Ardennes

On the morning of 16 December 1944, a monumental German force of six hundred thousand men crashed into the Allied lines in the snowbound hills of the Belgian Ardennes. Why were Allied forces so surprised by this counterattack? And why have the German sabotage and deception operations that disrupted supply lines and outwitted Allied intelligence been so overlooked by historians?

Through interviews with three key German officers undertaken shortly after the end of the war, Charles Whiting examines the Battle of the Bulge from a new perspective. Hermann Giskes, a German Army counterintelligence officer, sheds light on his activities directing spies and saboteurs. Paratrooper Freiherr von der Heydte tells how his men were blown over great distances but managed to engage and tie down thousands of Allied troops who thought Nazi paratroopers were landing everywhere. And SS commando leader Otto Skorzeny recounts how he led a handful of special forces, wearing US uniforms and driving US equipment, behind enemy lines to wreak havoc.

Ardennes: The Secret War exposes the weaknesses of Allied intelligence and shows how, even when it seemed that the war would be over by Christmas, the Germans nearly turned defeat into victory.