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Hitler's Panther Tank Battalions, 1943–1945: Rare Photographs From Wartimes Archives (Images Of War Ser.)
by Ian BaxterThis fully illustrated WWII history presents an in-depth look at the Nazi war machine’s most fearsome armored vehicles.From July 1943 to the Nazis’ final defeat in May 1945, the Panther battle tank and its variants were the mainstay of Germany’s armored forces. This superbly engineered fighting vehicle offered a lethal combination of firepower, mobility, and protection.As this classic Images of War series title reveals, the Panther saw nonstop fighting on the Eastern, Western, and Italian fronts. Using 250 rare and often unpublished wartime photographs with full captions and authoritative text, it provides a comprehensive coverage of elite Panther battalions in action.This volume traces the development of the Panther Tank and also covers supporting vehicles within the Panther battalions. These included armored recovery, Bergepanther, halftracks, Sd.kfz.2 Kettenrad, gun tractors and communications vehicles.
Hitler's Panzer Armies on the Eastern Front
by Robert KirchubelAn in-depth look at the role armored formations played in the struggle between the Nazis and the Soviets. Hitler&’s panzer armies spearheaded the blitzkrieg on the Eastern Front. They played a key role in every major campaign, not simply as tactical tools but also as operational weapons that shaped strategy. Their extraordinary triumphs—and their eventual defeat—mirrors the fate of German forces in the East. And yet no previous study has concentrated on the history of these elite formations in the bitter struggle against the Soviet Union. Robert Kirchubel&’s absorbing and meticulously researched account of the operational history of the panzer armies fills this gap, using German sources including many firsthand accounts never before seen in English. And it gives a graphic insight into the organization, tactics, fighting methods, and morale of the Wehrmacht at the height of its powers and as it struggled to defend the Reich.
Hitler's Panzer Generals: Guderian, Hoepner, Reinhardt and Schmidt Unguarded
by David StahelGermany's success in the Second World War was built upon its tank forces; however, many of its leading generals, with the notable exception of Heinz Guderian, are largely unknown. This biographical study of four German panzer army commanders serving on the Eastern Front is based upon their unpublished wartime letters to their wives. David Stahel offers a complete picture of the men conducting Hitler's war in the East, with an emphasis on the private fears and public pressures they operated under. He also illuminates their response to the criminal dimension of the war as well as their role as leading military commanders conducting large-scale operations. While the focus is on four of Germany's most important panzer generals - Guderian, Hoepner, Reinhardt and Schmidt - the evidence from their private correspondence sheds new light on the broader institutional norms and cultural ethos of the Wehrmacht's Panzertruppe.
Hitler’s Panzers: Rare Photographs from Wartime Archives (Images of War)
by Ian BaxterUsing previously unpublished photographs, many of which have come from the albums of individuals who took part in the war, Hitlers Panzers presents a unique visual account of Germany at arms. The book analyses the development of the Panzer and shows how it became Hitlers supreme weapon. It describes how the Germans carefully built up their assault forces utilizing all available reserves and resources and making them into effective killing machine. From the Panzerkampfwagen.1 to the most powerful tank of the Second World War, the Jagdtiger, the volume depicts how these machines were adapted and up-gunned to face the ever-increasing enemy threat. Hitlers Panzers is a unique sight into the full workings of the various light tanks, main battle tanks, self-propelled assault guns and tank destroyers. It is a vivid and fully illustrated account of the development and deployment of the German tank and brings together a captivating glimpse at the cutting edge of World War Two military technology.
Hitler's Panzers: The Lightning Attacks that Revolutionized Warfare
by Dennis ShowalterA fascinating account of Nazi Germany's armored forces by the author of Patton and Rommel. Determined to secure a quick, decisive victory on the World War II battlefields, Adolf Hitler adopted an attack plan that combined tools with technique- the formidable Panzer divisions. Self-contained armored units able to operate independently, the Panzers became the German army's fighting core as well as its moral focus, establishing an entirely new military doctrine. In Hitler's Panzers, renowned World War II scholar Dennis Showalter presents a comprehensive and unbiased study of Nazi Germany's armored forces. By delving deeply into a detailed history of the theory, strategy, myths, and realities of Germany's technologically innovative approach to warfare, Showalter provides a look at the military lessons of the past, and a speculation on how the Panzer ethos may be implemented in the future of international conflict.
