Read more
By the spring of 1943, after the defeat at Stalingrad, the writing was on the wall. But while commanders close to the troops on Germany's various fronts were beginning to read it, those at the top were resolutely looking the other way.
This seventh volume in the magisterial 10-volume series from the Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt [Research Institute for Military History] shows both Germany and her Japanese ally on the defensive, from 1943 into early 1945. It looks in depth at the strategic air war over the Reich and the mounting toll taken in the Battles of the Ruhr, Hamburg, and Berlin, and at the "Battle of the Radar Sets" so central to them all. The collapse of the Luftwaffe in its retaliatory role led to hopes being pinned on the revolutionary V-weapons, whose dramatic but ultimately fruitless achievements are chronicled.
The Luftwaffe's weakness in defence is seen during the Normandy invasion, Operation overlord, an account of the planning, preparation and execution of which form the central part of this volume together with the landings in the south of France, the setback suffered at Arnhem, and the German counter-offensive in the Ardennes.
The final part follows the fortunes of Germany's ally fighting in the Pacific, Burma, Thailand, and China, with American forces capturing islands ever closer to Japan's homeland, and culminates in her capitulation and the creation of a new postwar order in the Far East. The struggle between internal factions in the Japanese high command and imperial court is studied in detail, and highlights an interesting contrast with the intolerance of all dissent that typified the Nazi power structure.
Based on meticulous research by MGFA's team of historians at Potsdam, this analysis of events is illustrated by a wealth of tables and maps covering aspects ranging from Germany's radar defence system and the targets of RAF Bomber Command and the US 8th Air Force, through the break-out from the Normandy beachhead, to the battles for Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
List of contents
- Introduction
- Part I: The Strategic Air War in Europe and Air Defence of the Reich 1943-1944
- 1: The Allied Combined Bomber Offensive against Germany (Pointblank) from Early 1943 to July 1944
- 2: Defending German Skies, Part of the Overall Air-War Problem: From Early 1943 to the Invasion in 1944
- 3: Attack the Best Form of Defence? Germany Reacts in Kind to the Allied Bomber Offensive
- Part II: German and Allied Conduct of the War in the West
- 1: The German in the Occupied Territories of Western and Northern Europe up to Mid-1943
- 2: The Allies in the Western Theatre up to Mid-1943
- 3: The Germans Await an Allied Invasion
- 4: Allied Plans and Preparations for Operation Overlord July 1943 to the Invasion
- 5: Operation Overlord
- 6: The Landing in the South of France
- 7: The Battles on the Western Front from September 1944 to January 1945
- Part III: The War in the Pacific 1943-1945
- 1: Strategy and Policy after the Reversal of Fortunes Early in 1943
- 2: The Major American Offensives of 1944 and their Repercussions for Japan
- 3: The Last Lap
- 4: Looking to the Future: The End of the Pacific War, and the Post-War Order in Asia
- Bibliography of Persons
- Index
About the author
Project co-ordinated by the Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt (Research Institute for Military History), Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
Summary
Volume VII of the 'Germany and the Second World War' series looks at Germany and her Japanese ally on the defensive after the tide of war turned in 1943.
Additional text
"...the series is the closest thing to an official history of Germany's participation in the Second World War...a work of seminal importance that should sit on the shelf of any serious student of the Second World War."
Report
"...the series is the closest thing to an official history of Germany's participation in the Second World War...a work of seminal importance that should sit on the shelf of any serious student of the Second World War." Stephen Ashley Hart, The English Historical Review
