The Longest Winter

Description

A cold winter morning in the Ardennes Forest, 1944, and Hitler launches his last and most audacious attack on the unprepared Allies. Standing between the German forces and the desperately regrouping Allies were just eighteen young Americans, hidden in fox holes. In a fierce day-long battle, this small band of soldiers repulsed the German attack three times, inflicting severe casualties and defending a strategically vital hill despite being vastly outnumbered. They surrendered only when they ran out of ammunition. But then the real battle for survival began.

Alex Kershaw's brilliant account draws on the words of the decorated men who fought this heroic action, bringing vividly to life their struggle on the battlefield and later off it as POWs.

Reviews

Kershaw digs deep into the folk memories of the young men who survived virtually impossible odds, blending their accounts seamlessly into the harrowing narrative of battle. His journalistic approach is brilliantly complemented by his intimate, sharp, plain prose' Herald

Author description

Alex Kershaw is a British author, journalist and screenwriter. Since 1990, Kershaw has been a regular contributor to leading magazines and newspapers around the world, including The Sunday Times Magazine, The Guardian, The Observer, El Pais, Le Monde and many others. From 1991-2000, he was a contributing editor of GQ magazine. He is the author of biographies of Jack London and Robert Capa and, most recently, the widely-acclaimed WWII story The Bedford Boys. He lives in America with his wife and son.