Battle of the Bulge..........not expecting this revelation..

[tubman13]

Chuck, your friend MacDonald, goes into great detail regarding the later phases, to include Dam captures of early Feb.. Troop movements in January are of particular interest, as well as politics involved. "United States Army in WWII- Europe" is dry, but in depth and inclusive. You turned me on to him in September when we spoke. The e-book comes in 3 parts. There is some real good stuff about a LTC Abrams who later had a tank named for him. The portion about Southern France, is a segment of the war I have read little about. Good stuff, thanks.

Regards,
Tom

[quincannon]

There is a great difference in MacDonald's writing style when he is writing for commercial publication after his retirement from CMH and the official histories written by him or others and published under his supervision. His commercial "Time For Trumpets" covers the same period as "Snow and Steel". MacDonald's "Three Battles" is also a superb book (published by CMH), and yes the rest is covered post Christmas 44 but not under one cover.

Abrams became Chief of Staff around 1970 and sadly died of cancer two years later. A remarkable armor commander. Abrams is covered in the second new book I mentioned "Patton at the Battle of the Bulge". Another guy you should look at Tom is Bruce Clarke who led one of the 7th Armored Division's combat commands at St. Vith. He and Abrams were close associates while Clarke was with 4th Armored Division.

[Yan Taylor]

When I was reading “Company Commander” I couldn’t help but feel the way he portrayed his men had been done many times afterwards, but in a movie setting, Hollywood has really used the core aspect of the book in some of the movies made around the 1950s, the way they would explain the background of each man was I feel was lifted from this book, because as a commander McDonald shows not only compassion towards his men but also his own insecurities as a commanding officer, when reading it I also found his fear of losing some of his men in battle and the way he felt relieved when his company was told that any attack orders have been cancelled, makes a change that, as I was fed up of movies showing commanders chomping at the bit to have their battalion involved in any major action, just shows the difference between Hollywood and the real deal.

Ian.

[quincannon]

The Charles MacDonald that I knew (not well) was a very modest and caring man. Everything I knew of him is what is reflected in the book. I think I told you that I once asked MacDonald about his Bulge experiences. All he said was "It was cold"

There are few movies from that period Ian that I have much use for. One that I do though is "Battleground" which among other great portrayals of an Infantryman's life is where Holly (the Van Johnson character) obtains a couple of fresh eggs, only to have the urgency of battle thwart his efforts to scramble and devour them. Another is near the end where Holly starts to run, he is scared stiff, but one of his men looks to him for some guidance and direction, and Holly's fear becomes controllable, and his combat instincts take over.

The portrayal of the German surrender delegation is quite realistic as well, and matches the accounts of the incident exactly.

I am glad Hollywood never tried to do Company Commander. They would have screwed it up like Hogan's Goat. MacDonald had offers I understand but refused. I am not sure what his motives were, but it may have been something to do with his job and a conflict of interest. I just don't know, but I am happy it turned out as it did.