World War II Essay -- History, War, Normandy Beaches

Starting with the hedgerows of the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany on June 7, 1944 to May 7, 1945 Ambrose tells an authentic story of World War II from the point of view of the men who battled in the war. The author explains the narrative of the â€Å"GIs, junior officers and enlisted men â€Å" (Ambrose 14), proved Hitler wrong by driving his Wehrmacht back from the beached of Normandy back to Germany. One of the greatest lessons that the reader can learn from reading the book, Citizen Soldiers is that the success of war is heavily relied upon by the junior officers and non-commissioned officers on the front lines. As the title suggests, Citizen Soldiers is not so much a study on tactical moves as it is on the citizen soldier from all parts of the United States. The book concentrates on the American GI Joe and not the Allies as a whole. The Gis were all American boys who believed in their cause, they drafted or had enlisted voluntarily, but only a few wanted to be at war, and Ambrose stated, Citizen Soldiers is not about â€Å"the generals, it’s about the junior officers and enlisted men of ETO---who they were, how they fought, why they fought, what they endured, [and] how they triumphed† (Ambrose 13). The epic drama of the European Theater of Operation (ETO) is told by Ambrose by following, almost step by step, various individuals and outfits among the tens of thousands of young Allied soldiers who broke away from the deadly beaches of Normandy and swept across France to Ardennes, fought the Battle of the Bulge, captured the bridge at Remagen, and crossed the Rhine to final victo ry in Europe. Ambrose notices that the U.S. ruined the Nazi war machine with considerable aerial bombing, artillery, and the great mob... ...that Germany was on the defensive side of the Western Front, reinforcements became ever more important. Yet as Ambrose explains the Germans could just not tactically keep the Allies in check with reinforcements. Resulting into withdrawal after withdrawal, which lead into another German tactic. The German technique of departure was that of being unhurried and expensive. They left little to the Allies and damaged everything in their withdraw trail. They also used malicious methods to dismember Allied troops such as mines and other nasty surprises. By portraying several German surrenders, Ambrose paints the picture that Germany had lost its compassion and need for traditional warfare. In since they had had enough and as Ambrose tells they were quick in many circumstances even humorous to some extent, to surrender, which would ultimately be Germany's last war tactic.