to convey a believably salty quality despite having been vigorously scrubbed-up for youthful consumption. Bonham's unsentimental 'privileging' of the tedium and physical discomfort of soldiering over its heroics is admirable. Just like Matterhorn, much of The Ghost Front is devoted to an infantryman's unremitting struggle to keep his feet dry.

[Rodney Haydon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book about the Battle of the Bulge, the life of an infantry man, and the true chaos of war.