On April 30, 1945, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in a bunker in
Berlin. But victory over the Nazi regime was not celebrated in western
Europe until May 8. Why did a peace agreement take so much time? How did
this brutal, protracted conflict coalesce into its unlikely endgame?
Combining exhaustive research with masterfully paced storytelling,
Michael Jones recounts the Fuhrer's frantic last stand; the devious
maneuverings of his handpicked successor, Karl Donitz; the grudging
respect Joseph Stalin had for Churchill and FDR, as well as his distrust
of Harry Truman; the bold negotiating by General Dwight D. Eisenhower
that hastened Germany's surrender but drew the ire of the Kremlin; the
journalist who almost scuttled the cease-fire; and the thousands of
ordinary British, American, and Russian soldiers caught in the swells of
history.
Through it all, Jones traces the shifting loyalties between East and
West that sowed the seeds of the Cold War and nearly unraveled the Grand
Alliance.
INCLUDES PHOTOS