Though written in shaky, unidiomatic English, it does something that other books don’t do: it focuses on, dwells on and quotes the surviving infantrymen about their real day-and-night living-and-dying hell.

And by doing this the book can’t help but rip away the self-glorifying, larger-than-life aura that has engulfed Gen. George Patton over the past 60 years.

The troops that Urbain focuses on belonged primarily to three divisions of Patton’s third Army, the 87th Infantry, 11th Armored and 17th Airborne Division. The book concentrates on late December and January, 1944-45, a few days after the city of Bastogne was almost surrounded by German troops during the Battle of the Bulge.

Urbain convincingly demonstrates that these green troops were thrown helter-skelter against experienced German formations in prepared positions, and forced to survive freezing weather as well as their opponents’ superior weapons with both inadequate American weapons and, more amazingly, unsupplied with vital tactical information, coordination, and clothing.

A main accomplishment of the book is that in reconstructing the individual infantry battles the author asks and answers the crucial questions: Did it have to happen this way? The answer, according to both the author and the fighting infantrymen, is a resounding “no.”

Wearing dark overcoats that contrasted against the snow, the first battalion, 345th Infantry Regiment, 87th Division was precipitately committed to battle on Patton’s orders on Dec. 29, 1944, in the Belgian village of Moircy. With no time to reconnoiter, no time to coordinate with other units, and really no time to plan within their own squads, companies, and battalions, the attack proved bloody hopeless.

But just as excruciating was that the young troops were committed with no opportunity to connect with other major units and functions. Artillery was practically ignorant of the infantry, its capabilities and whereabouts, and neither branch knew what the under-armed tank units’ tactics and capabilities were. And, although the attacks to liberate Bastogne were crucial, apparently little consideration had been given to coordinating with the tactical Air Force, which faced weather obstacles in attempting to operate.

Facts on the ground underscored another sad and shameful contrast—that between American and German weapons. German tanks, German artillery, and German machineguns were clearly superior to their American counterparts. Only one American weapon, the Garand rifle, proved superior to its German counterpart.

As a Belgian, Urbain can be pardoned for being unaware of the structural deficiencies of the U.S. Army that stemmed all the way back to basic training in the Southern states. At that time, it never occurred to the generals that their soldiers might have to fight in cold, snowy weather. As a result, infantrymen who were trained in warm weather waded into the frozen snows of Europe wearing canvas leggings, Army shoes, and dark clothing.

As excruciating as enemy shrapnel was, more infantrymen were evacuated because of cold-weather injuries than from wounds. Moreover, American infantrymen were bereft of simple, lifesaving white cloaks much more than their German opponents.

Throughout “The Little-Known Front”, Urbain strives to keep abreast of the war’s impact on the local population, a welcome approach initiated by the Belgian Victor Dermience in his 2001 book, “Bataille des Ardennes” initially published in French and translated into English.

There is much to recommend “The Little Known Front.” Too often, military histories are recorded in the distant third-person or from a high-level perspective. In this book, the infantrymen, some of whom became POW’s, act and speak for themselves, lending power and immediacy to their accounts, which are consistently enlightening.

Much of the “Little Known Front” was derived from After-Action Reports at the National Archives as well as from interviews with the survivors. It is a testament to the author that he journeyed from Europe and spent substantial time to perform this laborious and rewarding research.

The result is a book not about self-serving decisions and grand, chessplayer moves, but about those young American infantrymen who really deserved the glory. Tens of thousands died, were wounded or froze their feet in the drive, ultimately successful, to liberate Bastogne and drive the Germans steadily backward to victory in May, 1945.

Whether they were gloriously killed in battle or survived and died at home during the past 60 years, may they all rest in God’s sublime peace.

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