Citizen Soldiers
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Citizen Soldiers: The US Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany to Citizen Soldiers is a non-fiction book about World War II written by Stephen E. Ambrose and published in 1998. It deals with Allied soldiers moving in from the Normandy beaches, and through Europe (between June 7, 1944 and May 7, 1945). In addition to telling short stories of countless soldiers experiencing the war, the author also explains the events before telling the stories. He interviewed dozens of soldiers in the making of the book.
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[edit] Praise
The book was well received and became a New York Times best seller. Notable figures such as Colin Powell have praised the book. The Wall Street Journal has also credited the book.
[edit] Criticism
The book has also been criticized for overemphasizing the U.S. role in the liberation of Western Europe and limiting the role that British forces played in the course of the war. It is postulated that Ambrose also went out of his way to portray U.S. soldiers as morally superior to other WWII combatants, at one point implying that young men in the rest of the world's armies routinely engaged in rape, murder, and pillaging but that U.S. soldiers were above such behavior.
[edit] List of chapters
- Expanding the Beachhead, June 7-June 30, 1944
- Hedgerow Fighting, July 1-July 24, 1944
- Breakout and Encirclement, July 25-August 25, 1944
- To the Siegfried Line, August 26-September 30, 1944
- The Siegfried Line, October 1944
- Metz and the Hurtgen Forest, November 1-December 15, 1944
- The Ardennes, December 16-December 19, 1944
- The Ardennes, December 20-December 23, 1944
- The Holiday Season, December 24-December 31, 1944
- Night on the Line
- Replacements and Reinforcements, Fall 1944
- The Air War
- Medics, Nurses, and Doctors
- Jerks, Sad Sacks, Profiteers, and Jim Crow
- Prisoners of War
- Winter War, January 1945
- Closing to the Rhine, February 1-March 6, 1945
- Crossing the Rhine, March 7-March 31, 1945
- Victory, April 1-May 7, 1945