Across the Rhine: January-May 1945

Description

Heavily illustrated title covering the advance of the US, Canadian and British Armies west into Germany in 1945. The last rites were administered to the Third Reich from the west by a massive concentration of Allied forces and firepower. With France secured, Hitler's vain counterattack in the Ardennes held and the Channel and North Sea ports cleared, little stood in the way of the Allies other than the dominant geographical feature of western Europe: the mighty Rhine River stretching from the North Sea almost to Switzerland. In the north, the 21st Army Group executed one of the largest operations of the war: a huge airdrop backed up by an amphibious crossing that made full use of 79th Armoured Division's specialized armour including the Alligators of 4th Royal Tank Regiment. Further south, until it collapsed under the pressure, the Ludendorff Bridge, captured intact at Remagen allowed US First Army to create a bridgehead. They would use it to good effect, wheeling north to surround the Ruhr, Germany's industrial heartland. Further south, where the river was narrower, Patton's Third Army vaulted the Rhine with its customary elan, as did Devers' Sixth Army Group. Ahead of the Allies were the remains of the German forces, often no more than Volkssturm or Hitlerjugend, determined to resist for as long as possible so that their Fu hrer had time to unleash his super weapons. In the end, these proved figments of Hitler's imagination and the defenders crumbled in the face of units that, after nine months of training, had become deadly proponents of the art of aggressive warfare with modern, new equipment - such as the M26 Pershing and Comet - being rushed to the front in the hope it could see action before the war finished. AUTHORS: Simon Forty has been working in publishing as commissioning editor and author for 35 years. He has co-authored with Leo Marriott a series of books on the Normandy Campaign, including The Normandy Battlefields: D-Day & the Bridgehead (2014) and Hitler's Atlantic Wall (2016). A keen cyclist he has toured the Normandy battlefields many times. Tom Timmermans lives and works in the south of the Netherlands. An enthusiastic historian of WW2 subjects, he is the brains behind battledetective.com.

Simon Forty has worked in military and history publishing as editor and author for over 40 years. Following in his father's footsteps he concentrates on highly illustrated books that combine historic material with modern photography, much of it by long-time collaborator Leo Marriott. Tom Timmermans lives and works in the south of the Netherlands. An enthusiastic historian of WW2 subjects, he is the brains behind battledetective.com.

This book is good value and recommended for those seeking a very well-illustrated, broad overview of the campaign in North West Europe in the closing months of the War. * Military Historical Society Bulletin * This is very much a complete look at the crossing of the Rhine, and the end game in Germany on 1945. * Britmodeller.com *