The Victors

Eisenhower and His Boys: The Men of World War II

By: Stephen E. Ambrose

Narrated by: Cotter Smith

From America’s preeminent military historian, Stephen E. Ambrose, comes the definitive telling of the war in Europe, from D-Day, June 6, 1944, to the end, eleven months later, on May 7, 1945.

This authoritative narrative account is drawn by the author himself from his five acclaimed books about that conflict, most particularly from the definitive and comprehensive D-Day and Citizen Soldiers, about which the great Civil War historian James McPherson wrote, “If there is a better book about the experience of GIs who fought in Europe during World War II, I have not read it. Citizen Soldiers captures the fear and exhilaration of combat, the hunger and cold and filth of the foxholes, the small intense world of the individual rifleman as well as the big picture of the European theater in a manner that grips the reader and will not let him go. No one who has not been there can understand what combat is like but Stephen Ambrose brings us closer to an understanding than any other historian has done.”

The Victors also includes stories of individual battles, raids, acts of courage and suffering from Pegasus Bridge, an account of the first engagement of D-Day, when a detachment of British airborne troops stormed the German defense forces and paved the way for the Allied invasion; and from Band of Brothers, an account of an American rifle company from the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment who fought, died, and conquered, from Utah Beach through the Bulge and on to Hitter's Eagle’s Nest in Germany.

Stephen Ambrose is also the author of Eisenhower, the greatest work on Dwight Eisenhower, and one of the editors of the Supreme Allied Commander's papers. He describes the momentous decisions about how and where the war was fought, and about the strategies and conduct of the generals and officers who led the invasion and the bloody drive across Europe to Berlin.

But, as always with Stephen E. Ambrose, it is the ranks, the ordinary boys and men, who command his attention and his awe. The Victors tells their stories, how citizens became soldiers in the best army in the world. Ambrose draws on thousands of interviews and oral histories from government and private archives, from the high command—Eisenhower, Bradley, Patton—on down through officers and enlisted men, to re-create the last year of the Second World War when the Allied soldiers pushed the Germans out of France, chased them across Germany, and destroyed the Nazi regime.©1998 Stephen E. Ambrose, All Rights Reserved; (P)1998 Simon & Schuster Audio, All Rights Reserved, AUDIOWORKS is an Imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster Inc.

Interesting Listening

Ambrose is a master of this kind of work. The narration is clear and does not get in the way of the great writing. I had hoped for more of an insight into Eisenhower whereas the work is really much more about the whole European Theatre of Operations. There is a fair amount of material which is really a cut & paste from Band Of Brothers and/or D Day by the same author but this material is appropriate and does not suffer from repetition. A good listen for anybody who has even the slightest interest in this period of history.

A repeat of Citizen Soldiers

Good book, but large sections are near-carbon copies of Citizen Soldiers by Ambrose. Very few sections with new content.

Evan's Review

This book is good but if you want to good but read Citizen Soldiers is better

Excellent book about WW2 in Europe

Great book about WW2 European theater, with emphasis on Eisenhower's leadership, American GIs. Not long, but full of great stories & history. Thank you Stephen Ambrose for telling the story.

Great Story

I loved the information and stories of combat and struggles. One thing that was annoying was sometimes between pauses I could hear another conversation happening in the background.