Hitler's Paratrooper: The Life and Battles of Rudolf Witzig
by Gilberto Villahermosa&“A valuable study . . . a must-read for everybody interested in the topic of German Fallschirmjäger in the Second World War&” (Volker Griesser, author of The Lions of Carentan). Rudolf Witzig entered the history books as the heroic captor of Belgium&’s supposedly impregnable fortress Eben Emael in May 1940—the first time that glider-borne troops were used in the war. To many people, he is also known as the commander of the battle group that fired the first shots of the Tunisian campaign. Remarkably, next to nothing has been written about him as an individual. This biography, completed with the full support of Witzig&’s widow and son, is a comprehensive history of the man and also provides important new detail on the German parachute arm that he served. In the course of his service, Witzig was awarded the coveted Knight&’s Cross of the Iron Cross, even though he had not yet earned the Iron Crosses 2nd and 1st class. To resolve the problem, he was awarded all three on the spot. Witzig was involved in Operation Mercury, the invasion of Crete, but was injured during the fighting. After his recovery, he was sent to Tunisia where he was credited with several successful defensive actions. He ended the war in captivity, surrendering to the Allies on May 8, 1945, the day after his name was placed on the Honour Roll of the Luftwaffe. &“A gripping biography, providing a tough, gritty and compelling study of a German soldier.&” —Firetrench &“A unique, well-written and impeccably researched account of the Third Reich&’s evolving fortunes as witnessed on numerous battlefronts by a highly decorated Fallschirmjäger officer.&” —Mark J. Reardon, author of Defending Fortress Europe
Hitler's Pawn: The Boy Assassin and the Holocaust
by Stephen KochA remarkable story of a forgotten seventeen–year–old Jew who was blamed by the Nazis for the anti–Semitic violence and terror known as the Kristallnacht, the pogrom still seen as an initiating event of the HolocaustAfter learning about Nazi persecution of his family, Herschel Grynszpan (pronounced Greenspan) bought a small handgun and on November 7, 1938, went to the German embassy and shot the first German diplomat he saw. When the man died two days later, Hitler and Goebbels made the shooting their pretext for the state–sponsored wave of antiSemitic terror known as Kristallnacht, still seen by many as an initiating event of the Holocaust.Overnight, Grynszpan, a bright but naive teenager, was front–page news and a pawn in a global power struggle.
Hitler's Peace: gripping alternative history thriller from a global bestseller
by Philip KerrA gripping alternative history thriller set in the Second World War, from the internationally acclaimed and bestselling author of the Bernie Gunther novels.Autumn 1943. Hitler knows he cannot win the war: now he must find a way to make peace. FDR and Stalin are willing to negotiate; only Churchill refuses to listen. The upcoming Allied Tehran conference will be where the next steps - whatever they are - will be decided.Into this nest of double- and triple-dealing steps Willard Mayer, OSS agent and FDR's envoy to the conference. His job is to secure the peace that the USA and Hitler now crave. The stakes couldn't be higher.With his sure hand for pacing, his firm grasp of historical detail, and his explosively creative imagination about what might have been, Philip Kerr has fashioned a totally convincing thinking man's thriller in the great tradition of Eric Ambler and Graham Greene.
