Martin Blumenson

Major General Maurice Rose (1899-1945), commander of 3rd Amored, First Army's legendary "Spearhead" division, was the highest-ranking American Jewish officer ever killed in battle, and the only individual casualty to spark a War Crimes Investigation. This, the first and only biography of this important World War II figure, tells the dramatic story of Rose's life—-from his childhood as a son of a rabbi, through his experiences in World War I and in the U. S. cavalry, to his meteoric rise as America's answer to Rommel. In 1943, Rose negotiated and accepted the surrender of the German Army in Tunisia, the first large-scale surrender to an American force during World War II. At the Battle of Carentan in June 1944, he saved the 506th Parachute Infantry (of Band of Brothers fame), and might very well have saved the entire Normandy beachhead from a catastrophic German counterattack. His brilliant, daring, and aggressive defensive tactics during the Battle of the Bulge prevented an enemy breakthrough to the Meuse River and beyond, thereby frustrating the German advance. Based on original archival research and exclusive interviews, this biography shatters old myths and factual distortions, and offers a refreshingly inquisitive and critical perspective. Steven L. Ossad and Don R. Marsh reveal new insights into Rose's controversial death—-was he killed because he was Jewish or because he went for his weapon?—-and about the even more controversial investigations that followed. As compelling and extraordinary as the life that it describes, this biography pays long-overdue tribute to one of America's greatest heroes.

This book, first published in 1968, examines the disastrous defeat suffered by inexperienced American troops, newly landed in North Africa, at the hands of Rommel. The news of Kasserine shocked the United States militarily and politically, and led to swift changes in equipment and tactics. This book traces the battle through to its aftermath in ‘a remarkable piece of battlefield investigation’ (Manchester Evening News).

This book, first published in 1968, examines the disastrous defeat suffered by inexperienced American troops, newly landed in North Africa, at the hands of Rommel. The news of Kasserine shocked the United States militarily and politically, and led to swift changes in equipment and tactics. This book traces the battle through to its aftermath in ‘a remarkable piece of battlefield investigation’ (Manchester Evening News).

(Includes maps) The campaign in the summer of 1944 related in this volume included some of the most spectacular ground action of the U. S. Army during World War II. It began with the slow and costly hedgerow fighting against determined German efforts to contain the Normandy beachhead; it entered its decisive stage when the breach of German defenses permitted full exploitation of the power and mobility of U. S. Army ground troops; and it reached the peak of brilliance with successive envelopments of principal German forces and the pursuit of their remnants north and east to free, most of France, part of Belgium, and portions of the Netherlands. By late August the war in the west appeared to be almost over, but the tyranny of logistics gave the enemy time to rally at the fortified West Wall and delay surrender for another eight months. In the European Theater subseries the backdrop for this volume is "Cross-Channel Attack", which carries the story to 1 July. "Breakout and Pursuit" follows the U. S. First Army through 10 September (where "The Siegfried Line Campaign" picks up the narrative), and the U. S. Third Army through 31 August (where "The Lorraine Campaign" begins). The logistical factors that played so large a part in governing the pace and extent of combat operations are described in much greater detail in Volume I of "Logistical Support of the Armies." The tremendous scope of this campaign, and its partially improvised character, have left a heritage of controversies to which no final answers can be given. The author has had free access to the records and to many of the leading players in the drama, and his account should have wide appeal to the general reader as well as to the serious military student of grand tactics.

While researching an article on Gen. George S. Patton, Kevin M. Hymel made an astonishing discovery. Browsing the Library of Congress's Patton index, he found lists of photo albums. Opening one, he found photos Patton himself took during World War II, a gold mine of historical photographs of which even Blumenson, Patton's official biographer, was unaware. Patton photographed everything that interested him and produced tableaux of the battlefields of North Africa, Sicily, and continental Europe. For Patton, history was everything, and his Leica camera-standard issue for reporters and historians in the U. S. Army-ensured he could provide historians an accurate depiction of events, free from interpretation. His photographs depict the victorious face of war, with GIs on the move, military bridges under construction, and tanks slicing through the countryside. They show defeat as well-smashed German tanks, prisoners of war, and bodies strewn across the landscape. Moreover, they provide a record of where Patton fought, showcasing historic sights and the different terrain from North Africa to Europe. Now, for the first time, many of Patton's personal photographs are presented in one book for the reader to observe history as Patton saw it. Hymel provides background information and captions for the photographs and occasionally uses Patton's own words to describe the sights. Patton claimed his hobby once saved his life. Stopping to take a photograph in Italy, he witnessed a salvo of German shells exploding on the roadway up ahead, where he likely would have been had he not stopped. With Patton's Photographs, readers can now view that life during the war through the eye of one of America's greatest commanders.

