Five Years, Four Fronts

Five Years, Four Fronts PDF Author: Georg Grossjohann
Publisher: Presidio Press
ISBN: 0345476107
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Book Description
After Hitler’s invasions of Poland and France came the Russian Front–and that’s when the real war started. An infantryman who rose from the enlisted ranks to regimental command in combat, Georg Grossjohann fought on four different fronts during World War II, but saw most of his fighting–from 1941 to 1944–against Russians in the Soviet Union and Romania. He provides shattering glimpses of the horror and chaos of the war, as well as profound insights into everyday life in the Wehrmacht. Five Years, Four Fronts chronicles the combat experiences of Grossjohann and his men as they triumphantly roll across Poland, France, and the sunny steppes of the Ukraine, only to ultimately sustain grinding defeats in the endless, freezing plains of the Soviet Union and the grim, dark Vosges Mountains of France. Grossjohann was a soldier’s soldier, respected by his men, undaunted by his superiors, and, as can be observed in this raw, brutally honest account, not afraid to call the shots as he saw them.

Five Years, Four Fronts

Five Years, Four Fronts PDF Author: Georg Grossjohann
Publisher: Aberjona Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Book Description
A WWII German memoir of major importance, recalling the wartime career of a professional soldier and Knight's Cross winner. Significance. This book gives it to the reader 'with the bark on', is utterly devoid of self-serving, selective amnesia or embellishments, and conveys a sense of eminent humanity. Far from being consistently perfect examples of military efficiency or martial valour, the characters in this book cover the spectrum from coward and incompetent dolt, to eccentric, to near-saint and lionhearted warrior. Similarly, the quality of planning, support, and decision-making the author observed spans the range from imbecilic to uninspired to brilliant. Grossjohann never imagined his story would be published, but rather, strove to leave his honest account behind for his progeny. Thanks to the efforts of his widow, Edeltraud Grossjohann, and Ulrich Abele, the work's gifted translator, this story is now available to English-speaking students of WWII. Most importantly, this book covers several of the 'sideshow' battles and campaigns of WWII in Europe, and exposes the reader to a German Army that many readers will be surprised to find existed. The late Georg Grossjohann (1911-19

The German Way of War on the Eastern Front, 1941-1943

The German Way of War on the Eastern Front, 1941-1943 PDF Author: Jaap Jan Brouwer
Publisher: Pen and Sword Military
ISBN: 1399032984
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 226

Book Description
On 22 June 1941, at 0410hrs, Operation Barbarossa began. More than 3 million German soldiers crossed the border with the Soviet Union and moved east, where 4.7 million Soviet soldiers were waiting for them. Hitler expected his troops would be on the Volga before the end of the year and that important cities such as Moscow and Leningrad would have been captured. But the reality was very different; the Germans made impressive territorial gains, but their offensive eventually came to a halt at Stalingrad in December 1942, which proved to be a turning point in the war. This titanic battle is illustrated here using eyewitness accounts from generals, soldiers and civilians. Attention is not only paid to the course of the battle, but also to the tactics and organizational dimensions of the armies involved, the challenges of the vastness of the country, the dilemmas for people in the conquered areas, and the way the Germans tried to conquer their hearts while at the same time fighting a fierce guerrilla war. The role of the Reichsbahn in the field of logistics is also examined, as is the importance of the innovation and production capacity of both armies.

The Virtuous Wehrmacht

The Virtuous Wehrmacht PDF Author: David A. Harrisville
Publisher: Battlegrounds: Cornell Studies
ISBN: 9781501760044
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 328

Book Description
"This book examines how German soldiers fighting on the Eastern Front during the Second World War rationalized their participation in a criminal campaign, and how the Wehrmacht attempted to assert moral superiority over its Soviet enemies. In the process, it redefines the origins of the myth of the "clean" Wehrmacht"--

Operation Dragoon

Operation Dragoon PDF Author: Robin Cross
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1643131028
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 431

Book Description
Forgotten Victory is the story of “Operation Dragoon,” the Allied invasion of the South of France on August 15, 1944. It was, in effect, the second D-Day, launched two months after “Overlord,” the Allied invasion of Normandy. As such, it has often been overshadowed by its predecessor, but it significance cannot be underestimated. Forgotten Victory provides for the first time a complete overview of the liberation of the South of France—from strategic decisions made from the Allied and German high commands to the intelligence war waged by Allied code-breakers; from the German defeat of French resistance forces on the Vergers to the exploits of individual OSS agents on the ground as they strove to keep pace with a fast-moving battlefield. This is the story of the Allies inflicting on the Germany Army a Blitzkrieg-style defeat, expunging the lingering memories of the catastrophe of 1940.

The Riviera at War

The Riviera at War PDF Author: George G. Kundahl
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1786732009
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 471

Book Description
During World War II three distinct forces opposed the Allies - Germany, Italy, and Japan. Few areas of the world experienced domination by more than a single one of these, but southeastern France - the region popularly known as the Riviera or Cote d'Azur - was one. Not only did inhabitants suffer through Italian Fascism and German Nazism but also under a third hardship at times even more oppressive - the rule of Vichy France. Following a nine-month prelude, the reality of World War II burst onto the Riviera in June 1940 when the region had to defend itself against the Italian army and ended in April 1945 with a battle against German and Italian forces in April 1945, a period longer than any other part of France. In this book, George G. Kundahl tells for the first time the full story of World War II on the French Riviera. Featuring previously unseen sources and photographs, this will be essential reading for anyone interested in wartime France.

Snow & Steel

Snow & Steel PDF Author: Peter Caddick-Adams
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199335141
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 929

Book Description
A new assessment of the Battle of the Bulge, the largest and bloodiest battle fought by U.S. forces in World War II, offers a balanced perspective that considers both the German and American viewpoints and discusses the failings of intelligence; Hitler's strategic grasp; effects of weather and influence of terrain; and differences in weaponry, understanding of aerial warfare, and doctrine.

First to the Rhine

First to the Rhine PDF Author: Mark Stout, Harry Yeide
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781616739652
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 440

Book Description
This is the story of the Allied forces--the U.S. 6th Army Group and French 1st Army--that landed in southern France on August 15th, 1944. The book follows the action from the French beaches to the Vosges Mountains, where the first Allied penetration along the entire Western front reached the Rhine River. First to the Rhine covers the vicious fighting during the German Nordwind counteroffensive in January 1945 and the French-American offensive to clear the Colmar Pocket. It then pursues the forces of the Third Reich across the Rhine to their ultimate destruction. Unlike the forces landing in Normandy, these American divisions were hard-bitten veterans of the war in Italy, and, in the case of the 3d Infantry Division, North Africa. The French units included many veterans of the Italian campaign and comprised Frenchmen and Africans in almost equal numbers. As the campaign went on, the French ranks were swelled by tens of thousands of Free French Forces of the Interior, the famous maquis. The German forces arrayed against the Allies included the famed 11th Panzer Division, an Eastern front veteran known as the "Ghost Division," which would hit the Allied advance time and again only to slip away before it could be pinned and destroyed. This is the harrowing story First to the Rhine tells, from the strategic plane-down through the corps, division, and regimental levels to the personal experience of the men in combat, including the likes of Audie Murphy, Americas most decorated infantryman of the war. The book features little-known battles, including one at Montelimar, when an ad hoc American armored command and the 36th Infantry Division came within a hairs breadth and several days of hard fighting of cutting off the entire German 19th Army. This is the first popular work in English to explore the French role in the fighting and the relationship between the U.S. Army and the French forces fighting under American command.

We Were There

We Were There PDF Author: Robert Fox
Publisher: Profile Books
ISBN: 1847651895
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 422

Book Description
What was it like to be there at the very moment when great events took place; when great figures strode onto the world stage; when the wonderful, the terrible, the diverting and the just plain curious happened? In this acclaimed collection of eyewitness reportage, Robert Fox brings together accounts from soldiers, journalists, poets, scientists, adventurers, chance bystanders and many more to create a vivid, compelling history of the twentieth century as it happened. Covering two world wars, revolutions, discoveries and the rise and fall of empires across the globe, We Were There reports on the defining moments of the last hundred or so years, from the turn of the last century through the Wall Street Crash and D-Day, to the Vietnam War, Tiananmen Square and 9/11. These evocative reports from around the world - by figures ranging from Vera Brittain to Neil Armstrong and Rosa Parks to the Baghdad blogger - show that the very best eyewitness reporting is as gripping as it is invaluable.
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