WORLD WAR II - NONFICTION
"Seven Roads to Hell" by Donald
R. Burgett 
This is book number three in the four volume saga of
Donald R. Burgett and Company A, 1st Battalion, 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st
Airborne. The 101st was in the thick of battle for 72 days during the disastrous
Operation Market Garden (see "Road to Arnheim"). The 101st was
finally pulled back to France to recover and get new equipment and replacements.
When the Germans started the Battle of the Bulge, the 101st division along with the 82nd
were all that was available to stem the
tide. They were rounded up and put on anything available with wheels and sent into combat with out proper equipment,
clothing, weapons, or ammunition. Company A was posted to Noiville, a little
town North-East of Bastogne, where with support of elements from the 10th
Armored Division, they gave to and got hell from German Panzers and infantry.
When ordered to pull back, the town of Foy South of them had been overrun and
the Germans ambushed the withdrawing column. What followed was one hell of a
fight before the Americans broke through. The rest of the book covers Company
A's deployment around Bastogne and the mighty defensive struggle that went on
there before being relieved by elements of Patton's 3rd Army.
Burgett gives a great account of combat from an infantryman's perspective as well as the actions of other units and a good
description of the local tactical situations and the overall strategic situations.
Reviewed by Kenneth S. Smith
10/09/2001
Available from:
