The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: An Illustrated History: Germany’s Victories and Defeat 1939-1945 by Chris Bishop & David Jordan soon to be presented for sale on the inspired BookLovers of Bath web site!
Published: New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2005, Hardback in dust wrapper.
Illustrated by way of: Black & White Photographs; Colour Photographs; Maps; Illustrated endpapers and blanks; Plans;
From the cover: On September 1, 1939, German forces stormed into Poland, precipitating nearly six years of savage, unrelenting warfare that would leave large areas of Europe in ruins. For the first three years, the Werhmacht seemed invincible. The swift victory in Poland was followed by the rapid conquest of Denmark and Norway. In May 1940, the Werhmacht launched the Blitzkrieg (“Lightning War”) in the west, overwhelming Holland and Belgium in a matter of days, driving the British Expeditionary Force back across the English Channel, and completing the defeat of France within a month. Further victories followed in the Balkans, Greece, and North Africa. The opening months of the invasion of Soviet Russia, Operation Barbarossa, proved equally successful, with the German panzers being halted just short of Moscow amidst the harsh conditions of the Russian winter.
However, in December 1941 the United States entered the war. By the end of 1942, with the British victory at El Alamein and the isolation and eventual annihilation of the German Sixth Army at Stalingrad, the Nazis suffered their first major military reversals. The tide of war turned decisively against the Third Reich in 1943, with heavy Allied bombing campaigns against Germany and the Allied invasion of Sicily coinciding with the failure of the Werhmachts offensive against the Soviets on the Eastern Front at Kursk.
In 1944, while the Red Army began the relentless advance that would take it all the way to Berlin, the Allies launched their long-awaited invasion of Western Europe, the landings in Normandy. Despite their increasingly desperate plight, the Germans continued to fight doggedly, launching a major counterattack through the Ardennes in December. However, by March 1945 the Allies were across the Rhine, and in the east the Soviets began to besiege Berlin in April. By the end of the month Hitler had committed suicide, and on May 8 Germany signed an unconditional surrender. The Thousand-Year Reich had lasted just 12 years.
Very Good in Good Dust Wrapper. A little rubbing to the edges of the dust wrapper, more heavily at the top edge. Text complete, clean and tight.
Matching Pictorial boards. 384 pages. Index. 12¼” x 9½”.
Of course, if you don’t like this one, may I lure you to view a further assortment hither or maybe further, hand picked, books in my Military History catalogue?
BookLovers of Bath 