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

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Wolmar, Christian

Wolmar, Christian

Cary Regional
Duraleigh Road Community
East Regional
Leesville Community
Middle Creek Community
Southeast Regional

Adult Non-Fiction

Cary Regional - Adult Non-Fiction
Duraleigh Road - Adult Non-Fiction
East Regional - Adult Non-Fiction
Fuquay-Varina Community - Adult Non-Fiction
Holly Springs Community - Adult Non-Fiction
Leesville Community - Adult Non-Fiction
Middlecreek Community - Adult Non-Fiction
Southeast Regional - Adult Non-Fiction

"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 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"--

Book

Books

c371dfce-f2b3-9869-12f6-b61d5722558a

9780306831980
9780306831997

2025-04-28T09:14:06.151Z

-1

Non Fiction

Non Fiction

940.54 WOLMA

Year

Wake County Public Libraries

Cary Regional
Duraleigh Road Community
East Regional
Fuquay-Varina Community
Holly Springs Community
Leesville Community
Middle Creek Community
Southeast Regional

9780306831980

2024

Hachette Books

grouped_work

Military engineering -- United States -- History -- 20th century
Military railroads -- Europe -- History -- 20th century
United States. -- Army. -- Military Railway Service
World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- Western Front
World War, 1939-1945 -- Europe -- Engineering and construction
World War, 1939-1945 -- Transportation -- Europe

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

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

The Liberation Line

the untold story of how American engineering and ingenuity won World War II

Campaigns
Engineering and construction
History
Military engineering
Military railroads
Transportation
World War, 1939-1945