This first post introduces the US Army’s histories of the European Theater of Operations, my baseline reference for understanding the campaigns, sources of historical and contemporary maps, and my motivation for visiting the 1944-45 battlefields in Western Europe.  It provides a point of departure for the synergistic study of these campaigns through reading and map study, miniature wargaming, and battlefield visits.

Reading and Map Study

An essential and easily accessible reference covering the US perspective of the ETO campaign is the US Army in World War II Series issued by the US Army Center of Military History from the 1950s into the 1970s.  Extensively researched and with fold-out maps visible while reading, each volume was bound in a green-colored hard cover that led to the series being called the “Green Books.”  

The European Theater of Operations Series contains the following volumes:

* The Supreme Command

* Logistical Support of the Armies, Volume I: May 1941-September 1944

* Logistical Support of the Armies, Volume II: September 1944-May 1945

* Cross-Channel Attack

* Breakout and Pursuit

* The Lorraine Campaign

* The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge

* The Last Offensive

* Riviera to the Rhine

Although no longer available from the US Government Printing Office, the complete series is on-line at https://history.army.mil/html/bookshelves/collect/usaww2.html Whitman Publishing, LLC republished some volumes in the 1990’s and 2000’s, but with a poor quality of binding and the fold-out maps coming in a separate envelope.

The text and maps of the Green Books often have been my starting point for identifying possible wargame scenarios and developing my own battlefield tours.

The only disappointment I have with the series is that, as the size of the US Army expanded, the later  volumes did not provide the same depth of coverage as that of the earlier battles and campaigns.  As a result, there is relatively less detail than I would like for both study and wargaming, and the maps are far less helpful.  Nonetheless, all are worth reading at least once, and I continue to rely heavily upon them.

Miniature Wargaming

I am a solo wargamer by choice as I use the hobby as a means for studying military operations.  I try to make my wargaming experience more of battle and less of a game.

Most wargamers enjoy the competition inherent in the hobby.  They play to win — either by defeating their foe or fielding the best looking armies and terrain.  Most gamers have limited time and space for the hobby; at least that was my experience until my retirement.  This meant short games, which naturally leads to skirmishes or small engagements rather than large battles or a campaign.  

My greatest frustration with competitive gaming is the artificiality of all commanders on both sides and at every level of command have a complete view of the battlefield all of the time.  The use of umpires or hidden or decoy units doesn’t really solve the problem of the unreality of gamers immediately and continuously reacting to events that would be unobservable in the real world.  On a real battlefield, such frequent change of plans would result in “order, counter-order, disorder.”  Not that that doesn’t happen.  In reality, such frequent changes could not be communicated that quickly.

As umpire for (and supreme commander of both sides) in a solo game, I do not allow either commander to react to any enemy movement or deployment than that which historically was available to them at the start of the scenario, plus anything more than is learned through direct engagement, observation, reconnaissance, or other means of intelligence gathering. (More on this in a later posting.) 

Secondly, the more I studied the maps of the 1944-45 campaigns in the ETO, the more I realized I was devoid of coup d’œil — “the ability to discern at one glance the tactical advantages and disadvantages of the terrain.”  In simple English, I struggle with topographical maps.  Converting a map to a 3-D miniature battlefield is a challenge, but also a great way to learn the lay of the land and understand its impact on operations.

Battlefield Visits

For me, a visit to a battlefield provides an unsurpassable insight into history.  As we read, we have an image in our mind, but it’s not always accurate.  Seeing the terrain and locations always provides a much greater appreciation or a new understanding of what happened.  For example, the Arnhem battlefield was very different than I had expected. 

Often, finding the exact spot where something of relatively low importance to history happened can be a very rewarding personal experience.  At an early age I saw a photo in a book of a group of GIs of the 508th Parachute Infantry of the 82nd Airborne Division walking past the walled churchyard in Saint-Marcouf, Normandy.  The trailing member of this patrol was looking back toward the combat photographer as his buddies advance warily in the background.  I told myself then that some day I would stand where this guy was and I have.  I have also been to the exact spot where a departed friend, PFC James Sligar of the Third Platoon, Item Company, 23rd Infantry of the 2nd Infantry Division, first saw combat at Purple Heart Draw below the Normandy village of Saint-Georges-d’Elle.  And the tiny Breton seaport of Lézardrieux which was liberated by the crew of two US Navy motor torpedo boats including PT-515, on which a friend, Quartermaster Second Class Clyde O. Combs, served.   Another photo of a stretch of Dragon Teeth was my guide for setting up a handful of Roco Mini-Tank model Dragon Teeth when I was about ten years old.  Margot and I found that spot near Aachen in 2017.

Getting ready for such a trip takes much research and time, but it can be well worth it.  On the other hand, it can also be disappointing to visit a battlefield only to find it overbuilt with housing projects or replaced by massive open pit coal mining.  (Much more on how to plan successful battlefield visits later on.)

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