Endgame 1944

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.>

Autorentext

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.

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THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

'This book is his best yet . . . Dimbleby's work is in a different league, told with such skill and judgment' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times

A gripping and authoritative account of the year that sealed the fate of the Nazis, from the bestselling historian

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.

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 . . .

'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

'Terrific . . . a tour de force' Sir Richard Evans

'Military history at its very best' Keith Lowe

Sunday Time Bestseller, June 2024