From the preeminent British military strategist comes this riveting biography of Manstein, Hitler's most controversial general.Among students of military history, the genius of Field Marshal Erich von Manstein (1887–1973) is respected perhaps more than that of any other World War II soldier. He displayed his strategic brilliance in such campaigns as the invasion of Poland, the Blitzkrieg of France, the sieges of Sevastopol, Leningr...

"A tale drenched in drama and blood, heroism and cowardice, loyalty and betrayal."—Jonathan Yardley, The Washington PostThe Red Army had much to avenge when it finally reached the frontiers of the Third Reich in January 1945. Frenzied by their terrible experiences with Wehrmacht and SS brutality, they wreaked havoc—tanks crushing refugee columns, mass rape, pillage, and unimaginable destruction. Hundreds of thousands of women and children froze to death or...

As Führer of the Third Reich, Hitler was responsible for deciding the German war aims in 1939. As head of the Armed Forces from 4 February 1938 he was also responsible for the overall Wehrmacht strategy intended to achieve these aims.Hitler: Military Commander examines Hitler's key military decisions during the Second World War, and assesses how far these decisions were militarily justified in light of the intelligence available at the time.Perhaps most importantly it tackl...

A selection of the Military Book Club: An "informative and objective" biography of a genius commander and a study of his loyalty to the Nazi cause ( Library Journal).To many close students of World War II, Erich von Manstein is considered the greatest commander of the war, if not the entire twentieth century. He devised the plan that conquered France in 1940 and led an infantry corps in that campaign. At the head of a panzer corps, he reached the gates of ...

A selection of the Military Book Club: "A solid operational analysis" from "an established scholar of the Scandinavian theater" ( Publishers Weekly).This book describes the odd coalition between Germany and Finland in World War II and their joint military operations from 1941 to 1945. In stark contrast to the numerous books on the shorter and less bloody Winter War, which represented a gallant fight of a democratic "Davi...

The 5th SS Division Wiking was the first 'international' – i.e. largely non-German – Waffen-SS division and the only German panzer division comprised largely of foreign troops. Approximately 75 per cent of the division's strength were non-German nationals, all volunteers, and the majority from occupied countries like Belgium, Holland, France, Denmark, and Norway.The Wiking division operated exclusively on the Eastern Front during World War II, where the division quickly earned itsel...

In April 1945, Soviet forces descended on Berlin in the final phase of the war in Europe. The fighting was fierce as soldiers fanatically loyal to the Nazi party - and those afraid of the vengeance their opponents might enact - sought to stave off the end of the regime as long as possible.Even as it became clear that defeat was inevitable, Hitler and his subordinates determined to fight to the bitter end, resulting in a bitter, brutal end to the war. As the Russian...

On first publication, this uncommonly concise and readable account of Soviet Russia’s clash with Nazi Germany utterly changed our understanding of World War II on Germany’s Eastern Front, immediately earning its place among top-shelf histories of the world war. Revised and updated to reflect recent Russian and Western scholarship on the subject, much of it the authors’ own work, this new edition maintains the 1995 original’s distinction as a crucial volume in the history of World War II an...

The divisions of the Waffen-SS were the elite of Hitler’s armies in World War II, but the most fanatical of them were not even German. The book offers a comprehensive examination of every foreign Waffen-SS formation, including well-known divisions such as Wiking, Nord, and Prinz Eugen, notoriously brutal units such as the Kaminski Brigade and the British-recruited Britisches Freikorps. Each unit's history, structure and combat record is described in detail. Despite their non-Germanic backg...

The conflict on the Eastern Front in World War II was colossal in both scale and intensity, as the two infamous dictators of the twentieth century Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin vied for supremacy in Eastern Europe. On 22 June 1941 it was Hitler's fateful decision to launch the largest invasion ever seen, Operation Barbarossa, when 138 German divisions attacked the Soviet Union. Four years later, some two million German and eleven million Russian soldiers had ben killed in the course of the...

An engrossing history of the last year of the Second World War, charting the battles fought between the Soviet Red Army and the Nazis across German soil.The terrible months between the arrival of the Red Army on German soil and the final collapse of Hitler's regime were like no other in the Second World War. The Soviet Army's intent to take revenge for the horror that the Nazis had wreaked on their people produced a conflict of implacable brutality in which million...

"'A must read' for Eastern Front fans, as well as anyone seeking to find out more about the titanic struggle between Hitler and Stalin." — Armchair GeneralThis book not only tells the story of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, but describes the expertise, skills, and decision-making powers of the men who directed it, including new insights into the invasion's many tactical successes, as well as its ultimate failure.This...