Armageddon Ost: The German Defeat on the Eastern Front 1944-5 [Hardcover]

Nik Cornish (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 4, 2006

This book examines in detail the final six months of the war on the Eastern Front. It records the gradual and inexorable march of the Red Army towards the ultimate victory. With a narrative drawn from a variety of sources, including first-hand accounts from those who actually fought in the war, the book records the advance of the Red Army through Poland, Hungary and the Balkans and into Germany itself, and is a sobering account of the destruction of this final phase of the war in the East.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Ian Allan Publishing (July 4, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0711030367
• ISBN-13: 978-0711030367
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #704,188 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Destruction of Eastern Europe 1944 and 1945, January 19, 2008

By 

SilverWhiskers "SilverWhiskers" (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Armageddon Ost: The German Defeat on the Eastern Front 1944-5 (Hardcover)

The author has done his homework! There are a great number of details in this book that are factual and recently discovered. It is so hard to imagine destruction and death on such a huge scale. There were many instances where the Russian's killed civillians just because they had the ability to do it.

This book begins with the story of the final year of war in Europe. The author discusses the Hungarian Army as well as the Romanian Army.He begins the book with a brief explanation of how Operation Barbarossa began, to bring new readers up to date with the last year of the war. He also briefly discusses the Battle of Kursk, and the Crimea, the Korsun-Shevchenkovsky pocket, and many more interesting moments in the history of the eastern front.

This book has EXCELLENT MAPS! The author clearly shows what he is talking about and often the maps show several lines describing the advances of the Russians against the axis forces. He also includes many photographs that I have never seen before. He has done a great job of illustrating exactly what he is explaning.

This book contains many detailed original photographs of tanks and artillery from all sides of the conflict. He includes chapters on the Balkan Collapse September 1944,Belgrade, Budapest, On to the Oder, Fall of Budapest, Reich's Last Offensive, Objective 105 The Reighstag: April 1945 and finally the last ten days of the Reich.

This book tells a story that is shocking. It is a true story and the story is told well. The thing that impressed me so much is that the killing just went on and on and on and on. While I have no sympathy for the former Government of Germany, I have even less respect for the Russians. Sending their aircraft to strafe collums of refugees who are civillians simply trying to escape the rape and murder machine coming to them as quickly as American lend-lease could bring it to them, is a hard story to read. It is am important story to read though.

Just because the enemy of our enemy is out there does not make them our friends. Several German divisions stayed and fought and died simply to buy time for the civillians to escape to the western sector. Again, it does not excuse their previous behavior but it does shed light on a rarely told story.

Books about the final collapse of the Eastern Front have been uncommon because the historical records were either unavailable or didn't exist. This author has done an excellent job of putting the story together in a concise and easily read book. I highly reccomend reading this book. The methods of the Soviet military need to be exposed for future generations to understand how violent war is and how final death is. The Soviet Armies smashed entire European cities just because they could.

This book is excellent and could easily fit in anyones collection of military history books. If you buy it you won't be disappointed. There is a lot of action in this book.

Thank you! SilverWhiskers

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very Pro-Russian Bias, May 13, 2009

By 

Petewen "petewen7" (Kildeer, IL United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Armageddon Ost: The German Defeat on the Eastern Front 1944-5 (Hardcover)

I was very dissappointed with this book, since it turned out to be a propaganda piece favoring the Communists. A book that purports to be about the German defeat in the east, should have extensive info about the German side. However, it was wirtten as if the title was "the Russian victory in the east". At least then we would not have been misled as to what the main theme of the book is going to be.

Aside form that, he has a number of inaccuracies, errors, as well as many errors of omission and missrepresentation. As one of the earlier reviews said, if you know nothing about this topic this may be OK, but if you do, and are trying to learn more about this topic, look elsewhere.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Generic photo album with a breezy narrative, July 26, 2008

By 

JamesM (MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Armageddon Ost: The German Defeat on the Eastern Front 1944-5 (Hardcover)

Those lacking a basic understanding of WW2's Eastern Front will want to reach past this title and grab Christopher Duffy's "Red Storm on the Reich".

Red Storm On The Reich: The Soviet March On Germany, 1945