The Wehrmachts Last Stand, Robert M. Citino
The Wehrmachts Last Stand, Robert M. Citino
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The Wehrmacht's Last Stand
The German Campaigns of 1944-1945

Author: Robert M. Citino

Narrator: Tom Beyer

Unabridged: 25 hr 59 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 08/13/2024


Synopsis

By 1943, the war was lost, and most German officers knew it. 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 book, Citino charts the 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.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Creighton on July 20, 2022

A lot of people ask the question: Why did the Wehrmacht keep fighting in 1944 and 1945? This book does a good job explaining that question. I think this book is quintessential for World War Two readers, because it answers these questions and explains the history of the war from the view of both the......more

Goodreads review by Heinz on February 08, 2020

The Wehrmacht's Last Stand by Dr. Robert Citino is, perhaps, the best book written in my lifetime devoted to the German equation of the final year and half of the Second War.  Part of an unofficial quadrille of books beginning with 'The German Way of War', and including 'Death of the Wehrmacht: The G......more

Goodreads review by Simon on February 14, 2020

World War 2.  Pretty big subject.  Pretty extensively covered subject.  Pretty intensively covered subject.  There are pages upon pages covering the impacts of individuals.  Or bears.  Or corpses. But what about this book? Worth a read?  Maybe… First timer This core of this book is explaining how rectan......more

Goodreads review by Sean on February 25, 2022

Citino certainly knows how to string a sentence together and his views are incisive and well articulated. His contention is that the German army of World War II was in may ways a continuation of older Prussian traditions, and how the history of the nation, particularly the events of 1918, affected i......more

Goodreads review by James on December 27, 2017

Detractors would argue that this book is another pointless addition to WWII operational literature. And they are right in that this book is operational at its core. However, The Wehrmacht's Last Stand does so better than any book I've ready about the time period. Citino combines a massive amount of......more