The Liberation Line : the untold story of how American engineering and ingenuity won World War II / Christian Wolmar.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wolmar, Christian, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

World War, 1939-1945--Transportation--Europe.

World War, 1939-1945.

Military railroads--Europe--History--20th century.

Military railroads.

World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Western Front.

Military engineering--United States--History--20th century.

Military engineering.

World War, 1939-1945--Europe--Engineering and construction.

United States. Army. Military Railway Service.

United States.

Physical Description:

xxx, 336 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

Untold story of how American engineering and ingenuity won World War II

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Hachette Books, Hachette Book Group, 2024.

Summary:

"There have been many books about D-Day and the Allied invasion of Europe that ended the World War Two. But one dramatic aspect of this story has been almost entirely ignored. Until now. "The Liberation Line" shows that without the incredible, indomitable work of the US Military Rail Service, and their counterparts in the British Royal Engineers, who overcame enemy attacks, sabotage, and booby traps to repair many hundreds of miles of destroyed railway tracks and dozens of bridges and tunnels, the invasion would almost certainly have foundered. But thanks to the startling creativity and leadership of American soldier-engineers like the General Emerson Ischtner and Colonel Sidney Bingham, whose men achieved apparently impossible things, the Allied armies could travel deep into Nazi-occupied territory at tremendous speed. "The Liberation Line" tells for the first time how more than 1,000 locomotives and 31,000 carriages were manufactured in secret in the United States and shipped to England, where they were hidden until D-Day; how, on General Patton's orders (and under General Itschner's leadership), more than 10,000 soldier-engineers repaired 135 miles of devastated track between Avranches and Le Mans, at times under enemy attack, in five days, enabling the US Third Army to reconquer Paris. This was followed by the creation of the Toot Suite Express, another staggering feat, which enabled several million tons of essential supplies to be transported at speed from the Normandy coast deep into France. The engineers' final, triumphant effort was the restoration, also at breakneck speed, of a series of destroyed railway bridges over the Rhine into Germany and the immediate seizure, restoration and operation of the German rail system. None of these stories have ever been told. Drawing heavily on untouched archival sources in the US, UK, and France, and told with the enthusiastic support of relevant archivists and military authorities, "The Liberation Line" is a highly original, intensely dramatic story of American ingenuity, one which will delight readers for years to come"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

The Biggest Task

Destruction

First Tracks

The Greatest Challenge

All Aboard To Paris

Railways Everywhere

Lifesavers, But Not Always

Waiting for Antwerp

Hitler's Last Throw

Take Over

Peace, But the Work of the Railways Never Stops.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780306831980

0306831988

9780306831997

0306831996

OCLC:

1396553160

Publisher Number:

99996576463