This sets out to cover the battle for Germany following the bnreakout from Normandy. The author deliberately does not devote too much to the battle for Berlin or the Warsaw uprising as these have been covered in depth by other authors. There is a good objective analysis on missed opportunities such as not clearing the Scheldt estuary when the allies had a golden chance at it after the initial success of taking Antwerp. Montgomery get's a bit of a slating on this and from the information provided this would seem justified. Montgomery is not the only major player who recieves some criticism for missed opportunities or attempts to influence events or even for personal reasons e.g. Patton sending a flying column behind German lines in a disastrous attempt to relieve a POW camp his Son in Law was prisoner in. Most of the criticism levelled appears well thought out and is objective in nature. All of the campaigns in the west from Septwmber '44 are covered along with the rationale behind each one along with their goals and execution. Battles in the East are covered as well as some of the political considerations (and fears) between the main allies. Much of the human side is expressed in the use of eye witness accounts, either written or oral, from all sides and this includes the issue of war crimes committed by all sides. All in all I found this a worthy read with an objective approach detailing the allies progress until the German surrender. Unlike some others who have read this I dont feel that their is a pro German bias or that the author regards the allied generals or leadership as inept, more that they were human and had a different ethos /agenda from others. PS I think it's a "keeper"
well alex i thought you might have something more to say just joking i saw anther book under the same name but its about something completly diffrent i got in trouble for talking about it to
i read it while on holiday (gotta love sunbathing ) and i didnt notice a german bias. like others have said the critismm was well thought out. however i was dissaponted at lack of coverege about berlin, i had to buy anouther book :evil:
Not entirely true, as I recall you didn't get in any trouble, although your post was locked as a "Flame Prevention", this was explained to you by Roel at the time.
