West Wall

This is the perfect read for fans of Charles B. MacDonald, Tim Saunders, Samuel W. Mitcham Jr, and Steven J. Zaloga.

The battle for the Siegfried Line or Germany’s West Wall covered a front of 350 miles and cost the allies (British, Canadian, American and French), during six long and bloody months, over a quarter of a million casualties.

Built in secret by Hitler between 1936-39 at enormous expense and regarded as a ‘white elephant’ by many it was widely mocked, becoming the subject of a popular comic song among allied troops singing how they ‘would hang their dirty washing’ on the Siegfried Line.

At the time little did anyone expect it to cause the war to be extended by six months at such an enormous cost to human life and to be the scene of the biggest battle fought by the United States in the twentieth century.

In this book author Charles Whiting, using numerous historical sources including; books, articles and interviews contends that rather than being viewed as a series of separate engagements what happened during this time at the Seigfried Line should be recognised as the single most important battle of the entire war in the west.

Using vivid descriptions and direct quotes from allied commanders and soldiers, Whiting recounts the critical decisions that were made and the suffering and trauma experienced by those on the ground in the most horrific battlefield conditions as they tried time and again to break through Hitler’s impregnable fortified line.