Historians gloss over too many unpalatable truths, Antony Beevor says

Historians have been too reliant on official documents and unwilling to tell the "unpalatable" truth about atrocities committed by British and American soldiers, Antony Beevorhas said. 

Beevor, the acclaimed writer, said official historians were too reluctant to take notice of useful anecdotes and other information about war, leaving their accounts incomplete. 

Saying official accounts of war were were nearly always sanitised, he has now highlighted the indiscriminate shooting of prisoners of war by Allied troops. 

Speaking at Hay Festival about the research for Ardennes 1944: Hitler’s Last Gamble, he said establishment historians have previously been under too much pressure to cover up the killings by relying on official records. 

His latest work uncovers stories of US and German troops in the Ardennes shooting prisoners on the other side, in one of the last "unmentionable" acts of war. ...