Armageddon: The Battle for Germany 1944-45

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 Germans during this period,I couldn't help but wonder what kept them going for so long with no hope of winning?The German army was still fighting street by street in Berlin against vastly superior Russian forces right until hitler's suicide-why,when they had no hope of winning?I suppose all the German protagonists are dead now,but it would have been interesting to explore what kept them going when clearly all was lost.A terrific book.

If you can only buy one book buy this one!! (3/4 people found this helpful)

Extraordinary, unsurpassed, never seize to amaze me, wonderful, tragic, almost skip work because you are reading... Look, this is certainly one of the very best analysis og the common soldier's qualities from each of the combatants. Why were the Germans so effective (but still with so uneffective home front and utterly useless administration), the Soviets so ruthless, the British and Americans so casualty shy. See how beeing brave was celebrated on one side while beeing almost thought of as routine act of service one the other. See how politics motivated soldiers for better or worse, see so much more... Max Hastings is ... VOW!!

Superb (4/4 people found this helpful)

Max Hastings has really excelled himself with this book, an absolutely riveting account of the last year of WW2 as the British/Americans and Russians slowly crushed the Germans between their advancing armies. He effortlessly crosses between both the high level politics and srategy of war and the experiences of individuals, both soldiers and civilians, to produce a gripping and incredibly affecting read. The amount of research he must have done is mind-boggling.
One thing I particularly like about Hastings' books is his lack of sentimentality especially toward what has become known as the "Greatest Generation" - the men and women who fought on the Western Allied side - a very sober corrective to the hagiography of other historians like Stephen Ambrose. Hastings' warts and all reporting of the Allied war effort makes these people more human and understandable though and his book more valuable as history because of it.

Absolutely brilliant.

Extraordinary (4/4 people found this helpful)

Armageddon: The Battle for Germany 1944-45 is a compelling and utterly gripping read and an extraordinary achievement. The detail and reseach that Hastings puts into troop movements, infighting between Allied and German commanders and the first hand experiences of bomber crews, fighter pilots, infantrymen, artillery gunners and PoWs is just so gripping, it is difficult to put this book down. The sadness one feels for the innocent civilians trapped in terrible circumstances throughout and the terrible truth of what the Germans did to the Russians and the Russians to the Germans - with no mercy shown to anything living - is so evident in these pages. It is an absolute must read for anyone interested in what really happened during the Northern European Allied campaigns and the Russian advance on Germany and the Baltic States. The graphic descriptions of what it meant to be there are so clearly conveyed, it stays with you for long afterwards. This is not to missed.

Armageddon (17/22 people found this helpful)

This work has rightly received rave reviews. It is an incredible collection of material and should be read by all students of this period.
However, readers should be aware that many of Hastings' points are journalistic in nature and he seems unaware that he often contradicts his own arguments. Unlike an academic historian, he gives way on occasion to emotion and tends to lash out at the nearest responsible "character". I found the book intelligent, brilliantly researched and slightly pompous.
This is an excellent work, but perhaps readers should be cautious of some of its many criticisms and conclusions.

Armageddon: The Battle for Germany 1944-45

Max Hastings

Reader Reviews:

What kept them going? (0/0 people found this helpful)

If you can only buy one book buy this one!! (3/4 people found this helpful)

Superb (4/4 people found this helpful)

Extraordinary (4/4 people found this helpful)

Armageddon (17/22 people found this helpful)

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