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Armageddon: The Battle for Germany 1944-45 by: Max Hastings List Price: £9.99 City Travel Guides Price: £6.99 You Save: £3.00 (30%)Prices subject to change. |
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Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 940 EAN: 9780330490627 ISBN: 0330490621 Label: Pan Books Manufacturer: Pan Books Number Of Pages: 500 Publication Date: April 15, 2005 Publisher: Pan Books Studio: Pan Books Sales Rank: 4719 Related Items:
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
 Rating:  - A compelling and sometimes preachy overviewAn impressive panoramic narrative of the battle for Germany, "Armageddon" combines a wide range of sources (including many veterans) with Hastings's sharp, often iconoclastic judgement. His criticism of the military folly of Operation Market Garden, the Ardennes offensive, and Zhukov's Oder crossing is hard-hitting, but frequently deserved. Hastings is no apologist for military failings, although he frequently gets moralistic: discussions of the justice of the allied cause or the tyranny of Stalin, which is perceived in downright Manichean terms, should not be part of a work of history. This is not to deny the reality of good and evil, or to say that tales of atrocity should not be included: of course they should, especially in a book that intends ... Read More: Rating:  - Excellent NarrativeThis is a superb book, and I can really appreciate the level of knowledge about the war in 1944-45, and the personal quotes and insights into the conflict at the time that he has brought into the book. Highly recommended, especially the lesser parts of the campaign he covers, such as the annihilation of East Prussia, Pomerania and Silesia, and the moving of borders and people westwards. I'd highly recommend anyone read this to gain insights into this tumultuous time and help them see how a modern, civilised, Western European civilisation can descend so quickly into chaos, brutality and destruction. One is left pandering for a visit to pre-war europe to see what Dresden and Warsaw used to look like. Rating: - Expected BetterThe author has obviously put a great deal of time and effort into this book and dealt with many aspects of the latter part of WW2 that tends to be overlooked, such as the suffering of Soviet prisoners, even when repatriated. Although very patchy, my biggest gripe is with Max being a tad naughty when stating German and Russian armies were excellent just about all the time, and that the American and Commonwealth armies were useless most of the time. As with Overlord (a much better book) he is particularly unimpressed by the Canadian performance, while ignoring the actual opponents and terrain. Still definetely worth reading once, just get a copy from your local library. Rating:  - BrilliantThis is Hastings at his best. He tells the story in typical gripping fashion, and his use of eyewitness accounts helps give the reader a true 'feel' for what it was like to be there. Even for someone who thinks they've read too much about WW2 (as I felt I did before I started this book), this book is recommended. Great stuff, and I really enjoyed reading it. Rating: - What kept them going?an astonishingly good book!The history of the final 2 years of WW2 on the Western front covers in detail the defeat of Germany,and pulls no punches.Contrary to what we were taught at school,the defeat of Germany would have been impossible without the Russians,who not only fought against most of Germany's forces on the extended Eastern front,but who drove forward accepting enormous casualties.Millions of Russians died in this advance.Without this huge sacrifice,the Western front alone would not have succeeded in defeating Germany.Surprisingly,the British author also points out the sparse contribution of the British army on the Western front,relative to the Americans who seemed to carry the invasion and hard fighting forward. In reading about the ... Read More: |
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