{"product_id":"the-roer-river-battles-germanys-stand-at-the-westwall-194445-9781935149293","title":"The Roer River Battles: Germany's Stand at the Westwall  1944-45","description":"\u003cp\u003eA selection of the Military Book Club  Following the Allied breakout from the Normandy beachhead in July 1944  the vaunted German Army seemed on the verge of collapse. As British and US forces fanned out across northwestern France  enemy resistance unexpectedly dissolved into a headlong retreat to the German and Belgian borders. In early September an elated Allied High Command had every expectation of continuing their momentum to cripple the enemys warmaking capability  by capturing the Ruhr industrial complex and plunging into the heart of Germany. After a brief pause to allow for resupply  Courtney Hodges First Army prepared to punch through the ominous but largely outdated Westwall (Siegfried Line) surrounding Aachen.  During the lull in combat operations  however  German commanders such as the \"lion of defense \" Walter Model  continued to reorganize depleted units and mount an increasingly potent defense. Although the German Replacement Army funneled considerable numbers to the front  they all too often strained an overburdened supply system and did not greatly enhance existing combat formations. More important was that the panzer divisions  once thought irretrievably destroyed  were resupplied and reinvigorated. When the Allied offensive resumed it ran into a veritable brick wallgains measured in yards  not miles  if any were made at all.  While combatants from both sides suffered equally in an urbanized environment of pillbox-infested hills  impenetrable forests  and freezing rain  the Germans were on the defensive and better able to inflict casualties out of proportion to their own. For the US First Army  what was originally to be a walk-through turned into a frustrating six-month campaign that decimated infantry and tank forces alike. The Broad Front  as opposed to a Schwerpunkt strategy  resulted in the demise of many a citizen-soldier.  Drawing on primary Wehrmacht and US sources  including battle analysis and daily situation and after-action reports  The Roer River Battles provides insight into the desperate German efforts to keep a conquering enemy at the borders of their homeland. Tactical maps down to battalion level help clarify the very fluid nature of the combat. Combined  they serve to explain not just how  but why decisions were made and events unfolded  and how reality often differed from doctrine in one of the longest US campaigns of World War II.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45646999355445,"sku":"ByrdShop_1935149296","price":23.1,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781935149293.jpg?v=1781684903","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-roer-river-battles-germanys-stand-at-the-westwall-194445-9781935149293","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}