Last Laurels The German Defence Of Upper Silesia, January-May 1945

By January 1945, Upper Silesia had become Germany’s key industrial region, with its coal mines, blast furnaces, arms factories and hydrogenation plants. Not surprisingly, when the Soviets launched a series of powerful offensives aimed at capturing the region, the German defence was bitter, bordering on the suicidal! Soviet reactions were brutal, the Red Army committing widespread atrocities, which have received little coverage until now.

In this readable and fast-paced translation from the German edition, the author presents a penetrating description of the events which occurred in Silesia during the first five months of 1945 - from the massive Soviet offensive on 12th January, through to the final German defensive actions around Ratibor five months later.

The translation and publication of Last Laurels represents a major contribution to the military history of the Eastern Front in the English language, filling a yawning gap in our knowledge of the most titanic armed struggle the world has yet seen.

- There is tremendous amount of reader interest in this last phase of the war on the Eastern Front, which until now has received virtually no English-language coverage
- Contains a great number of German personal accounts
- Much data on small-unit actions by individual German units, incl. the famous Jäger units, 8th Panzer Division, etc.
- Reproduces over 170 rare & previously unpublished photographs, plus maps
- Includes significant information on the following German divisions: - 1st Ski Jäger, 4th Gebirgsdivision, 8th Panzer Division, 16th Panzer Division, 17th Panzer Division, 18th SS Panzergrenadier Division Horst Wessel, 20th Panzer Division, 68th, 75th, 168th, 253rd, 304th, 344th, 371st Infantry Divisions, 97th Jäger Division. In addition, StuG Brigade 300 and many Volkssturm units also feature
- Includes German and Soviet orders of battle

Gunter, G
Hardcover pictorial boards no d/w as issued 320pp 170+ b/w photos, 20 maps Helion & Co 2002 1st Ed

Near Fine