Endgame 1944

A SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER<BR><BR>'The best single-volume account of the Barbarossa campaign to date' Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny<BR><BR>'A page-turning descent into Hell and back . . . this fresh and compelling account of Hitler's failed invasion of the Soviet Union should be on everyone's reading list for 2021' Dr Amanda Foreman, author of A World on Fire<BR>_______________________________<BR><BR>The largest military operation in history. The turning point of the Second World War. The most important year of the twentieth century.<BR><BR>Operation Barbarossa, Hitler's invasion of Russia in June 1941, aimed at nothing less than a war of extermination to annihilate Soviet communism, liquidate the Jews and create Lebensraum for the German master race. But it led to the destruction of the Third Reich, and was cataclysmic for Germany with millions of men killed, wounded or registered as missing in action. It was this colossal mistake -- rather than any action in Western Europe -- that lost Hitler the Second World War.<BR><BR>Drawing on hitherto unseen archival material, including previously untranslated Russian sources, Jonathan Dimbleby puts Barbarossa in its proper place in history for the first time. From its origins in the ashes of the First World War to its impact on post-war Europe, and covering the military, political and diplomatic story from all sides, he paints a full and vivid picture of this monumental campaign whose full nature and impact has remained unexplored.<BR><BR>Written with authority and humanity, Barbarossa is a masterwork that transforms our understanding of the Second World War and of the twentieth century.<BR>_______________________________<BR><BR>'Superb. . . stays with you long after you have finished' Henry Hemming, bestselling author of Our Man in New York<BR><BR>'A chilling account of war at its worst' Bear Grylls

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER<BR><BR>2025 marks the 80th anniversary of VE Day. Read and remember the history that led to this important moment.<BR><BR>'This book is his best yet . . . Dimbleby's work is in a different league, told with such skill and judgment' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times<BR><BR>A gripping and authoritative account of the year that sealed the fate of the Nazis, from the bestselling historian<BR><BR>June 1944: In Operation Bagration, more than two million Red Army soldiers, facing 500,000 German soldiers, finally avenged their defeat in Operation Barbarossa in 1941. The same month saw the Allies triumph on the beaches of Normandy, but, despite the myths that remain, it was the events on the Eastern Front that sealed Hitler's fate and destroyed Nazism.<BR><BR>In his new book, bestselling historian Jonathan Dimbleby describes and analyses this momentous year, covering the military, political and diplomatic story in his evocative style. Drawing on previously untranslated German, Russian and Polish sources, we see how sophisticated new forms of deception and ruthless Partisan warfare shifted the Soviets' fortunes, how their triumphs effectively gave Stalin authority to occupy Eastern Europe and how it was the events of 1944 that enabled Stalin to dictate the terms of the post-war settlement, laying the foundations for the Cold War . . .<BR><BR>'Mr. Dimbleby is a sure-footed guide to the labyrinthine military operations along a front line that extended nearly 2,000 miles, from the Baltic to the Black Sea' Wall Street Journal<BR><BR>'Terrific . . . a tour de force' Sir Richard Evans<BR><BR>'Military history at its very best' Keith Lowe<BR><BR>Sunday Time Bestseller, June 2024