The Wehrmacht's Last Stand
Subtitle: The German campaigns of 1944-1945
By: Robert M. Citino
Series: Modern war studies
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 615
ISBN-13: 9780700624942
Subjects: Campaigns; Military History; Armed Forces; World War, 1939-1945; History
Description: "By 1943, the war was lost, and most German officers knew it. Three quarters of a century later, the question persists: what kept the German army going in an increasingly hopeless situation? Where some historians have found explanations in the power of Hitler or the role of ideology, Robert M. Citino, the world's leading scholar on the subject, posits a more straightforward solution: Bewegungskrieg, the way of war cultivated by the Germans over the course of history. In this gripping account of German military campaigns during the final phase of World War II, Citino charts the inevitable path by which Bewegungskrieg, or a 'war of movement,' inexorably led to Nazi Germany's defeat. The Wehrmacht's Last Stand analyzes the German Totenritt, or 'death ride,' from January 1944--with simultaneous Allied offensives at Anzio and Ukraine--until May 1945, the collapse of the Wehrmacht in the field, and the Soviet storming of Berlin. In clear and compelling prose, and bringing extensive reading of the German-language literature to bear, Citino focuses on the German view of these campaigns. Often very different from the Allied perspective, this approach allows for a more nuanced and far-reaching understanding of the last battles of the Wehrmacht than any now available. With Citino's previous volumes, Death of the Wehrmacht and The Wehrmacht Retreats, The Wehrmacht's Last Stand completes a uniquely comprehensive picture of the German army's strategy, operations, and performance against the Allies in World War II"--Dust jacket flap.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 473-597) and index.
Table of contents: title: In the Cauldron : The Battle of the Korsun Pocket; title: In the Mountains : The Battle for Italy; title: On the Beach : Normandy and Beyond; title: In the Middle : The Smashing of the Central Front; title: In the West : The Campaign in France; title: On the Run : The East; title: On the Run : The West; title: The Last Battle; title: Five Minutes Past Midnight; title: The Last Stand.