Our Tortured Souls: The 29th Infantry Division in the Rhineland, November-December 1944

The acclaimed WWII historian continues his in-depth chronicle of the 29th Infantry Division as it made its brutal push into Germany.

By November of 1944, the U.S. 29th Infantry Division had stormed Omaha Beach on D-Day and embarked on an epic and arduous path toward Allied victory. In Our Tortured Souls, acclaimed military historian Joseph Balkoski picks up the story of the 29th on the eve of the all-out offensive intended to carry the Allies to the Rhine River by Christmas and end the war soon afterward.

The plan for the 29th seemed simple enough. As part of General William Simpson’s Ninth Army, the division was to drive ten miles eastward, breaking through several German strongpoints, crossing the Roer, and seizing Jülich, beyond which lay the Rhine and Germany’s heartland. 

The offensive encountered problems from the very beginning, on November 16th, when it took days to crack the German’s first line of defense. By the time the offensive was halted on the banks of the Roer three weeks later, the 29th Infantry Division had suffered 2,600 casualties and fallen short of its objectives. Balkoski reconstructs this tragic chapter in the division’s history with his trademark combination of meticulous research and vivid st

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Our Tortured Souls: The 29th Infantry Division in the Rhineland, November-December 1944

The acclaimed WWII historian continues his in-depth chronicle of the 29th Infantry Division as it made its brutal push into Germany.

By November of 1944, the U.S. 29th Infantry Division had stormed Omaha Beach on D-Day and embarked on an epic and arduous path toward Allied victory. In Our Tortured Souls, acclaimed military historian Joseph Balkoski picks up the story of the 29th on the eve of the all-out offensive intended to carry the Allies to the Rhine River by Christmas and end the war soon afterward.

The plan for the 29th seemed simple enough. As part of General William Simpson’s Ninth Army, the division was to drive ten miles eastward, breaking through several German strongpoints, crossing the Roer, and seizing Jülich, beyond which lay the Rhine and Germany’s heartland. 

The offensive encountered problems from the very beginning, on November 16th, when it took days to crack the German’s first line of defense. By the time the offensive was halted on the banks of the Roer three weeks later, the 29th Infantry Division had suffered 2,600 casualties and fallen short of its objectives. Balkoski reconstructs this tragic chapter in the division’s history with his trademark combination of meticulous research and vivid st

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Our Tortured Souls: The 29th Infantry Division in the Rhineland, November-December 1944

Our Tortured Souls: The 29th Infantry Division in the Rhineland, November-December 1944

by Joseph Balkoski
Our Tortured Souls: The 29th Infantry Division in the Rhineland, November-December 1944

Our Tortured Souls: The 29th Infantry Division in the Rhineland, November-December 1944

by Joseph Balkoski

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Overview

The acclaimed WWII historian continues his in-depth chronicle of the 29th Infantry Division as it made its brutal push into Germany.

By November of 1944, the U.S. 29th Infantry Division had stormed Omaha Beach on D-Day and embarked on an epic and arduous path toward Allied victory. In Our Tortured Souls, acclaimed military historian Joseph Balkoski picks up the story of the 29th on the eve of the all-out offensive intended to carry the Allies to the Rhine River by Christmas and end the war soon afterward.

The plan for the 29th seemed simple enough. As part of General William Simpson’s Ninth Army, the division was to drive ten miles eastward, breaking through several German strongpoints, crossing the Roer, and seizing Jülich, beyond which lay the Rhine and Germany’s heartland. 

The offensive encountered problems from the very beginning, on November 16th, when it took days to crack the German’s first line of defense. By the time the offensive was halted on the banks of the Roer three weeks later, the 29th Infantry Division had suffered 2,600 casualties and fallen short of its objectives. Balkoski reconstructs this tragic chapter in the division’s history with his trademark combination of meticulous research and vivid st


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780811749909
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date: 06/14/2023
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 405
File size: 17 MB
Note: This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Joseph Balkoski is Command Historian of the Maryland National Guard and author of Omaha Beach (978-0-8117-3376-2), Utah Beach (978-0-8117-3377-9), and the classic Beyond the Beachhead (978-0-8117-3237-6). He has appeared as a D-Day expert on MSNBC, and his work has been praised by Joe Scarborough, the New York Post, the Washington Times, World War II magazine, and others. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Table of Contents

List of Maps ix

Introduction xi

1 Watch on the Rhine 1

2 Three Towns in Germany 45

3 Preventing Wholesale Slaughter 95

4 Paying for a Bad Guess 123

5 We Have a War on Again 147

6 The Momentous Now 191

7 As Far Away as the Moon 261

8 They Are Doomed Men 309

References 333

Bibliography 369

Acknowledgments 373

Index 377

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