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The Unknown Dead: Civilians in the Battle of the Bulge. By Peter Schrijvers. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2005. ISBN 0-8131-2362-6. Maps. Photographs. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. xviii, 430. $35.00.
Many books have been written on the Battle of the Bulge; the dramatic German breakthrough; the agonizing retreat of dazed and confused American soldiers; the heroic defense thrown up by overrun units who refused to surrender; the Malmédy Massacre; the famous bon mot, "Nuts!", delivered to the Germans by the 101st Airborne Division's General McAuliffe; Patton's nearly impossible drive north to rescue Bastogne; and finally, the hotly debated frontal assault on the Bulge in the dead of winter. American and German soldiers suffered the weather, wounds, and death, but little attention has been paid to the civilians caught in the middle of this horrendous struggle. The Unknown Dead fills this historical gap and tells the story in all its gruesome detail.
Civilians caught in battle have always been imperiled, but the situation in eastern Belgium and western Germany became more complicated when Hitler annexed Luxembourg and a swath of Belgium in front of the West Wall. American liberators who arrived in the fall of 1944 soon discovered that the population was divided in its loyalties. Many welcomed their liberation, volunteered to aid the American army, and cooperated fully. This was especially true of younger men who had deserted the Wehrmacht, were in hiding to avoid labor service in the Reich, or were members of the Maquis.
Other civilians, however, were loyal to the Nazi regime and had sons, husbands, brothers, and fathers who served in the German army. Many had been impressed, some...