Hitler's Peace: gripping alternative history thriller from a global bestseller
by Philip KerrA gripping alternative history thriller set in the Second World War, from the internationally acclaimed and bestselling author of the Bernie Gunther novels.Autumn 1943. Hitler knows he cannot win the war: now he must find a way to make peace. FDR and Stalin are willing to negotiate; only Churchill refuses to listen. The upcoming Allied Tehran conference will be where the next steps - whatever they are - will be decided.Into this nest of double- and triple-dealing steps Willard Mayer, OSS agent and FDR's envoy to the conference. His job is to secure the peace that the USA and Hitler now crave. The stakes couldn't be higher.Showcasing Philip Kerr's brilliant research and masterful plotting at its best, Hitler's Peace has never before been published in the UK and is a fitting coda to the career of one of the masters of the historical thriller.(P) 2019 Quercus Editions Limited
Hitler's Peace
by Philip KerrAutumn 1943. Since Stalingrad, Hitler has known that Germany cannot win the war. The upcoming Allied conference in Teheran will set the ground rules for their second front-and for the peace to come. Realizing that the unconditional surrender FDR has demanded will leave Germany in ruins, Hitler has put out peace feelers. (Unbeknownst to him, so has Himmler, who is ready to stage a coup in order to reach an accord. ) FDR and Stalin are willing to negotiate. Only Churchill refuses to listen. At the center of this high-stakes game of deals and doubledealing is Willard Mayer, an OSS operative who has been chosen by FDR to serve as his envoy. He is the perfect foil for the steamy world of deception, betrayals, and assassinations that make up the moral universe of realpolitik. A cool, self-absorbed, emotionally distant womanizer with a questionable past, Mayer has embraced the stylish philosophy of the day, in which no values are fixed. In the course of the novel, his beliefs will be put to the ultimate test. But as compelling as Mayer is, the key players in this drama-FDR, Stalin, Churchill, and Hitler, as well as Himmler, Bormann, Molotov, and Schellenberg (with marvelous walk-ons by Kim Philby, Anthony Blunt, and Evelyn Waugh)-are astonishingly true-to-life. Hitler's Peace is Philip Kerr in top form. With his sure hand for pacing, his firm grasp of historical detail, and his explosively creative imagination about what might have been, he has fashioned a totally convincing thinking man's thriller in the great tradition of Eric Ambler and Graham Greene. .
Hitler's Philosophers
by Yvonne SherrattHitler had a dream to rule the world, not only with the gun but also with his mind. He saw himself as a "philosopher-leader" and astonishingly gained the support of many intellectuals of his time. In this compelling book, Yvonne Sherratt explores Hitler's relationship with philosophers and uncovers cruelty, ambition, violence, and betrayal where least expected--at the heart of Germany's ivory tower.Sherratt investigates international archives, discovering evidence back to the 1920s of Hitler's vulgarization of noble thinkers of the past, including Kant, Nietzsche, and Darwin. She reveals how philosophers of the 1930s eagerly collaborated to lend the Nazi regime a cloak of respectability: Martin Heidegger, Carl Schmitt, and a host of others. And while these eminent men sanctioned slaughter, Semitic thinkers like Walter Benjamin and opponents like Kurt Huber were hunted down or murdered. Many others, such as Theodor Adorno and Hannah Arendt, were forced to flee as refugees. The book portrays their fates, to be dispersed across the world as the historic edifice of Jewish-German culture was destroyed by Hitler.Sherratt not only confronts the past; she also tracks down chilling evidence of continuing Nazi sympathy in Western Universities today.
Hitler's Plans for Global Domination
by Jochen ThiesWhat did Hitler really want to achieve: world domination. In the early twenties, Hitler was working on this plan and from 1933 on, was working to make it a reality. During 1940 and 1941, he believed he was close to winning the war. This book not only examines Nazi imperial architecture, armament, and plans to regain colonies but also reveals what Hitler said in moments of truth. The author presents many new sources and information, including Hitler's little known intention to attack New York City with long-range bombers in the days of Pearl Harbor.
Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII
by John CornwellThe "explosive" (The New York Times) bestseller-now with a new introduction by the author <P> When Hitler's Pope, the shocking story of Pope Pius XII that "redefined the history of the twentieth century" (The Washington Post ) was originally published, it sparked a firestorm of controversy both inside and outside the Catholic Church. Now, award-winning journalist John Cornwell has revisited this seminal work of history with a new introduction that both answers his critics and reaffirms his overall thesis that Pius XII, now scheduled to be canonized by the Vatican, weakened the Catholic Church with his endorsement of Hitler-and sealed the fate of the Jews in Europe.
