MacDonald Charles B. The Last Offensive. The European Theater of Operations

Center of Military History. — United States Army, 1993. — 572 p.Prelude to Victory
Allied Strategy
Allied Versus German Strength
Weapons and Equipment
Organization and Command
Terrain and the Front Line
Victory in the Ardennes
The First Army’s Attack
A Grim Struggle Around Bastogne
The Drive on St. Vith
Northward Across the Sûre
Main Effort in the Eiffel
General Bradley’s Proposal
The Eifel Highlands.
The Enemy in the Eifel
A Try for Quick Success
A Shift to the North.
An End to the Offensive
The Roer River Dams
Toward Schmidt
Toward the Dam
The Drive on Pruem
Into the West Wall
German Countermeasures
The Final Phase
Bitburg and Vianden Bulge
Crossing the Sauer
The Vianden Bulge
Expanding the XII Corps Bridgehead
To Bitburg and the Kyll
The Saar Moselle Triangle
Probing the Orscholz Switch.
Expanding the Penetration
Broadening the Effort.
Crossing the Saar
Operation Grenade
The Terrain and the Enemy.
Catch-as-Catch-Can140
Objectives and Maneuvers
Challenging the Swollen River.
The First Day on the East Bank
The VII Corps at Dueren
The First Day’s Results
Ninth Army to the Rhein
The Third and Fourth Days.
Rundstedt’s Appeal
Pursuit 171
Efforts To Seize a Bridge
The Wesel Pocket
The Beginning of the End
Operation Lumberjack
Toward Bonn and Remagen.
Patton in the Eifel
A Rhine Bridge at Remagen
The Germans at Remagen
The Hope for a Bridge
Advance to the Rhine
The Crisis at the Bridge
Reaction to the Coup.
On the German Side
Build-up and Command Problems
The End of the Bridge
Expansion of the Bridgehead.
The Saar Palatinate
American Plans
The Defenders 241
Through the Hunsrueck
Across the Lower Moselle
Plunge to the Nahe and Fall of Koblenz
Seventh Army’s Deliberate Attack
Breakthrough
Thrust to the Rhine.
The Rhine Crossing at the South
The VIII Corps in the Rhine Gorge
To the Main River and Frankfurt
The Hammelburg Mission
The Seventh Army Crossing at Worms
The XX Corps in the Rhine-Main Arc
The Rhine Crossing at the North
The Big Build-up
Interdiction From the Air
The View From the East Bank.
“Two if by sea”
Operation Flashpoint.
The Drive to the Railroads
Operation Varsity
At the End of D-Day
The Try for a Breakout
How To Bring the Ninth Army’s Power To Bear
At the end of the March
An Awesome Power
The Logistical Backbone
Decisions at the Top.
The Plight of the Germans
A Decision on Berlin.
Reducing the Ruhr
The Breakout Offensive
Collapse of the LXXXIX Corps
A Turn to the North.
The Thrust From Winterberg.
Breakthrough North of the Ruhr
Making Motions at Breakout.
The Ruhr Pocket
“The predominant color was white.”
Sweep to Elbe
A New Allied Main Effort
The Role of the Third Army.
A Bridgehead to Nowhere
A Flak-Infested Route to the Mulde
A Short New War
The Myth of Redoubt
The First Phase Beyond the Rhine
The Struggle for Heilbronn and Crailsheim
To the Hohe Rhoen and Schweinfurt
A Shift to South and Southeast
Nuremberg and the Drive to the Danube
The Drive on Stuttgart
A French Incursion to Ulm
The “Stuttgart Incident”
From the Danube Into Austria
Goetterdaemmerung
The Meeting at Torgau
The End in Berlin
The Drive to the Baltic
Piecemeal Surrenders.
Surrender at Reims
Epilogue