Overview

"A gripping and authoritative account of the year that sealed the fate of the Nazis, from the bestselling historian June 1944. Operation Bagration- the greatest defeat ever suffered by the German Armed Forces. More than two million Red Army soldiers, facing 500,000 German adversaries, finally avenged their defeat in Operation Barbarossa three years earlier. In the ensuing three weeks, Hitler's Army Group Centre lost 28 of its 32 divisions. While the same month saw the Allies triumph on the beaches of Normandy, it was in fact the events on the Eastern Front in 1944 that were the knockout blow in the Second World War. Despite the myths that remain today, it was this brutal struggle from the Baltic to the Black Sea that saw the Wehrmacht crucially defeated. Drawing on previously untranslated German and Russian sources - many from 'ordinary' soldiers - bestselling historian Jonathan Dimbleby describes and analyses with authority and panache this momentous year in the East. He illuminates the bloody battles that raged along the 2000 kilometres-long front, while also explaining the unusual roles played by deception, the partisans, and the war within a war in Ukraine. Dimbleby's gripping, masterly narrative sets the drama of the relationships between the ""big three"" of Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin against the history being created on the battlefield, and shows how his victories in 1944 enabled the Soviet leader to dictate the terms of the post-war settlement and lay the foundations for the Cold War."

Full Product Details

9780241536711

Table of Contents

Reviews

Pacily written . . . The detail is terrific, and the extracts from diaries, letters and so on make an indelible impression. The description of the last months of the war in Budapest is a tour de force. -- Sir Richard Evans, author of The Third Reich in History and Memory Dimbleby has unearthed some powerful voices to producing an engaging mix of the familiar and the new. Fascinating stuff. -- Roger Moorhouse, author of The Forgers This impressive book describes how Stalin’s armies shattered the Wehrmacht in Operation Bagration - which too few people have heard of - and gained him effective control over post-war Eastern Europe. -- Sir Rodric Braithwaite, author of Moscow 1941 A chillingly objective appraisal of the relationship between the ‘Big Three’ Allied leaders who influenced the outcome of the Second World War. It shines a light for general readers on a period of history often the preserve of Eastern Front academics . . . The human interface between the ‘Big Three’ is exposed in fascinating detail. -- Colonel Robert Kershaw, author of Tank Men Magnificent . . . draws on so much good material. -- Dr David Stahel Based on an impressive range of sources, Endgame describes how Stalin’s armies shattered the Wehrmacht in Operation Bagration in 1944. It was these victories, not the Western “betrayal” at Yalta, which gained him effective control over post-war Eastern Europe. It’s a story too little known, and Dimbleby tells it brilliantly. * Sir Rodric Braithwaite, author of Moscow 1941 * Extraordinary . . . Dimbleby paints a unique picture of the vast, unremitting living hell that was the Eastern Front in the final full year of the war. * Frederick Taylor, author of Dresden: Tuesday, 13 February, 1945 *

Pacily written . . . The detail is terrific, and the extracts from diaries, letters and so on make an indelible impression. The description of the last months of the war in Budapest is a tour de force. -- Sir Richard Evans, author of The Third Reich in History and Memory Dimbleby has unearthed some powerful voices to producing an engaging mix of the familiar and the new. Fascinating stuff. -- Roger Moorhouse, author of The Forgers Magnificent . . . draws on so much good material. -- Dr David Stahel Extraordinary . . . Dimbleby paints a unique picture of the vast, unremitting living hell that was the Eastern Front in the final full year of the war. * Frederick Taylor, author of Dresden: Tuesday, 13 February, 1945 * One of the strengths of this book is the line it draws between the awful then of 1944 and the grim events of today . . . Endgame 1944 is thus as much a primer for the present as it is sound history -- Patrick Bishop * Telegraph * Endgame 1944 paints a vivid picture of the fighting at both the bayonet end and at high command, but rightly probes the complex relationship between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin, powered by different and incompatible visions of the purpose of victory -- Allan Mallinson * Country Life *

Pacily written . . . The detail is terrific, and the extracts from diaries, letters and so on make an indelible impression. The description of the last months of the war in Budapest is a tour de force. -- Sir Richard Evans, author of The Third Reich in History and Memory Dimbleby has unearthed some powerful voices to producing an engaging mix of the familiar and the new. Fascinating stuff. -- Roger Moorhouse, author of The Forgers This impressive book describes how Stalin’s armies shattered the Wehrmacht in Operation Bagration - which too few people have heard of - and gained him effective control over post-war Eastern Europe. -- Sir Rodric Braithwaite, author of Moscow 1941 A chillingly objective appraisal of the relationship between the ‘Big Three’ Allied leaders who influenced the outcome of the Second World War. It shines a light for general readers on a period of history often the preserve of Eastern Front academics . . . The human interface between the ‘Big Three’ is exposed in fascinating detail. -- Colonel Robert Kershaw, author of Tank Men Magnificent . . . draws on so much good material. -- Dr David Stahel Based on an impressive range of sources, Endgame describes how Stalin’s armies shattered the Wehrmacht in Operation Bagration in 1944. It was these victories, not the Western “betrayal” at Yalta, which gained him effective control over post-war Eastern Europe. It’s a story too little known, and Dimbleby tells it brilliantly. * Sir Rodric Braithwaite, author of Moscow 1941 *

Author Information

Jonathan Dimbleby's previous books include the highly acclaimed Second World War histories The Battle of the Atlantic and Destiny in the Desert- The Road to El Alamein, which was shortlisted for the Hessell-Tiltman Prize and was followed by his BBC2 programme Churchill's Desert War. His other books include, Russia- A Journey to the Heart of a Land and Its People, Richard Dimbleby- A Biography, The Palestinians, The Prince of Wales- A Biography and The Last Governor- Chris Patten and the Handover of Hong Kong.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available