Cut Off; Behind Enemy Lines in the Battle of the Bulge with Two Small Children, Ernest Hemingway, and Other Assorted Misanthropes

by Bill Davidson and William Davidson

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812814525
• ISBN13: 9780812814521
• Release Date: January 1972
• Publisher: Stein and Day
• Length: 202 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.

Customer Reviews

"Cut Off" - a little known gem of wartime storytelling

Originally published in 1972 and now out of print, Cut-Off is the story of a skirt-chasing 23 year old GI reporter for Yank magazine who haplessly stumbles right into the opening hours of the Battle of the Bulge and results in an extraordiary odyssey to save the lives of two orphaned Jewish children, 6-year old Lisa and her 7 year old brother Friedrich. The children, as Davidson makes clear, are the true heroes of this book. It's just over a week before Christmas, 1944. The German army, thought to be nearly "kaput", has just opened the surprisingly brutal Ardennes offensive - smashing through lightly held American lines in the countryside of Belgium. Davidson, having just completed a romantic interlude in Brussels, smells a story and jumps in his Jeep - the "Lootwagen" - which he keps well stocked with Nylons, Liquor and Cigarettes - neccesary currency for a young reporter in search of the "action". Some of the dates and places don't quite seem to jibe with historical fact, but Davidson's self-deprecating humor overrides concerns over historic accuracy of the account. There's a little of everything - heroic soldiers, deserters, the Belgian resistance, black marketeers, and a drunken, clueless Ernest Hemingway. This is a tale the of small acts of humanity, hilarity, and self-preservation which rise from the terror of war. We learn the true meaning of the terms TARFU, FUBAR and SNAFU. A masterfully told tale with a profound message which captures the surreal chaos of wartime and its impact on children on a very personal level. Unforgettable.