"St. Vith: Lion in the Way" [BOOK]

[connie]

St. Vith: Lion in the Way by Ernest Dupuy.
This book is the carefully documented work of a historian and is devoted solely to the story of the 106th Division.

This was the first book brought up when the subject of useful books was mentioned. I invite the author of that General Board spot to add his comments here.

[Larry Heider]

Col. Ernest Dupuy book is, without doubt, the premier story of the Golden Lions. As an official Army historian, he takes the reader from the birth of the 106th Division in late 1942, through the organization, training and constant depletion of trainees in Tennessee and Camp Atterbury, Indiana, the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean to England and then to France, and the eventual arrival at St. Vith. The onset of the Battle of the Bulge is described in great detail as is the resulting confusion and dire situations which followed. The closing of the "Goose Egg" and eventual push into Germany is also recounted in great detail.
The capture and imprisonment of a great number of the 422nd and 423rd Regiments is explained and bears testament to the bravery and fortitude of the men who faced the tip of the German thrust.
The amount of in-depth information and historical facts to be found in the book is by far the best place to begin a search for the truth about the men of the Golden Lions. It can usually be found on ebay.com or Amazon.com for around $30.

[bigjohn]

I have actually read this book and can confirm that it is well worth it. I believe I had found it on e-bay for a bit more than 20 bucks. It really filled in some gaps that I had been looking for answers for.

[Carl W.]

4.
The official division history.


First edition, 1949.

Note that Dupuy was a know writer for the Saturday Evening Post and was also the author of "The incredible valor of Eric Wood", an article describing the experiences of Lt Eric Wood, Exec A-Btry, 589 FA Bn, awarded with the DSC. "St Vith: Lion in the way" was one of the first books written on the division and after 60 years is still what I call 'the bible' on the 106th.

The book has been republished in 1984 and there are still copies available on Amazon or eBay. Copies of the first edition published in 1949 pop up occasionally, but have gone up in price exceedingly the last few years.

Carl

[dianekrollewis]

5.
I have the first edition of LION IN THE WAY, and also a letter from the author
to my mother after she mailed him some letters from his men. I couldn't scan
it into this column however. Also, I see no one has noted Robert Merriam's
book, DARK DECEMBER, which is also the story of the Battle of the Bulge, and
was published in 1947..............and NO....none are for sale. You might also
note that the weather channel did a feature on the Battle of the Bulge on how
weather changed history.

[connie]

6.
Diane,

Thanks for the book suggestion. You'll note that you spurred someone else on. Dark December now has its own thread:
106thdivision.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=books&action=display&thread=235

Connie

[connie]

Book Fact CORRECTION:
If we're getting things straight here, I noted one small point to correct very early on in St. Vith:Lion in the way.
Chapter 2 P. 8 Dupuy quickly mentions the names of the 3 ships that carried the division. He got the Aquitania and the Wakefield right. But I believe he has the wrong queen for the third ship. (He says Queen Mary). I believe the carrier was the Queen Elizabeth.

See "Dates & Places in Division History for more info about the ships on which the division made the Atlantic crossing: 106thdivision.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=dates

(If you have a copy this is a good time to write in the correction for posterity!)

[jrwentz]

This book is available for free download here: openlibrary.org/books/OL6049090M/St._Vith_Lion_In_The_Way

You can choose any or all of three formats: PDF, Text, or DAISY.  I recommend the PDF for most people. If you want to listen to the book use the DAISY format (I have never used it but I assume it works well. If you choose the Text version it should be a much smaller file size, and you should be able to copy parts of the text and paste it fairly easily. In my experience though, text versions of books often have glitches. Most importantly, you will not get the maps. Some of the maps are excellent and I think a few are unique to this book. However, some are more confusing than maps from other sources, and I question some of the positions shown on Map 5: The Tragedy of the Schnee Eifel. In particular, the position of the Third Battalion, 423rd Reg. is off, as Company M at the very least was on the NorthWest slope of Hill 504 closer to Schoenberg. On a trip to the Battlefield with my father in the year 2000 Dad described some of the action of that day as we viewed the hill from the Our River Bridge at the edge of Schoenberg. This is a minor detail unless you are researching a person who was on Hill 504, December 19, 1944.

[connie]

Granddaughter of Matthew Rozen 423-I tells of using the maps in this book in her 2012 visit to the territory in the ETO: 106thdivision.proboards.com/post/2513/thread