I'm trying to find an audiobook for this year's Christmas and so far have come up empty. The book is called "A Dark & Bloody Ground" and was published by Texas A&M (history dept. I believe). This book focuses upon the events leading up to the Battle of the Huertgen Forest in WWII where the 9th Infantry suffered heavy casualties in the midst of a leadership blunder. The trek into the dense forest virtually eliminated the Allies air & mechanical numerical superiority leaving the infantry as the only tool available. Thousands & thousands of Allied soldiers....our granddads, great uncles, etc....were killed or wounded in what turned out to be a debacle. Also it discusses a small village called Schmidt, near Aachen, where a young corporal earned a Purple Heart. Schmidt was of little strategic importance...just another village. According to the corporal, his company was fresh with replacements & at full strength when they were given the order to secure Schmidt. What they didn't know is that german armor was embedded in the hills above the town along with machine gun nests. Just when the GI's thought they had the village secured, the german armor basically brought it all down on top of them. 139 went in, 36 made it out.
You won't find that corporal's perspective in this audiobook. I know of this town and the goings-on of that day because that corporal who took a bullet pulling one of his brothers to safety lives an hour east of me in an assisted living retirement home. He goes to dialysis three days per week because his kidneys failed two years ago. The effects of renal failure & dialysis have all but completely claimed his eyesight to the point he can't see his television, much less read his hardback copy of this book again.
He is also my grandfather & the reason for so many of the good things in my life. When he was 81 years old in 2004, he first told me of Schmidt. 60 years after that day the memory still brought tears to his eyes.
I want to find this as an audiobook for him because he wants to reread the book but can't. I'd read & record it myself but I don't know how to compress into something that won't take three or four cassette tapes. Google search won't work. I've tried it & came up empty-handed. So hopefully you guys can come up with something on this one.
Thank you
TBGT
You won't find that corporal's perspective in this audiobook. I know of this town and the goings-on of that day because that corporal who took a bullet pulling one of his brothers to safety lives an hour east of me in an assisted living retirement home. He goes to dialysis three days per week because his kidneys failed two years ago. The effects of renal failure & dialysis have all but completely claimed his eyesight to the point he can't see his television, much less read his hardback copy of this book again.
He is also my grandfather & the reason for so many of the good things in my life. When he was 81 years old in 2004, he first told me of Schmidt. 60 years after that day the memory still brought tears to his eyes.
I want to find this as an audiobook for him because he wants to reread the book but can't. I'd read & record it myself but I don't know how to compress into something that won't take three or four cassette tapes. Google search won't work. I've tried it & came up empty-handed. So hopefully you guys can come up with something on this one.
Thank you
TBGT
Last edited:
