Closing with the Enemy picks up where D-Day leaves off. From
Normandy through the "breakout" in France to the German army's last
gasp in the Battle of the Bulge, Doubler deals with the deadly
business of war-closing with the enemy, fighting and winning
battles, taking and holding territory. His study provides a
provocative reassessment of how American GIs accomplished these
dangerous and costly tasks.
Doubler portrays a far more capable and successful American
fighting force than previous historians-notably Russell Weigley,
Martin Van Creveld, and S.L.A. Marshall-have depicted. True, the
GIs weren't fully prepared or organized for a war in Europe and
have often been viewed as inferior to their German opponent. But,
Doubler argues, they more than compensated for this by their
ability to learn quickly from mistakes, to adapt in the face of
unforeseen obstacles, and to innovate new tactics on the
battlefield. This adaptability, Doubler contends, was far more
crucial to the American effort than we've been led to believe.
Fueled by a fiercely democratic and entrepreneurial spirit, GI
innovations emerged from every level within the ranks-from the
novel employment of conventional weapons and small units to the
rapid retraining of troops on the battlefield. Their most dramatic
success, however, was with combined arms warfare-the coordinated
use of infantry, tanks, artillery, air power, and engineers-in
which they perfected the use of air support for ground operations
and tank-infantry teams for breaking through enemy strongholds.
Doubler argues that, without such ingenuity and imaginative
leadership, it would have been impossible to defeat an enemy as
well trained and heavily fortified as the German army the GIs
confronted in the tortuous hedgerow country of northern France, the
narrow cobble-stoned streets of Aachen and Brest, the dark recesses
of the Huertgen Forest, and the frigid snow-covered hills of the
Ardennes.
Marking the 50th anniversary of the American victory in the
Battle of the Bulge, Doubler offers a timely reminder that "the
tremendous effects of firepower and technology will still not
relieve ground troops of the burden of closing with the enemy." As
even Desert Storm suggests, that will likely prove true for future
high-tech battlefields, where an army's adaptability will continue
to be prized.
General
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