The Siegfried Line Campaign

by Charles B. MacDonald

To many an Allied soldier and officer and to countless armchair strategists, World War II in Europe appeared near an end when in late summer of 1944 Allied armies raced across northern France, Belgium, and Luxembourg to the very gates of Germany. That this was not, in fact, the case was a painful lesson that the months of September, October, November, and December would make clear with stark emphasis.The story of the sweep from Normandy to the German frontier has been told in the already published Breakout and Pursuit. The present volume relates the experiences of the First and Ninth U.S. Armies, the First Allied Airborne Army, and those American units which fought under British and Canadian command, on the northern flank of the battle front that stretched across the face of Europe from the Netherlands to the Mediterranean. The operations of the Third U.S. Army in the center, from mid-September throughmid-December, have been recounted in The Lorraine Campaign; those of the Seventh U.S. Army on the south will be told in The Riviera to the Rhine, a volume in preparation.Unlike the grand sweep of the pursuit, the breaching of the West Wall called for the most grueling kind of fighting. Huge armies waged the campaign described' in this book, but the individual soldier, pitting his courage and stamina against harsh elements as well as a stubborn enemy, emerges as the moving spirit of these armies. In the agony of the Huertgen Forest, the frustration of MARKET-GARDEN, the savagery of the struggle for Aachen, the valor of the American soldier and his gallant comrades proved the indispensable ingredient of eventual victory.

Genres: History, World War II

706 pages, Paperback

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.