Battle of the Bulge

Fought in the winter of 1944–1945, the coldest in over 100 years, the Battle of the Bulge still ranks as the single largest battle ever fought by the United States Army. Thirty-one American divisions—fully one-third of the U.S. Army raised during World War II—saw action in this battle. But it was also a test: could this conscript army from a pacifistic democracy defeat the best remaining men and machines that Germany’s totalitarian government could produce?
In Battle of the Bulge, author and artist Wayne Vansant brings readers into the frozen foxholes, haunting forests, and devastated villages of the Ardennes during that freezing cold winter. With meticulous historical accuracy and hand-drawn visuals that can tell a story in ways words alone cannot, Vansant recounts the Bulge with insightful detail, replaying the thrusts and volleys of both the combined Allied and German forces during the tumultuous battle. This is a story of panic, fear, and physical misery; a story of how a generation of draftees, National Guardsmen, and a small core of regular officers and NCOs faced those three elements as snow piled around their foxholes and the incessant drumming of artillery splintered the woods that gave them shelter. It is the story of men, frozen and hurting, far from home and holding little hope of seeing it again until the killing finally ended. But above all, Battle of the Bulge is a story of incredible triumph, now beautifully illustrated in graphic novel format for the first time.

Writer and artist WAYNE VANSANT (Mableton, GA) was the primary artist for Marvel’s The ’Nam for more than five years. Since then, he has written and illustrated many historically accurate books, including Antietam: The Fiery Trial (with the National Park Service) and The Vietnam War: A Graphic History. His most recent publications, all part of Zenith Press’s Graphic History series, are Normandy (fall 2012), Gettysburg (spring 2013), Grant vs. Lee (fall 2013), Bombing Nazi Germany (fall 2013), and The Red Baron (spring 2014).