To VE-Day Through German Eyes - The Final Defeat of Nazi Germany (Trigg Jonathan)(Paperback / softback)

‘If Germany stays united and marches to the rhythm of its revolutionary socialist outlook, it will be unbeatable. Our indestructible will to life, and the driving force of the Führer’s personality guarantee this.’ (Joseph Goebbels, 4 June 1943.) It wasn’t and it didn’t.After the collapse of the German Army in the West in August 1944, the western Allies raced towards the borders of the Reich itself, and in the East the victorious Red Army was doing the same – everyone believed the war would be over by Christmas. But it wasn’t. Somehow, Nazi Germany managed to stave off final defeat until May the following year. In the end the agony was brought to a close with the hammer and sickle flying over the ruins of Berlin. The much-vaunted ‘Thousand Year Reich’ had lasted just a dozen years, but in that time it had wrought havoc across the globe. With defeat came the wholesale surrender of the once-proud Wehrmacht; hosts of men suddenly found themselves miles from home in territories ravaged by war. Amongst their ranks were thousands of non-Germans from all over Europe, men – mostly ex-Waffen-SS – who had thrown in their lot with the Germans; they were now ‘collaborators’ and ‘traitors’ and would return home to face the justice of the victors.Most histories focus on the fate of Adolf Hitler and German High Command on the road to the bunker beneath the rubble of Berlin, but on the Germ
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