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 enlarge | Author: Douglas E. Nash
Creators: Edward Miller, Tom Houlihan
Publisher: The Aberjona Press
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $15.65
You Save: $9.30 (37%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 83242
Media: Paperback
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6 x 1.1
ISBN: 0977756327
Dewey Decimal Number: 940
EAN: 9780977756322
ASIN: 0977756327
Publication Date: February 8, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
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| Customer Reviews:
 A Good and Unique Read October 25, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
A good and unique read. Not many readable books written with such a detailed focus on operational warfare and a very close look at the small units that make up a fighting force. Especially for a poor old German leg division on the dirty end of the stick. Not much glory there but a lot of drama.
A reader learns about where replacements came from such as Eastern front veterans, HQ staffs, support echelons, Air Force, Flak, Navy, militia levies, etc.
You learn how the Fusilier Company operated in the division as a mini-fire brigade. Usually getting it's tail kicked as it was stuck in the line when heavily outnumbered and ordered to counterattack with very little time for proper recon. The Wehrmacht in WWII were accomplished masters of improvisation, and the examples in Nash's book show how the divisional fusilier company, pioneer and replacement battalions were frequently used to bolster "alarm" units made up of scattered units and returning personnel.
You learn that the 272nd Volksgrenadier Division could, contrary to many other German divisions in 44-45, keep it's artillery battalion at least stocked with guns as 1) they ignored orders to abandon heavy equipment to get across the Rhine, 2) they had a few RSO's (fully-tracked tows), 3) though the TO&E equipped art battalions with two 6-gun batteries, they only fielded two 4-gun batteries in a battalion and kept the left-overs in the rear and so could replace gun losses. Actually having ammo to fire, spotters to spot and radios to communicate was another matter . . .
You learn about the defense of "Fortress" Honningen on the east bank of the Rhine below the Ludendorf Bridgehead. Very handy scenario information and maps for those in the wargaming hobby. "Regiments" were down to company strengths (with stragglers included) and bolstered with Flak Battalion elements, and "alarm" units. Several other good scenarios are possible from the book.
And the book is well researched and well illustrated with maps and photos. Uniquely researched also given the serendipitous retrieval and use of the detailed personnel records of the division fusilier company. A recommended book for the military historian and military wargamer.
 Sorry October 23, 2008
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
The author keeps his word about staying within details of basic training and equipment and the personal things the German soldier went through in the first few pages. However the other two thirds of the book are aloof and tell of tactics and general movement of units leaving the personal soldiers stories aside. The remainder of the book is written from the stratosphere and not from the dirt and mud of the regular soldiers. They are left out. I found personal soldier references only every other 3 pages after the first 50 pages. Then it is ho hum military college subject matter. He leaves the soldiers behind.
Excellent Account of the Hurtgen Forest from the German Side - 4+ Stars October 16, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is another excellent book by Douglas Nash who definitively covered the Cherkassy Pocket Battle on the Eastern Front from the German side. The only reason I did not give it five stars was that I would have liked a little more information on the soldiers who were featured with respect to their fates such as Captain (Hauptmann) Massberg. Personnel came and went, often with limited information on them before joining the 272nd and then they just disappear from the narrative. Perhaps in the next edition the author might expand his Epilogue Chapter with a blurb on each featured individual, his time before joining the 272nd, where he fought, when he was killed/wounded/went missing, and if he survived, his life after the war. The author does some of this for eleven soldiers, but frankly, since this is a story of the 272nd and its personnel, the personnel often carry the story and the reader wants more information on them.
That being said, this book presents a very clear picture of a German Volks-Grenadier Division, and in particular, a single company, the Fusilier Company 272 from their organization in September, 1944 until their final disbandment in April, 1945. The author is aided immeasurably by the discovery of the Company's records in 1993, a remarkable find that added much valuable information the author was able to use in presenting this story. In a major way, Nash's story of the Fusilier Company is unique in the World War II literature, and that alone earns a definite recommendation to buy and read this book.
Nash also presents a good deal of information on the organization, training (or lack thereof), manpower sources, and equipment of Volks-Grenadier Divisions. I know of no other work that presents this information in such a concise and understandable manner. Their combat power was often weak due to a lack of unit cohesion, inadequate supply and support, especially with artillery, grossly inadequate training, and a decline in the efficiency of company grade officers and NCOs. That the 272nd acquitted itself as well as it did is truly remarkable.
The battles west of the Rhine and in particular the Hurtgen Forest have been covered extremely well by a number of works from the American side. I recommend Edward Miller's "A Dark and Bloody Ground" and Charles Whiting's "The Battle of Hurtgen Forest." Not all of Whiting's works are high quality (most notably his "Last Assault" is not), but this one is worth reading. I recommend the reader use one or both of these works to put Nash's work into context.
There is so much good information on German attitudes and dedication to duty, I hardly know where to begin. The ordinary Landsers repeatedly faced suicide missions, yet fought until killed or their situation was absolutely hopeless. Attempting to surrender was not without great risks -- one was putting his life fully into the hands of enemy soldiers about whom one knew nothing. And during particularly bloody battles, prisoners were sometimes simply not taken.
The maintenance of combat efficiency to fight on in the face of certain defeat is one of the major themes of this book. After the Americans crossed the Rhine there was no hope of victory or any kind of negotiated settlement, yet the men of the 272th continued to fight, die or be maimed. As Nash points out, these men were not "fanatical" Nazis, but ordinary men doing their duty to their country. For many, they paid the ultimate price and are deserving of our respect, if not our sympathy. There is a valuable lesson here in addition to the excellent historical content.
I recommend to every individual interested in World War II that they buy and read this book.
Good book, poor binding again July 22, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Good book but again the binding gave out right away. It's really a bummer because it looks bad in my collection.
 Another Home Run for this Author!!!! June 8, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Doug Nash hits another home run for military history in this well-researched and easy to read study of a lesser known topic from WW2. Buy this book and support real scholarship on the war, it's not just another coffee table rehash.
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