Hitler's Final Fortress

Hitler's Final Fortress PDF Author: Richard Hargreaves
Publisher: Grub Street Publishers
ISBN: 1844686302
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 539

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Book Description
A dramatic account of how the Nazis were driven out of Breslau, drawing on the words of those who witnessed it. In January 1945, the Red Army unleashed its long-awaited thrust into Germany with terrible fury. One by one the provinces and great cities of the German East were captured by the Soviet troops. Breslau, capital of Silesia, a city of 600,000 people, stood firm and was declared a fortress by Hitler. A bitter struggle raged as the Red Army encircled Breslau, then tried to pummel it into submission while the city’s Nazi leadership used brutal methods to keep the scratch German troops fighting and maintain order. Aided by supplies flown in nightly and their building improvised weapons from torpedoes mounted on trolleys to an armored train, the men of Fortress Breslau held out against superior Soviet forces for three months. The price was fearful. By the time Breslau surrendered on May 6, 1945, four days after Berlin had fallen, tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians were dead, the city a wasteland. Breslau was pillaged, its women raped and every German inhabitant driven out of the city which became Wroclaw in postwar Poland. Based on official documents, newspapers, letters, diaries, and personal testimonies, this is the bitter story of Hitler’s final fortress.

Hitler's Final Fortress

Hitler's Final Fortress PDF Author: Richard Hargreaves
Publisher: Grub Street Publishers
ISBN: 1844686302
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 539

Get Book

Book Description
A dramatic account of how the Nazis were driven out of Breslau, drawing on the words of those who witnessed it. In January 1945, the Red Army unleashed its long-awaited thrust into Germany with terrible fury. One by one the provinces and great cities of the German East were captured by the Soviet troops. Breslau, capital of Silesia, a city of 600,000 people, stood firm and was declared a fortress by Hitler. A bitter struggle raged as the Red Army encircled Breslau, then tried to pummel it into submission while the city’s Nazi leadership used brutal methods to keep the scratch German troops fighting and maintain order. Aided by supplies flown in nightly and their building improvised weapons from torpedoes mounted on trolleys to an armored train, the men of Fortress Breslau held out against superior Soviet forces for three months. The price was fearful. By the time Breslau surrendered on May 6, 1945, four days after Berlin had fallen, tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians were dead, the city a wasteland. Breslau was pillaged, its women raped and every German inhabitant driven out of the city which became Wroclaw in postwar Poland. Based on official documents, newspapers, letters, diaries, and personal testimonies, this is the bitter story of Hitler’s final fortress.

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.

The Winter Fortress

The Winter Fortress PDF Author: Neal Bascomb
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0544368061
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
From the internationally acclaimed, best-selling author of Hunting Eichmann and The Perfect Mile, a World War II spy adventure set in Norway that draws on top-secret documents and memoirs of the saboteurs. In 1942, the Nazis were racing to complete the first atomic bomb. All they needed was a single, incredibly rare ingredient: heavy water, which was produced solely at Norway’s Vemork plant. Under threat of death, Vemork’s engineers pushed production into overdrive. If the Allies could not destroy the plant, they feared the Nazis would soon be in possession of the most dangerous weapon the world had ever seen. But how would the Allied forces reach the castle fortress, set on a precipitous gorge in one of the coldest, most inhospitable places on earth? Based on a trove of top-secret documents and never-before-seen diaries and letters of the saboteurs, The Winter Fortress is an arresting chronicle of a brilliant scientist, a band of spies on skis, perilous survival in the wild, Gestapo manhunts, and a last-minute operation that would alter the course of the war. “Riveting and poignant . . . The Winter Fortress metamorphoses from engrossing history into a smashing thriller . . . Mr. Bascomb’s research and, especially, his storytelling skills are first-rate.”—Wall Street Journal

Fortress Europe

Fortress Europe PDF Author: George Forty
Publisher: Ian Allan Publishing
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
A detailed account of the usefullnes effectiveness and the necissity of the Atlantic Wall to Hitler and Germanys advances in World War II.

Hitler's Last Plot

Hitler's Last Plot PDF Author: Ian Sayer
Publisher: Hachette UK
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.

