Hitler's Last Bastion

Hitler's Last Bastion PDF Author: Franz Kurowski
Publisher: Schiffer Pub Limited
ISBN: 9780764305481
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 381

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Book Description
The final stage of the Second World War, with the enemy across the Reich's borders, saw final desperate battles for numerous "fortified places" and blocking positions. Hitler ordered the defense of these fortified places such as Konigsberg and Breslau, Wesel and Kolberg, Danzig, Posen and many others. In these isolated bastions the war-weary German units offered desperate resistance, offered for good purpose. This stubborn holding-on to the last round saved hundreds of thousands of women and children, made possible the evacuation of hospitals and the transport out of surrounded Wehrmacht female auxiliaries. The fates of German soldiers were realized in bunkers and caves, in tunnels and fields of rubble. In the Hurtgenwald as in the Reichswald, during the crossing of the Rhine between Wesel and Emmerich, in the Remagen bridgehead, on the hill at Keppeln, in the Ruhr pocket, as well as in the east of the Reich in the East Prussian pocket, in Pomerania, in Silesia and in the Reich capital. Shocking scenes of apocalyptic battle were played out wherever Hitler's last bastions held out against the onrushing enemy, whether at the frontiers of the Reich or inside Germany itself.

Hitler's Last Bastion

Hitler's Last Bastion PDF Author: Franz Kurowski
Publisher: Schiffer Pub Limited
ISBN: 9780764305481
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 381

Get Book

Book Description
The final stage of the Second World War, with the enemy across the Reich's borders, saw final desperate battles for numerous "fortified places" and blocking positions. Hitler ordered the defense of these fortified places such as Konigsberg and Breslau, Wesel and Kolberg, Danzig, Posen and many others. In these isolated bastions the war-weary German units offered desperate resistance, offered for good purpose. This stubborn holding-on to the last round saved hundreds of thousands of women and children, made possible the evacuation of hospitals and the transport out of surrounded Wehrmacht female auxiliaries. The fates of German soldiers were realized in bunkers and caves, in tunnels and fields of rubble. In the Hurtgenwald as in the Reichswald, during the crossing of the Rhine between Wesel and Emmerich, in the Remagen bridgehead, on the hill at Keppeln, in the Ruhr pocket, as well as in the east of the Reich in the East Prussian pocket, in Pomerania, in Silesia and in the Reich capital. Shocking scenes of apocalyptic battle were played out wherever Hitler's last bastions held out against the onrushing enemy, whether at the frontiers of the Reich or inside Germany itself.

Breslau 1945: Hitler's final fortress

Breslau 1945: Hitler's final fortress PDF Author: Eduardo Manuel Gil Martínez
Publisher: Soldiershop Publishing
ISBN: 8893276232
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 217

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Book Description
In 1944 Adolf Hitler ordered the creation of a defensive line based on fortress cities (festung) capable of stopping the enemy and then serving as a base for a counter-offensive that few saw as possible. Breslau, in Lower Silesia, was one of the chosen cities. For its fortification defensive rings and bunkers were built, artillery was reinforced and the civilian population was militarized. At the time of the Soviet attack the city was immediately surrounded. From February 13th, 1945 to May 6th, 1945, its supply could only come by air and was directed from Berlin. Parachute units arrived on gliders, while on the ground regiments such as the SS “Besslein” repelled the enemy and carried out hand attacks that forced the Russians to defend themselves. Breslau was not conquered: its military commander surrendered the city only when Berlin had already fallen and the fighting in Europe had stopped almost everywhere. During the siege, German forces suffered more than 6.000 deaths and 23.000 wounded to defend Breslau, while the Soviet losses were more than 60.000. The civilian casualties were as high as 80.000. Breslau was the last major city in Germany to surrender, capitulating only two days before the end of the war in Europe. This new issue of the Witness to War collection, illustrated with over a hundred pictures, offers the reader the exciting story of what was the last stronghold of the Reich.

Four Hours of Fury

Four Hours of Fury PDF Author: James M. Fenelon
Publisher: Scribner
ISBN: 1501179381
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
“Compellingly chronicles one of the least studied great episodes of World War II with power and authority…A riveting read” (Donald L. Miller, New York Times bestselling author of Masters of the Air) about World War II’s largest airborne operation—one that dropped 17,000 Allied paratroopers deep into the heart of Nazi Germany. On the morning of March 24, 1945, more than two thousand Allied aircraft droned through a cloudless sky toward Germany. Escorted by swarms of darting fighters, the armada of transport planes carried 17,000 troops to be dropped, via parachute and glider, on the far banks of the Rhine River. Four hours later, after what was the war’s largest airdrop, all major objectives had been seized. The invasion smashed Germany’s last line of defense and gutted Hitler’s war machine; the war in Europe ended less than two months later. Four Hours of Fury follows the 17th Airborne Division as they prepare for Operation Varsity, a campaign that would rival Normandy in scale and become one of the most successful and important of the war. Even as the Third Reich began to implode, it was vital for Allied troops to have direct access into Germany to guarantee victory—the 17th Airborne secured that bridgehead over the River Rhine. And yet their story has until now been relegated to history’s footnotes. In this viscerally exciting account, paratrooper-turned-historian James Fenelon “details every aspect of the American 17th Airborne Division’s role in Operation Varsity...inspired” (The Wall Street Journal). Reminiscent of A Bridge Too Far and Masters of the Air, Four Hours of Fury does for the 17th Airborne what Band of Brothers did for the 101st. It is a captivating, action-packed tale of heroism and triumph spotlighting one of World War II’s most under-chronicled and dangerous operations.

