"When soldiers quit" by Bruce Watson [book]

Hi, Carl,

It would be interesting to know more about what you see in the focus of this book. This title could easily foster an old misconception.

There were a few reporters who were quoted again and again who spread untruths. Put something in print and it seems like truth. One in particular I have heard stated something to the effect that men in this division had given up without firing a shot. I believe that anyone who takes time to read the After Action Reports and other documentation will be convinced that just the opposite was true.

That's an interesting question. It will take someone who is more deeply steeped in the research than I am to give you a clear answer on what reporters may or may not have been in the area.

The only thing I have read that touches on this is an account of the whereabouts of a single reporter. This is the story with which John SD Eisenhower chooses to lead off his book Bitter Woods: The Battle of the Bulge.

Eisenhower tells of the journey of Philadelphia Inquirer reporter "Cy" Peterman from the 28th division command post in northern Luxembourg to the First Army Headquarters in Spa Belgium on the 15th of December 1944. According to Eisenhower, Peterman traveled along the road through 106th territory that Americans referred to as Skyline Drive as he journeyed from Luxembourg City through St. Vith, Belgium, to Spa. He was alarmed by the massive German troop movements he glimpsed along the route, and reported these to 1st Army commander Courtney Hodges.

So, according to this account, Peterman would not have been at the front at the time of the break-through. But, he would not have been far away.

Of other reporters I know nothing. I haven't seen anything written by Peterman, but I might make a stab at tracking his work down.