The final stage of World War II, with the enemy across the Reich's borders, saw final desperate battles for numerous "fortified places" and blocking positions. In these isolated bastions the war-weary German units offered desperate resistance. This stubborn holding-on to the last round saved hundreds of thousands of women and children. The fates of German soldiers were realized in bunkers and caves, in tunnels and fields of rubble. Shocking scenes of apocalyptic battle were played out wherever Hitler's last bastions held out against the onrushing enemy.

Franz Kurowski. 432 pp. with over 110 b&w photographs, charts, and maps. Hardback.