Fortress Ploesti

Fortress Ploesti PDF Author: Jay A. Stout
Publisher: Casemate
ISBN: 161200041X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 413

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Book Description
A comprehensive account of the World War II Allied bombing campaign to destroy pivotal Romanian oil refineries—by the retired Marine Corps fighter pilot. Unlike previous books on Ploesti, Jay Stout goes well beyond the famous big and bloody raid of August 1943 and depicts the entire 1944 strategic campaign of twenty-plus missions that all but knocked Ploesti out of the war and denied the German war machine the fuel and lubricants it so desperately needed. Stout’s account is also a launching point for the author’s inquiries into many aspects of the American strategic bombing effort in World War II. It delivers across the board. Stout, who served as a Marine F/A-18 pilot in the First Gulf War, asks questions about aviation combat history and technique that any modern combat pilot would be dying to ask. He carries the ball far beyond the goal post set by all other Ploesti historians. He has gone out of his way to describe the defenses throughout the campaign, and he brings in the voices of Ploesti’s defenders to complement the tales of Allied airmen who brought Ploesti to ruin. He describes the role of the bombers, as well as that of the fighters, the antiaircraft defenses, even the technique of obscuring the Ploesti complex with smoke. Stout’s lucid presentation of complex issues at the tactical and strategic levels makes his narrative “a must for those with a special interest in the attacks on Ploesti” (World War II History Magazine).

Hitler's Final Fortress

Hitler's Final Fortress PDF Author: Richard Hargreaves
Publisher: Stackpole Books
ISBN: 0811715515
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
In early 1945, the Red Army plunged into the Third Reich from the east, rolling up territory and crushing virtually everything in its path, with one exception: the city of Breslau, which Hitler had declared a fortress-city, to be defended to the death. This book examines in detail the notorious four-month siege of Breslau. • The first full-length English-language account of the bloody siege • Chronicles the bitter struggle as the Red Army encircled Breslau and eventually pillaged the city, taking savage retribution on the survivors • Details the brutal methods used by the city's Nazi leaders to keep German troops fighting and maintain order

Hitler's Last Levy

Hitler's Last Levy PDF Author: Hans Kissel
Publisher: Helion and Company
ISBN: 1908916176
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 383

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Book Description
An in-depth account of the formation Nazi Germany’s militia army as a desperate attempt to delay its defeat during the waning days of WWII. A companion volume to the very successful In a Raging Inferno—Combat Units of the Hitler Youth, Hans Kissel’s study offers a highly detailed account of the German Volkssturm, or Home Guard. Formed from men unfit for military service, the young, and the old, this ad-hoc formation saw extensive combat during the desperate defense of the Reich, 1944–45. The author describes the Volkssturm’s training, leadership, organization, armament, and equipment, in addition to its active service on both the Eastern and Western fronts. The text is supported by an extensive selection of appendices, including translations of documents and many fascinating eyewitness combat reports. This edition also includes over 150 previously unpublished black-and-white photos, and four pages of specially commissioned color uniform plates by Stephen Andrew.

Hitler's Last Days

Hitler's Last Days PDF Author: Bill O'Reilly
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company (BYR)
ISBN: 1627793976
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
By early 1945, the destruction of the German Nazi State seems certain. The Allied forces, led by American generals George S. Patton and Dwight D. Eisenhower, are gaining control of Europe, leaving German leaders scrambling. Facing defeat, Adolf Hitler flees to a secret bunker with his new wife, Eva Braun, and his beloved dog, Blondi. It is there that all three would meet their end, thus ending the Third Reich and one of the darkest chapters of history. Hitler's Last Days is a gripping account of the death of one of the most reviled villains of the 20th century—a man whose regime of murder and terror haunts the world even today. Adapted from Bill O'Reilly's historical thriller Killing Patton, this book will have young readers—and grown-ups too—hooked on history. This thoroughly-researched and documented book can be worked into multiple aspects of the common core curriculum.

Storming the Eagle's Nest

Storming the Eagle's Nest PDF Author: Jim Ring
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 0571282407
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
From the Fall of France in June 1940 to Hitler's suicide in April 1945, the swastika flew from the peaks of the High Savoy in the western Alps to the passes above Ljubljana in the east. The Alps as much as Berlin were the heart of the Third Reich.'Yes,' Hitler declared of his headquarters in the Bavarian Alps, 'I have a close link to this mountain. Much was done there, came about and ended there; those were the best times of my life . . . My great plans were forged there.'With great authority and verve, Jim Ring tells the story of how the war was conceived and directed from the Fuhrer's mountain retreat, how all the Alps bar Switzerland fell to Fascism, and how Switzerland herself became the Nazi's banker and Europe's spy centre. How the Alps in France, Italy and Yugoslavia became cradles of resistance, how the range proved both a sanctuary and a death-trap for Europe's Jews - and how the whole war culminated in the Allies' descent on what was rumoured to be Hitler's Alpine Redoubt, a Bavarian mountain fortress.