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Closing with the Enemy:How GIs Fought the War in Eu
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Closing With the Enemy: How GIs Fought the War in Europe, 1944-1945 has been named to the U.S. Army Chief of Staff’s Professional Reading List. “The Professional Reading List is a way for leaders at all levels to increase their understanding of our Army’s history, the global strategic context, and the enduring lessons of war,” Army Chief of Staff General Peter J. Schoomaker said of the carefully chosen works. According to General Schoomaker’s office: “In this book, Michael Doubler explains how and why the U.S. Army was generally successful in overcoming … many challenges. Soldiers and junior leaders will benefit from his incisive study of the battlefield resourcefulness, flexibility, and determination of the American Soldier.” Inclusion on this list places Closing With the Enemy among the best works available on the history of the U.S. Army and makes it recommended reading in support of the Army’s professional military education system.
To view the complete list, go to www.army.mil/cmh-pg/reference/CSAList/CSAList.htm.
"The best single book I have ever read on the GI and his officers. Destined to become a military classic.” –Stephen E. Ambrose, author of D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II and Citizen Soldiers: The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany, June 7, 1944-May 7, 1945
"Doubler demands persuasively that we show renewed respect for the prowess of the American Army of 1944–1945. All students of the war should read this book." –Russell F. Weigley, author of Eisenhower's Lieutenants
“One
of the best books on the subject...a recent work that merits special praise.”
– World
War II Presents D-Day: Special Collector’s 60th Anniversary Edition
"A
unique analysis of how American combat troops improvised battle techniques in
unexpected and extremely difficult battlefield situations. Doubler's operational
coverage is excellent, his writing flows, and his argument is significant not
only for the 1944–45 campaigns in northwest Europe, but also for the entire
war and even for warfare in general."—Martin
Blumenson, author of The
Patton Papers
Amazon Customer Rating: 4 1/2 Stars
WINNER OF THE FORREST C. POGUE PRIZE
AND THE NEW YORK MILITARY AFFAIRS SYMPOSIUM BEST BOOK AWARD
Closing with the Enemy
picks up where D-Day leaves off. From
Normandy through the “breakout” in France to the German army’s last gasp
in the Battle of the Bulge, Doubler deals with the deadly business of
war—closing with the enemy, fighting and winning battles, taking and holding
territory. His study provides a
provocative reassessment of how American GIs accomplished these dangerous and
costly tasks.
Doubler
portrays a far more capable and successful American fighting force than previous
historians—notably Russell Weigley, Martin Van Creveld, and S.L.A.
Marshall—have depicted. True, the GIs weren't fully prepared or organized for
a war in Europe and have often been viewed as inferior to their German opponent.
But, Doubler argues, they more than compensated for this by their ability to
learn quickly from mistakes, to adapt in the face of unforseen obstacles, and to
innovate new tactics on the battlefield. This adaptability, Doubler contends,
was far more crucial to the American effort than we've been led to believe.
Fueled by
a fiercely democratic and entrepreneurial spirit, GI innovations emerged from
every level within the ranks—from the novel employment of conventional weapons
and small units to the rapid retraining of troops on
the battlefield. Their most dramatic success, however, was with combined arms
warfare—the coordinated use of infantry, tanks, artillery, air power, and
engineers—in which they perfected the use of air support for ground operations
and tank-infantry teams for breaking through enemy strongholds.
Doubler
argues that, without such ingenuity and imaginative leadership, it would have
been impossible to defeat an enemy as well trained and heavily fortified as the
German army the GIs confronted in the tortuous hedgerow country of northern
France, the narrow cobblestoned streets of Aachen and Brest, the dark recesses
of the Huertgen Forest, and the frigid snow-covered hills of the Ardennes.
Doubler
offers a timely reminder that "the tremendous effects of firepower and
technology will still not relieve ground troops of the burden of closing with
the enemy." As even Desert Storm suggests, that will likely prove true for
future high-tech battlefields, where an army's adaptability will continue to be
prized.
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questions or comments about this web site.
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