On 16 October, 1944, the 3rd White Russian Front launched its massive offensive against Heeresgruppe Mitte. The German 4th Armee, whose line of defense stretched from Nowograd on the Narew to Memel, was quickly broken through.This is the very personal war-diary of the adjutant of Volkssturm Einsatz Bataillon Goldap (25/235), which was activated, with a strength of 400 men, on 17 October, 1944. Inadequately armed with Russian infantry rifles lacking slings, light machine guns and Pa...

Under Himmler's Command addresses two areas of World War II hitherto neglected - Heinrich Himmler as a military commander, and the German staff officer corps during the last months of the war on the Eastern Front.The author, Hans-Georg Eismann, was the Operations Officer for Army Group Vistula, a German formation created in late January 1945 to which Heinrich Himmler was appointed as commander. Eismann's memoir of this period has remained unpublished for over fifty years, and its w...

The Panzer Lehr Division was one of the most élite German armoured formations in existence in early 1944. Its baptism of fire was in the deadly Normandy bocage. Although suffering heavy losses in Normandy, the Division continued to fight in North-West Europe until the end of the war, seeing particularly notable service during the Ardennes Offensive and in the Ruhr. The first volume in the new Helion series WWII German Military Studies prints an extensive number of reports written by former...