1st Chronicles Of V Panzer Army DAR

[Cole]

Today I came by a book I had bought a few months ago and had forgotten about. I wish I remembered it earlier as this post would of been better at the beginning of my DAR.

The Longest Winter by Alex Kershaw is a nice book about the 394th Regiment's (99th Division) Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon wartime experience. The platoon was fresh on the front lines and stationed in Lanzerath (the very top of the map this scenario is played on). They put up a heck of a fight holding up the German advance and then the book goes on to describe their captivity in Germany. A good read of an interesting story and some insight of what life was like in the freezing front lines before the battle. There are also some personal perspectives from the German side.
Some interesting tidbits from the book:
The Belgium part of the Ardennes in this area was originally part of Germany but awarded to Belgium at the Treaty Of Versailles.

There are some nice hand drawn maps in the book by (then PFC) Carlos Fernandez showing the AO and the platoon's positions during the battle.

Some 57mm AT gunners would remove the protective plate from the gun to make it easier to move around in the snowy and muddy conditions. Some platoons would have engineers weld the plate to jeeps in the hopes of providing some protection. The book describes how the platoon bribed a Supply Officer with captured German souvenirs to procure a jeep thus armored equipped with a much needed .50 caliber machine gun.

The platoon's positions were to the west of the small village. A couple of days prior to the battle two of the platoon stood watch in the village's church steeple and noticed that a German patrol approach and enter the church itself. The Germans eventually left without detecting the Americans but that offers an interesting glimpse into life on the front lines. The Germans probably didn't want to look too hard.

One night a soldier on guard hear unusual noises and opened fire with his machine gun. Next morning they found a dead German scout dog that was trained to sniff out enemy positions.

Interesting stuff.

I'll be done with this book in time to read our own Don Fox's book Patton's Vanguard. Don has created a few Bulge scenarios himself and you can be assured they are well researched as he goes all out in paying attention to detail. His book grew out of his research on how many Jumbo Shermans as opposed to the model with a lower velocity gun a certain company had in it's inventory.

I've read a little already and it seems that the good reviews his book gets on Amazon.com (just click on the book title above) are right on target.

On a side note I would also try to get on Barnes and Nobel's e-mail list. I used to be a B&N member as I buy quite a few books but let my membership expire before my transfer overseas. Every two weeks or so I get an e-mail with at least 10% discount offers off or any item that I am able to use even though my membership is expired.