| Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944-1945 Contributor(s): Hastings, Max (Author) |
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ISBN: 0375714227 ISBN-13: 9780375714221 Publisher: Vintage OUR PRICE: $19.80 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: October 2005 Annotation: In September 1944, the Allies believed that Hitler's army was beaten and expected the bloodshed to end by Christmas. Yet a series of mistakes and setbacks, including the Battle of the Bulge, drastically altered this timetable and led to eight more months of brutal fighting. With Armageddon," the eminent military historian Max Hastings gives us memorable accounts of the great battles and captures their human impact on soldiers and civilians. He tells the story of both the Eastern and Western Fronts, raising provocative questions and offering vivid portraits of the great leaders. This rousing and revelatory chronicle brings to life the crucial final months of the twentieth century's greatest global conflict. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Military - World War Ii - History | Modern - 20th Century - History | Western Europe - General |
| Dewey: 940.542 |
| Physical Information: 1.38" H x 5.91" W x 7.42" (1.49 lbs) 672 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 1940's - Cultural Region - Germany |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: This is epic story of the last eight months of World War II in Europe by one of Britain's most highly regarded military historians, whose accounts of past battles John Keegan has described as worthy "to stand with that of the best journalists and writers" (New York Times Book Review). In September 1944, the Allies believed that Hitler's army was beaten, and expected that the war would be over by Christmas. But the disastrous Allied airborne landing in Holland, American setbacks on the German border and in the H rtgen Forest, together with the bitter Battle of the Bulge, drastically altered that timetable. Hastings tells the story of both the Eastern and Western Fronts, and paints a vivid portrait of the Red Army's onslaught on Hitler's empire. He has searched the archives of the major combatants and interviewed 170 survivors to give us an unprecedented understanding of how the great battles were fought, and of their human impact on American, British, German, and Russian soldiers and civilians. Hastings raises provocative questions: Were the Western Allied cause and campaign compromised by a desire to get the Soviets to do most of the fighting? Why were the Russians and Germans more effective soldiers than the Americans and British? Why did the bombing of Germany's cities continue until the last weeks of the war, when it could no longer influence the outcome? Why did the Germans prove more fanatical foes than the Japanese, fighting to the bitter end? This book also contains vivid portraits of Stalin, Churchill, Eisenhower, Montgomery, and the other giants of the struggle. The crucial final months of the twentieth century's greatest global conflict come alive in this rousing and revelatory chronicle. |