NONFICTION - Aug. 4, 1991

OTHER LOSSES by James Bacque (Prima Publishing: $22.95; 296 pp.). Traditionally, the winners in war get to define the history of the conflict. This was certainly true after World War II; if there were questions raised about some behavior on the part of the Allied forces (the bombing of Dresden, the use of the atom bomb), they have been downplayed when placed next to the atrocities of Nazi Germany. Author Bacque claims that the Allies, specifically Gen. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander in the European theater at the end of the war, did far worse: They refused to feed or adequately house German prisoners of war during that first winter, causing many of them to die. In advance of the book’s publication, these shocking charges have been rebutted by other historians and retired military personnel who served under Eisenhower. But they have conceded that, with a shortage of food, the military cared for civilians first, and gave what was left to the uniformed men they had captured. The truth seems to exist somewhere in between.