The Reich's Last Gamble: The Ardennes Offensive, December 1944

London: Cassell & Co. 7, 2000. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. 1st Printing Stated ""First published 2000"" with no other printings noted. Printed and bound in Great Britain.Hard cover in fine condition with green boards and gold gilt spine lettering. Interior text block clean & tight; no writings, no markings noted. Contains maps throughout. Two sections of eight leaves/16 pages each of glossy black & white photographs. Dust jacket in likewise fine condition; no price on flap. * From the jacket flap, ""It was the last gamble by the Third Reich to win back control of the war on the Western Front, but in just four weeks over December 1944 and January 1945 it ended in defeat. The Battle of the Bulge, as the surprise German counter-offensive in the Ardennes came to be known, had been intended to divide the Allied forces, halt their drive from Normandy to the Rhine, perhaps even force one or the other of the Allies to negotiate a peace agreement. Hitler's plans had started formidably well, helped by the bad weather which kept Allied aircraft on the ground. But the US Army recovered its nerve, the German forces were contained, and the gamble failed. German losses were considerable, their military morale broken. It was the beginning of the end of German resistance on the Western Front."" This is the whole story. "". . . a new, concise and well-ordered history of the most important battle fought by the US Army on the Western Front in the Second World War.""