Ardennes The Secret War Author:Charles Whiting The Allied advance on Germany's West Wall received its biggest setback from the German counteroffensive of December 16, 1944. The general outline of the Battle of the Bulge, or "Ardennes Offensive" as it is more commonly known in Europe, is well-known and has become a great military legend. However, as veteran World War II author Charles Whiting... more » reveals here, the magnitude of the German surprise has been downplayed in the West and the extent of German deception and sabotage operations minimized. Charles Whiting traces German operations through the eyes of three key officers, all of whom he interviewed after the war: Hermann Giskes, a German Army counterintelligence officer who had broken the Allied spy network in Holland and set up his own force of spies and saboteurs; Freiherr (Baron) von der Heydte, an aristocratic paratroop officer assigned to make a last desperate jump behind Allied lines; and Otto Skorzeny, an SS commando leader assigned to deploy agents in American uniforms behind Allied lines during the upcoming offensive. These three officers were key members of a German "secret war" that was more extensive and came closer to success than many previous accounts have suggested.« less