For the Allies, D day was only the beginning. Having succeeded in that epic venture, they faced the prospect of moving beyond the beaches of France. For the Germans who had failed to halt the Allies at the water's edge, the question was how to stop the enemy from further advance before it was too late. Martin Blumenson never forgets that the Allies'spectacular dash from their Normandy beachhead to the German border in the summer of 1944 was accomplished by men of flesh and blood,and led by officers with human doubts, limitations, and determination. He shows us how war is conducted, makes us share the pressures and responsibilities of the commanders, and unforgettably opens us to the hopes and fears of the men who constantly faced the imminence of death. Here are the familiar figures, but revealed in new perspective,Eisenhower, Montgomery, Bradley, Patton, Rommel. This is a masterly and dramatic military narrative in the great tradition,and a moving human record of a turning point in history.

In the shadow of Monte Cassino on January 21-22, 1944, the U. S. Army's 36th "Texas" Division tried to cross Italy's Rapido River. The rout of this former National Guard unit from Texas was one of the worst defeats Americans suffered on the battlefields of World War II, one that prompted veterans to present charges of incompetent leadership before Congress. In BloodyRiver, first published in 1970, Martin Blumenson presents his view of how the "personal equation" figured into the debacle. Focusing on the generals responsible for the ill-fated attack, Blumenson traces key points in the personal profiles of the diffident 36th Division commander Fred L. Walker; Gen. Mark "Wayne" Clark, the imperious commander of American ground forces; and the tactful and tactically gifted former cavalry officer Gen. Geoffrey T. Keyes, commander of II Corps and Walker's immediate superior. Walker, serving under the younger Clark and Keyes, witnessed the destruction of villages and the exhaustion of the non-Regular Army soldiers in his division. Blumenson argues that Walker, relatively far down the chain of command, saw his soldiers' and the civilians' suffering and lost confidence and respect for his superiors and constantly questioned their fitness to devise appropriate strategy and tactics. Despite reports of the severe situation in the Rapido Valley, General Clark, responsible for ensuring the success of the Anzio landing, would not cancel the 36th Division's supporting attack across the Rapido. In two days, the two front-line infantry regiments of the division suffered severe casualties, as did the attached units of engineers, quartermaster troops, and artillerymen. Meanwhile, General Clark's Anzio landing was accomplished with relatively little resistance. Blumenson argues that Walker's pessimism about the Rapido attack plan may have permeated his troops and robbed them of their will to win. This concise survey of the command situations that led to the Rapido tragedy should be of interest to all readers who wish to learn the high-priced lessons of war in affordable and accessible form.

One of World War II's most brilliant and controversial generals, George S. Patton (1885-1945) fought in North Africa and Sicily, as commander of the Third Army, spearheaded the Allies'spectacular 1944-1945 sweep through France, Belgium, and Germany. Martin Blumenson is the only historian to enjoy unlimited access to the vast Patton papers. his many books include Masters of the Art of Command (available from Da Capo Press) and Patton: The Man Behind the Legend.

This magnificent biography by the world's foremost expert on the life of George S. Patton portrays the many faces of the general with uncompromising insight: the gruff, demanding public front known (and feared) by millions; the sensitive, intellectual visage shown to intimates; and the self-conscious, emotional, religious man only a handful of people ever met. Martin Blumenson deftly explores the life of this American hero, a paradoxical man who inspired others to greatness but who sometimes questioned the greatness within himself. Illustrated with 64 photographs, many from the Patton family archives, Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, 1885-1945 is a dramatic and memorable portrait of a complex American hero, a man called "the greatest combat general of modern times."

A wide-ranging series of essays on military leaders, ancient and modern, whose actions and personalities provide insights into the interplay of time, circumstance, and individual character and ability that makes for success or failure. The authors cover "some masters of the art" including Sulla, Saxe, Thomas, Huebner etc, "masters of mobile warfare" such as Iberville, Crook, Wolseley, Hart, Montgomery, Patton, and experts in "coalition warfare" such as Rochambeau, Eisenhower. This book provides a study of the historical fields of battle, intended to appeal to the military professional or student of military history.