Hitler's Pre-emptive War: The Battle for Norway, 1940
by Henrik O. LundeAn &“excellent&” history of the often overlooked WWII campaign in which Hitler secured a vital resource lifeline for the Third Reich (Library Journal). After Hitler conquered Poland and was still fine-tuning his plans against France, the British began to exert control over the coastline of neutral Norway, an action that threatened to cut off Germany&’s iron-ore conduit to Sweden and outflank from the start its hegemony on the Continent. The Germans responded with a dizzying series of assaults, using every tool of modern warfare developed in the previous generation. Airlifted infantry, mountain troops, and paratroopers were dispatched to the north, seizing Norwegian strongpoints while forestalling larger but more cumbersome Allied units. The German navy also set sail, taking a brutal beating at the hands of Britannia, but ensuring with its sacrifice that key harbors would be held open for resupply. As dive-bombers soared overhead, small but elite German units traversed forbidding terrain to ambush Allied units trying to forge inland. At Narvik, some six thousand German troops battled twenty thousand French and British until the Allies were finally forced to withdraw by the great disaster in France, which had then gotten underway. Henrik Lunde, a native Norwegian and former US Special Operations colonel, has written the most objective account to date of a campaign in which twentieth-century military innovation found its first fertile playing field.
Hitler's Priest (Hitler's Priest Ser.)
by S.J. TagliareniA brilliant young atheist in Weimar Germany finds himself among Hitler&’s inner circle—as his moral conscience—in this debut historical thriller.Hans Keller was always highly intelligent—so much so that he learned to place little value in what the school or church tries to teach him. But after a chance meeting with the charismatic Josef Goebbels, a leader of the burgeoning Nazi Party, atheistic Hans is offered a key role in shaping the future of the new Germany: providing essential influence within the Catholic Church. As the nation prepares for war, Hans finds himself gaining power in a shadowy world of manipulation and deceit. He soon rises to a level of ultimate status—and ultimate compromise—as Hitler&’s personal priest. In this original thriller full of fascinating period detail, author and former priest S. J. Tagliareni offers a rare window into the psychological and moral conflicts raised by Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.
Hitler's Priests: Catholic Clergy and National Socialism
by Kevin SpicerShaken by military defeat and economic depression after War World I, Germans sought to restore their nationÆs dignity and power. In this context the National Socialist Party, with its promise of a revivified Germany, drew supporters. Among the most zealous were a number of Catholic clergymen known as \u201cbrown priests\u201d who volunteered as Nazi propagandists. In this insightful study, Spicer unearths a dark subchapter in Roman Catholic history, introduces the principal clergymen who participated in the Nazi movement, examines their motives, details their advocacy of National Socialism, and explores the consequences of their political activism. Some brown priests, particularly war veterans, advocated National Socialism because it appealed to their patriotic ardor. Others had less laudatory motives: disaffection with clerical life, conflicts with Church superiors, or ambition for personal power and fame. Whatever their individual motives, they employed their skills as orators, writers, and teachers to proclaim the message of Nazism. Especially during the early 1930s, when the Church forbade membership in the party, these clergymen strove to prove that Catholicism was compatible with National Socialism, thereby justifying their support of Nazi ideology. Father Dr. Philipp Haeuser, a scholar and pastor, went so far as to promote antisemitism while deifying Adolf Hitler. The F\u00fchrerÆs antisemitism, Spicer argues, did not deter clergymen such as Haeuser because, although the Church officially rejected the NazisÆ extreme racism, Catholic teachings tolerated hostility toward Jews by blaming them for ChristÆs crucifixion. While a handful of brown priests enjoyed the forbearance of their bishops, others endured reprimand or even dismissal; a few found new vocations with the Third Reich. After the fall of the Reich, the most visible brown priests faced trial for their part in the crimes of National Socialism, a movement they had once so earnestly supported. In addition to this intriguing history about clergymen trying to reconcile faith and politics, Spicer provides a master list—verified by extensive research in Church and government archives—of Catholic clergy who publicly supported National Socialism.
Hitlers Prisons: Legal Terror in Nazi Germany
by Nikolaus WachsmannState prisons played an indispensable part in the terror of the Third Reich, incarcerating many hundreds of thousands of men and women during the Nazi era. This important book illuminates the previously unknown world of Nazi prisons, their victims, and the judicial and penal officials who built and operated this system of brutal legal terror. Nikolaus Wachsmann describes the operation and function of legal terror in the Third Reich and brings Nazi prisons to life through the harrowing stories of individual inmates. Drawing on a vast array of archival materials, he traces the series of changes in prison policies and practice that led eventually to racial terror, brutal violence, slave labor, starvation, and mass killings. Wachsmann demonstrates that "ordinary" legal officials were ready collaborators who helped to turn courts and prisons into key components in the Nazi web of terror. And he concludes with a discussion of the whitewash of the Nazi legal system in postwar West Germany.
Hitler's Private Library: The Books That Shaped His Life
by Timothy W. RybackHe was, of course, a man better known for burning books than collecting them and yet by the time he died, aged 56, Adolf Hitler owned an estimated 16,000 volumes -- the works of historians, philosophers, poets, playwrights and novelists. A passionate reader, his worldview was largely formed by the books he read. For more than fifty years the remnants of Hitler's private library occupied shelf-space in climate-controlled obscurity in the rare book division of the Library of Congress in Washington. Timothy Ryback is the first to systematically explore this remarkable collection, as well as several other caches which he subsequently discovered in Europe and elsewhere. The volumes in Hitler's library are fascinating in themselves but it is the marginalia -- the comments, the exclamation marks, the questions and underlinings, even the dirty thumbprints on the pages of a book he read in the trenches of the First World War -- which are so revealing. Together they take us closer to the man and his thinking than ever seemed possible. Hitler's Private Library provides us with a remarkable view of Hitler's evolution u and unparalleled insights into his emotional and intellectual world. Utterly compelling, it is also a landmark in our understanding of the Third Reich.
Hitler's Propaganda Pilgrimage (Images of War)
by Bob CarruthersThe famous image of Hitler in Paris has become one of the most iconic images of the Second World War. However, Hitler only spent a few hours in Paris before heading to Flanders to re-visit the sites of the battlefields where he had served during the Great War. He was on a propaganda mission to publicize his own war service and a full photographic record of Hitler's visits to France and Flanders was produced by Heinrich Hoffman, Hitler's personal photographer. Those photographs from 1940 have now been collected together for the first time and are reproduced here along with all of the most important surviving images of Hitler in the Great War.Featuring rare and previously unpublished images of Hitler in France and Flanders from 1914 to 1940, this important photographic study documents a vital but often overlooked chapter in the story of Adolf Hitler.
Hitler's Raid to Save Mussolini: The Most Infamous Commando Operation of World War II
by Greg AnnussekSpringing Mussolini from the mountaintop hotel in which his king and country had imprisoned him was the easy part. Sorting out who did what and when is the tricky bit. Working from an array of primary sources, independent scholar Annussek sorts the self-serving statements from the outright lies to describe the nazi raid that sprung Mussolini, complete with its gliders, paratroopers, ranks of commandos blasting through what were in fact their ally's ranks, open bragging by the victors and, on the part of the general public, confusion about how and why Hitler decided Mussolini was safer on the loose than he was bricked up. Annussek describes how the war in Italy factored in the Berlin-Rome alliance, how saving Mussolini temporarily worked in terms of German morale, and how the very odd relationship between Hitler and Mussolini complicated the motives for the raid even more. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)
Hitler's Religion: The Twisted Beliefs that Drove the Third Reich
by Richard WeikartFor a man whom history can never forget, Adolf Hitler remains a persistent mystery on one front-his religious faith. Atheists tend to insist Hitler was a devout Christian. Christians counter that he was an atheist. And still others suggest that he was a practicing member of the occult. <P><P>None of these theories are true, says historian Richard Weikart. Delving more deeply into the question of Hitler's religious faith than any researcher to date, Weikart reveals the startling and fascinating truth about the most hated man of the 20th century: Adolf Hitler was a pantheist who believed nature was God. <P><P>In Hitler's Religion, Weikart explains how the laws of nature became Hitler's only moral guide-how he became convinced he would serve God by annihilating supposedly "inferior" human beings and promoting the welfare and reproduction of the allegedly superior Aryans in accordance with racist forms of Darwinism prevalent at the time.
Hitler's Resurrection
by Steve MatthewsNazi Germany has been crushed, but is the war really over?Klara, Hitler&’s personal cook, swears she glimpsed him fleeing the Berlin bunker via a secret tunnel.The world needs undeniable proof of the Fuhrer&’s death, but it&’s not that simple. While Allied intelligence agents scour Europe to find such proof, and a Hitler double – &‘the Wolf&’ – lays a false trail across two continents, the real Hitler hides out in a Polish monastery, desperate to find his gold train so he can fund the Fourth Reich. Klara, already pregnant with Martin Bormann&’s child, is one of the countless women brutally raped as Russian forces take Berlin. She miscarries and can&’t help wondering if she will ever be free of the war&’s burden. Meanwhile, her sister Natalka is working with the Polish government, tracking down and executing Nazi fugitives. She locates Klara and recruits her to help track Hitler: as his former cook, Klara can infiltrate his inner circle. They find Hitler&’s hideout via a tip-off. Klara makes tentative contact: the Fuhrer, weakened and isolated, is thrilled to have her back as his cook – and companion. He feels no threat from her but – profoundly traumatised by the war, the death camps, the rape and miscarriage – Klara can take no more. Following a defining act of conscience, she gains closure at last, for both herself and the crippled world. But one final twist awaits, revealing a future she couldn&’t possibly have imagined!
Hitler's Revenge Weapons: The Final Blitz of London
by Nigel WalpoleFrom September 1940 until May 1941, Britain - especially Greater London - suffered heavily under a barrage of day and nighttime raids by the then mighty Luftwaffe; raids which killed some 20,000 people and destroyed or damaged one million homes during what came to be known as the London Blitz. A baby blitz followed, from January to May 1944, which was destined to be the final manned bomber offensive by a much depleted Luftwaffe. Afterwards, there came the last gasp, the final blitz on London, this time delivered by the V1 flying bombs and V2 rockets which were aimed at the capital. Overall, the V weapons killed or seriously injured 31,000 in London and destroyed or seriously damaged 1.6 million houses throughout Britain. Yet despite all this, British industry, economy and morale remained largely intact.Group Captain Nigel Walpole grew up in London during the Blitz and he has traced the full history of the V1 'doodlebugs' and V2 rockets that terrorized so many at this time. He looks at the infamous missile development site at Peenemunde and the engineers who brought Hitler's horrific visions to life. He reports his vivid memories of the three Blitz campaigns and the countermeasures taken in response to them. Having been granted direct access to the history of the V weapons, he describes the evolution, development, production deployment and launch of the flying bombs and rockets. Whilst acknowledging the terrible damage inflicted by these weapons, Nigel also recognizes them as an example of Germanys extraordinary capacity for innovation and determination during one of the darkest periods of world history.
Hitler's Rival: Ernst Thälmann in Myth and Memory
by Russel LemmonsThroughout the 1920s, German politician and activist Ernst Thälmann (1886–1944) was the leader of the largest Communist Party organization outside the Soviet Union. Thälmann was the most prominent left-wing politician in the country's 1932 election and ra
Hitler's Rockets: The Story of the V-2s
by Norman LongmateIn Hitler's Rockets Norman Longmate tells the story of the V-2, the technically brilliant but hated weapon, the ancestor and forerunner of all subsequent ballistic missiles. He reveals the devious power-play within the German armed forces and the Nazi establishment that so influenced the creation of the rockets. He shows through contemporary documents and protagonists' accounts how the British intelligence skillfully pieced together often contradictory evidence as it sought to establish the true nature of the threat. Finally he recalls in detail the feel and fears of the time from the viewpoint of those who suffered, and those who were all too conscious tat they were the target.