Fire and Steel: The End of World War Two in the West

Caddick-Adams (Snow and Steel), a lecturer at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, chronicles in this exhaustive history the Western Allies’ drive into Germany in the final 100 days of WWII. After repelling German offensives in the Ardennes and struggling to take the Colmar Pocket, Caddick-Adams explains, Allied generals refined their ability to work together in their concerted push to the Rhine, “the most formidable natural obstacle in western Europe, next to the Normandy beaches.” Drawing on eyewitness testimony from journalists and soldiers, including the future Archbishop of Canterbury, Caddick-Adams documents hazardous battlefield conditions, fierce urban fighting, and the first horrified encounters with enslaved laborers and concentration camp inmates. In February 1945, 25,000 American infantrymen “slid in one continuous, unstoppable wave” across the flooded Roer River, surprising the enemy and setting the stage for a series of pivotal clashes on the Rhine. Caddick-Adams provides incisive details about the unexpected capture of the Ludendorff railway bridge at Remagen, the fractious relationship between American and Free French generals, Hitler’s plans to “impose extortionate casualties” on the Allies, the struggle to coordinate piecemeal surrenders by German forces, and more. This is a must-have for the bookshelves of dedicated WWII history buffs. (July)