Hitler's Last Plot

Hitler's Last Plot PDF Author: Ian Sayer
Publisher: Da Capo Press
ISBN: 030692157X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
Revealed for the first time: how the SS rounded up the Nazis' most prominent prisoners to serve as human shields for Hitler in the last days of World War II In April 1945, as Germany faced defeat, Hitler planned to round up the Third Reich's most valuable prisoners and send them to his "Alpine Fortress," where he and the SS would keep the hostages as they made a last stand against the Allies. The prisoners included European presidents, prime ministers, generals, British secret agents, and German anti-Nazi clerics, celebrities, and officers who had aided the July 1944 bomb plot against Hitler--and the prisoners' families. Orders were given to the SS: if the German military situation deteriorated, the prisoners were to be executed--all 139 of them. So began a tense, deadly drama. As some prisoners plotted escape, others prepared for the inevitable, and their SS guards grew increasingly volatile, drunk, and trigger-happy as defeat loomed. As a dramatic confrontation between the SS and the Wehrmacht threatened the hostages caught in the middle, the US Army launched a frantic rescue bid to save the hostages before the axe fell. Drawing on previously unpublished and overlooked sources, Hitler's Last Plot is the first full account of this astounding and shocking story, from the original round-up order to the prisoners' terrifying ordeal and ultimate rescue. Told in a thrilling, page-turning narrative, this is one of World War II's most fascinating episodes.

Hitler's Last Secretary

Hitler's Last Secretary PDF Author: Traudl Junge
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
ISBN: 1628721618
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
In 1942 Germany, Traudl Junge was a young woman with dreams of becoming a ballerina when she was offered the chance of a lifetime. At the age of twenty-two she became private secretary to Adolf Hitler and served him for two and a half years, right up to the bitter end. Junge observed the intimate workings of Hitler’s administration, she typed correspondence and speeches, including Hitler’s public and private last will and testament; she ate her meals and spent evenings with him; and she was close enough to hear the bomb that was intended to assassinate Hitler in the Wolf’s Lair, close enough to smell the bitter almond odor of Eva Braun’s cyanide pill. In her intimate, detailed memoir, Junge invites readers to experience day-to-day life with the most horrible dictator of the twentieth century.

Hitler's war in the East, 1941-1945

Hitler's war in the East, 1941-1945 PDF Author: Rolf-Dieter Müller
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 9780857450753
Category : World War, 1939-1945
Languages : en
Pages : 526

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Book Description


World War II in Literature for Youth

World War II in Literature for Youth PDF Author: Patricia Hachten Wee
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 9780810853010
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 412

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Book Description
This comprehensive volume provides a wealth of information with annotated listings of more than 3,500 titles--a broad sampling of books on the war years 1939-1945. Includes both fiction and nonfiction works about all aspects of the war. Professional resources for educators aligned to the educational standards for social studies; technical references; periodicals and electronic resources; a directory of WWII museums, memorials, and other institutions; and topics for exploration complement this excellent library and classroom resource.

Hitler’s Winter

Hitler’s Winter PDF Author: Anthony Tucker-Jones
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472847415
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
'What a brilliant book this is... a terrific narrative of Hitler's Ardennes offensive of December 1944 – superb storytelling that achieves a skilful balance between drama and detail.' - James Holland The Battle of the Bulge was the last major German offensive in the West. Launched in the depths of winter to neutralize the overwhelming Allied air superiority, three German armies attacked through the Ardennes, the weakest part of the American lines, with the aim of splitting the Allied armies and seizing the vital port of Antwerp within a week. It was a tall order, as the Panzers had to get across the Our, Amblève, Ourthe and Meuse rivers, and the desperate battle became a race against time and the elements, which the Germans would eventually lose. But Hitler's dramatic counterattack did succeed in catching the Allies off guard in what became the largest and bloodiest battle fought by US forces during the war. In this book, Anthony Tucker-Jones tells the story of the battle from the German point of view, from the experiences of the infantrymen and panzer crewmen fighting on the ground in the Ardennes to the operational decisions of senior commanders such as SS-Oberstgruppenführer Josef 'Sepp' Dietrich and General Hasso von Manteuffel that did so much to decide the fate of the offensive. Drawing on new research, Hitler's Winter provides a fresh perspective on one of the most famous battles of World War II.

America's Military Adversaries

America's Military Adversaries PDF Author: John C. Fredriksen
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1576076040
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 636

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Book Description
This work chronicles the lives and accomplishments of over 200 enemies who have fought, plotted, spied on, and in some instances defeated U.S. forces over the past three centuries. Books on American military heroes abound. But this book is the first to focus on America's talented enemies—the generals, admirals, Indian chiefs and warriors, submarine captains, fighter pilots, and spies who opposed the United States with military force or other means. Often these military leaders were among the best minds of their times. For more than two centuries, the new nation's most constant military opponents were the Native Americans, led by such capable chiefs as American Horse and Little Wolf. Under D'Iberville, Canada's French colonialists became formidable foes, but they were soon surpassed by the rigorously disciplined redcoats of Great Britain under Howe and Cornwallis. Ironically, the most effective enemies in the history of the United States were not the leaders of foreign military forces—like Mexico's Santa Anna, Japan's Yamamoto, or Vietnam's Vo Nguyen Giap. They arose from among its own citizens during the Civil War, the bloodiest conflict in American history.

The Twisted Road to Auschwitz

The Twisted Road to Auschwitz PDF Author: Karl A. Schleunes
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 9780252061479
Category : Germany
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Going beyond the fanatical anti-Semitism of Hitler and his chiefs, Schleunes analyzes "the internal structure of the [Nazi] regime, the role of its bureaucracies, and the rivalries between competing power groups ... to trace the early stages of discrimination against Jews and their exclusion from public life that led ultimately to their deaths."--p.vii.