Customer Reviews

The Last Prussian: A Biography of Field Marshal Gerd Von Rundstedt, 1875-1953

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I have now read two of Charles Messenger's biographies on some of the most famous (infamous) German military figures from World War II, Hitler's Gladiator...about SS General Sepp Dietrich, and this one, The Last Prussian, the biography of Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt. Although I must admit that gathering information on such figures must be extremely demanding, I felt that both of these books dealt more with the units and or the times being discussed rather than being in depth narratives about each of their lives. I'm not sure if additional interviews would have been better...or what exactly is missing, but I felt that significant portions of "The Last Prussian" just regurgitated what is already known and tries to tie von Rundstedt into those events.

Obviously, the fact that von Rundstedt did not leave any memoirs made this biography an extremely daunting task...and it is likely that many of the people closest to von Rundstedt at the time, are no longer among the living. Still, this book seemed like the "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" with a glimpse of von Rundstedt thrown in.

Despite all of this, I am sure that WW2 fans would still find the material interesting...particularly with respect to von Rundstedt's relationship with Hitler as described by the author.