Great Book! Very annotated/highly recommend/prompt shipping
A point of view seldom seen: the kids in the field who had to grow up very quickly. With a strong sense of duty and honor they lived up to their moniker, The Greatest Generation.
Not the best, but a good read nonetheless
Unlike his other works, DDay, Band of Brothers and Citizen Soldiers, which cover specific elements of the European theater, The Victors tries to cover the period from DDay through the fall of Germany. As always, Ambrose demonstrated why he was one of the best story tellers. Unfortunately, as his preface pointed out, this was put together from the research he had done on his other books.
If you are familiar with the three books mentioned in above, you will find a lot of overlap. I am sure he did some more original research for this, but the overall premise is very similar.
The over-arching theme of the Victors is that the allied success was due to the flexibility of the US troops, in particular the LTs and other NCO's, and the regular soldiers. Their determination and ability to adapt to the changing situations on the ground, the antithesis of the Germans, was what helped carry the war in the favor of the allies. He also spends the beginning of the book on Eisenhower. Ike is the other piece of the puzzle that, despite some mistakes and flaws, he credits with putting together the largest military campaign in history - Operation Overlord.
The only real criticism I would have is that the story line was somewhat disjointed. Stories are told seemingly for the sake of telling them, rather than having a real purpose. But I can overlook that since there is a lot of first person accounts that give the war a very human touch. And the stories you read about, make it very worthwhile.
Aside from that, it was an entertaining read, just like all of his other books. His admiration for the courage of that generation is clear. And his talent for telling a story certainly shines through. If you are interested in more detail, I would recommend reading DDay, Citizen Soldiers and Band of Brothers first. If you are simply looking to pass the time on the train, as I was, you will find the time passing along much more quickly.
I purchased the book at the Newark Penn Station Bookstore. I recommend the bookstore and the book.
The Victors
From the very beginning of the book I was enticed. I thought it was very well written and an enjoyable read. It includes stories and things I would have never expected. I thought the relationship between Marshall and Eisenhower was most interesting. I had not learned much about Marshall and Eisenhower's personalities. They were opposites yet worked very well together. Their relationship was based on trust. It is inspirational to hear of all that our soldiers went through during World War II. As someone looking back it helped me to better understand what went on and what the soldiers experienced first hand. I thought "The Victors" was a wonderful book and spanned over a good period of time. I would highly recommend it to others as a World War II informative book.
Fighting in the cold
This covers the European theater from D day to the end.
The futile battles of the Hurtgen forest are documented. A waste of men for nothing. We gave up our advantages of air power and tanks to fight in an impenatrable forest.
What struck me over and over, was what the men fighting endured.
The supply situation was what is was always in the military. Those in the rear get the gear. Those doing the fighting get the remains.
In the battle of the Hurtgen forest, during a visit by Ike, a company of Rangers complained to Ike about the lack of cold weather gear. He got the Rangers cold weather gear, but not the other thousands of men doing the fighting.
The same applied in the battle of the Bulge. The people in the rear out of the line of fire had waterproof, warm boots, and huge overcoats to keep warm. Those doing the fighting had summer uniforms, leather boots, and had to fight without benefit of fire to keep them warm, or get their food warm. The result was thousands of men with trench foot. The men went hungry a lot of the time due to impassible roads, so food supplies could not be brought up.
The men who endured this were heros.
Ike was the first to realize what Hitler was up to when the Battle of the Bulge started, and got Patton moving on a counterattack plan immediately, which succeeded.
Thanks to Steve Ambrose, the suffering of the men who did the fighting is documented.
Sort of a best of Stephen Ambrose
I have read most of the books by Ambrose and the material in The Victors is covered better in his other works. It isn;t bad, but the only reader who might find it interesting is someone who was looking to get into Ambrose's WWII works. Anyone else but the completists will probably not enjoy this book.
