MWSA Review

Suzanne Agnes’s The Battle of the Bulge: Brothers Behind Enemy Lines is one of the most unique tales of World War II that I have ever read. In a war involving millions of combatants and almost the entirety of Europe, how do two brothers in two different units meet up on a road in the middle of Germany?

The story is told through the words of George Zak, who was only nineteen years old when he was captured at the beginning of the famous Battle of the Bulge. He recounts his upbringing and some family history to put his Bohemian heritage into focus. He was proud of his father’s service in World War I, and was willing to do his part in World War II, which found him in Europe near the end of the war. His capture began a harrowing journey back to freedom. His brother was also a soldier in Europe, in a different unit. How these two ended up meeting on the side of the road in Germany is one of the great coincidences of the war.

I particularly enjoyed how the author used her father’s (George’s) original words to tell most of the story. This made the story more personal. This isn’t a combat memoir, but instead one person’s small view of a huge part of the end of the war, and his struggles to stay positive amid capture. The reunion with his brother is the icing on the cake of a very human story.

Those who enjoy reading unique stories about coincidences of warfare will love this story, as will those who enjoy studying the Battle of the Bulge.

Review by Rob Ballister (March 2020)

Author's Synopsis

In 1944, George Zak, a 19-year-old U.S. Army private first class, was captured on the front line during the Battle of the Bulge, the largest and one of the deadliest battles of World War II in Europe. Forced to work as a slave laborer, George subsequently escaped from two prisoner-of-war camps.

Meanwhile, inside American-held territory, George's brother, Robert, a U.S. Army radioman, was determined to find where George might be held prisoner. Robert took his jeep and led his own personal rescue mission into enemy territory.

From the streets of a Bohemian enclave of Chicago to the forests of central Europe, these two brothers ventured to find each other. This is their story--and the story of a fast-fading generation of brave Americans who became accidental heroes in terror and under fire.

ISBN/ASIN: ISBN-10: 0938075993, ISBN-13: 978-0938075998
Book Format(s): Soft cover
Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography
Number of Pages: 156