Earn Bloody Roads To Germany: At Huertgen Forest And The Bulge--an American Soldiers Courageous Story Of Worl D War II Drafted By William F. Meller Exhibited In Booklet

is William Mellers account of his World War II experiences, I found it a very engaging, quick read, Rather short, Mr. Meller tells of his experience in the Heurtgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge and finally as a Prisoner of War.


He starts his account on the morning of Dec, the opening of the Battle of the Bulge, where is in charge of a “platoon” ofmen.
For those that don't know A platoon is supposed to haveif fully staffed, His regiment, theth Inf of theth ID, is slowly rebuilding from the hell that was the Heurtgen.
As the author tells his story of his Battle of the Bulge which was rather short, he flashes back to the Heurtgen.


He is captured on the afternoon of theth and about half of the book is the story of his captivity.
Once again, I found his story well told, As a POW his story is one of the constant hunger and cold, He also tells of the black marketing that went on, He tells of volunteering for work details to earn extra food and later deciding not to volunteer, because they are becoming too dangerous.
Allied aircraft are a constant presence, bombing and straffing anything that moved, The wait as the Americans approach and the defiance of the prisoners to a movement to Austria is well done.


A couple of comments on the style, everything that Mr, Meller writes about prior to the battle of the Bulge is presented as a memory, These “memories” are printed in italics so they are easy to identify, Most of these "memories" are his experiences in the Heurtgen, but it also includes his arrival in Europe and his assignment to theth.


This style makes the story a little disjointed, but at the same time effective, When the “memories” are presented, something in the main story line causes the author to recall them.
An example of this is the authors story of his father, One of the most poignant is when a crippled guard reminds him of his father, His father who was wounded in WW I and walked with a limp, ironically was assigned to the same regiment and company as his son.


His last paragraph sums up his experience,

“In combat, I was so relieved when I lost my fear and became a soldier: I was relieved again when this feeling passed.
I got drunk a few times remembering the friend I left in Luxembourg, My fiancé understood why I was drunk she wanted to understand what I felt, I answered “Helpless”. Eventually this also passed. ”

All in all while this was a quick read, it is also a well done read I give it

An excellent personal account of WW.
I highly recommend this book, Interesting and Unique

With the mass of personal World War II accounts available to read, it would be easy to assume that redundancy would be an issue not so.
In fact, the joy of reading so many of these books is simply because each and every account proves to be so uniquely personal and different.
BLOODY ROADS TO GERMANY is no exception as William Meller offers his riveting experience of combat and captivity towards the end of World

War II.


While it is saddening that those who experienced the Second World War firsthand are leaving us at an exponential rate, it is comforting that so many have written about their roles in mankinds deadliest event so future generations can learn, understand and more importantly, appreciate.
Mellers account is first book Ive read about an Americans POW experience in Europe definitely NOT “Hogans Heroes” and it is written extremely well.


What I particularly found enjoyable and different about BLOODY ROADS TO GERMANY was the manner in which Meller tells his story.
Rather than laying out a straightforward chronology of events, the book starts with the author recalling the events of December,the onset of the Battle of the Bulge that trigger related memories of his earlier combat experience in the dreadful Heurtgen Forest.
These “recollection” moments are written in italics and read like detailed sidebars that help illustrate/support his ongoing story, which eventually includes the misery of being a POW in Germany.
Mellers writing style is succinct, but masterfully descriptive and addictively interesting the book is less thanpages.
The “recollection” segments peppered throughout give meaning to many aspects of Mellers story and manage to add significance to seemingly mundane events.


One compelling facet of Mellers story is that he basically fought the war on the same ground his father fought on in the First World War he even shares an interesting story of his fathers wartime experience.
The authors description of combat comes across as genuine, not chestthumping, heroic or embellished, I really felt I got a clearer picture of how the average GI experienced battle, both physically and mentally.
Mellers time as a POW comprises half of his wartime experience and it represents a good portion of the book.
I found his challenging time in captivity to be particularly interesting and enlightening as conditions were much different worse than I had always assumed.
In fact, Mellers captivity provides some of the most interesting storylines in the book especially the blackmarket activities and Mellers ongoing personal war with a particular civilian guard.
I now have a much clearer picture of how miserable and uncertain life was for those languishing in German POW camps.


BLOODY ROADS TO GERMANY is a wonderfully written wartime memoir, William Meller gives readers that flyonthewall perspective that made this book hard to put down, His unique story of combat and captivity should appeal to a wide range of readers, not just fans of history.

I base mystar rating on the fact that I just really enjoyed the book, It is fast paced and it was interesting to hear about his time as a POW, He was certainly lucky to survive his combat experiences, Interesting True story of a soldier that continuously grows up during battles and captivity during WW, The story of a young man in the closing year of WWII, Promoted to SSgt because of battle casualties he takes over his small squad and does his best to lead and protect them during the Battle of the Bulge.
Despite his leadership and care, they are captured and he tells us what it was like to be a POW in Germany.
It's a clear and well written piece without being terribly long, Fascinating that the author's father fought in WWI with the same unit and both went home with a chest full of medals.
At one point the author muses about whether his son would have to do something similar as two generations had already bled and killed for their country in an effort to defeat Germany.
Happily, we know that sacrifices from a third generation to defeat Germany were not needed, The world has turned and because of the blood, sweat, and tears of our grandparents/greatgrandparents today Germany is an ally of republican democracy.
I want to give the authorfor what he went thru but NO to his editor.

Found the writing disjointed and difficult to follow
Too bad, this would have made a great wwbook, Awesome! It was hard to put down.


This book tells the story of a young mans journey from the Huertgen Forest to being captured in Luxemburg in Decand sent to Stalag IX in Ziegenhain, Germany.

Can't tell anymore without spoiling, A memoir of Sergeant William Meller's participation in Huertgen Forest and Ardennes, followed by his capture and captivity in POW camp.
Just before his capture his team managed to approach and take prisoner a German officer and his medic.
By treating them humanely, the overrunning German commando troops didn't shoot them and send them to the rear to be sent to POW camp.
When the American Army gets close to his camp, the prisoners are to be transported to Austria.
The Americans refuse and are left alone to wait for their approaching troops, Actually.since I have such respect for the author and what endured while serving in WWII, He had an excellent but very short story to tell but what he really needed was a good editor who could have taken this book up a notch or two.
He never planned on becoming a leaderor a hero, . .

In NovemberSergeant William Meller was just twenty years old, Very soon into the fighting in Huertgen Forest, he found himself promoted to squad leader by attrition, since every single officer in the rifle companies had already been killed or wounded.
Meller and his men, living in freezing foxholes and armed only with rifles and a few machine guns and grenades, fought against the Wehrmacht's battlehardened soldiers and its juggernaut Panzer tanks, all while under withering barrages of artillery fire.


The bravery and determination of Meller and the soldiers of Meller'sth Infantry Division allowed them to survive what would become the longest single battle the U.
S. Army has ever fought in its history, But they would get little respite from the carnage, Almost immediately, they were sent to fight the Germans in the densely forested and bittercold Ardennes, Again, Meller and his GI's were vastly outnumbered and outequipped in the fight which would soon become known as the Battle of the Bulge, Hitler's final offensive.
The vaunted Wehrmacht threw everything they had in their arsenal against the American dogfaces,

This is the true story of a man in combat who continuously adapted to his circumstances with grace and courage, ultimately transforming himself from an ordinary young GI to a leader who helped show his soldiers, by example, how to survive war.
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