In case you can't read the caption at the bottom, it says: "Fast-working Army Engineers Lay down a Pontoon Bridge for Guns, Troops, Trucks, and Tanks." This is a lithograph featured in National Geographic. Not Shown: Incoming German Artillery, MG and small-arms fire that often accompanied tasks like this one!
The following was sent to me by Professor David Ulbrich (he's assisting me with my documentary).
Here is a link to an oral history project that was just placed online... I co-directed the 2 year project before starting work with the Army in November. FYI.
I love his writing style, we have the first two books in this series. GREAT STUFF!
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Jeff Shaara
NO LESS THAN VICTORY
A Novel of World War II
Member Reception - 5:00pm cst
Interview with Ed Tracy & Live Webcast - 6:00pm cst
Amid scorched earth and bitter cold, a madman's last gambit is launched. Caught by surprise, the Allies must fight a desperate battle with everything at stake: the closing act of World War II in Europe.
On Thursday, February 4th, Jeff Shaara will appear at the Pritzker Military Library for an interview with Ed Tracy about his new book, No Less Than Victory: A Novel of World War II. This event is free and open to the public. The presentation will begin at 6 p.m., preceded by a reception for Library members at 5 p.m. It will be webcast live on pritzkermilitarylibrary.org and recorded for later broadcast on WYCC-TV/Channel 20.
No Less Than Victory concludes the trilogy of historical fiction that Jeff Shaara began with The Rising Tide and continued in The Steel Wave. It is now mid-December 1944; the German military is on the verge of collapse, and the Allies believe that victory is close at hand. Though some in his inner circle urge surrender, Hitler remains convinced that the German race is destined to triumph, and he devises a new plan: a surprise counter-offensive in the snow-covered mountains and forests of the Ardennes, designed to split the Allied armies and recapture the vital port of Antwerp. It is the opening salvo of what will be some of the most brutal combat of the war — the Battle of the Bulge.
Shaara imagines the conversations behind closed doors at Allied command, listening as legendary generals like Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, and Montgomery clash over strategy and react to news from the battlefield. He also ducks into Hitler's bunker, where Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt and Albert Speer plead for peace before there is no Germany left — and the Führer himself drifts further into a world of madness, methamphetamines, and Wagner records. But it is the "mud-level" perspectives of young GIs like Pvt. Eddie Benson and Sgt. John Buckley that carry most of the narrative — through the fighting in the Ardennes, over the German border, and toward the horrifying discoveries that lie ahead at the concentration camps of Ohrdruf, Buchenwald, and Dachau.
Jeff Shaara is the author of several best-selling works of military historical fiction, including Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure, which completed the Civil War trilogy that began with his father's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Killer Angels. He is also the author of Jeff Shaara's Civil War Battlefields.
Seating for this event is limited, so reservations are recommended. Call 312.587.0234 or email events@pritzkermilitarylibrary.net.
This event is eligible for 1.5 Continuing Professional Development Units (CPDUs) for education professionals in Illinois.
