City Libraries, City of Gold Coast

Hitler, downfall, 1939-45, Volker Ullrich ; translated from the German by Jefferson Chase

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

individual biography

illustrationsplates

index present

non fiction

Hitler

Volker Ullrich ; translated from the German by Jefferson Chase

downfall, 1939-45

By the summer of 1939 Hitler was at the zenith of his power. Yet despite initial triumphs in the early stages of war, the Führer's fortunes would turn dramatically as the conflict raged on. Realising that victory was lost, and with Soviet troops closing in on his Berlin bunker, Hitler committed suicide in April 1945; one week later, Nazi Germany surrendered. His murderous ambitions had not only annihilated his own country, but had cost the lives of millions across Europe. In the final volume of this landmark biography, Volker Ullrich argues that the very qualities - and the defects - that accounted for Hitler's popularity and rise to power were what brought about his ruin. A keen strategist and meticulous military commander, he was also a deeply insecure gambler who could be shaken by the smallest setback, and was quick to blame subordinates for his own disastrous mistakes

Unleashing the War -- Poland 1939-40: Prelude to a War of annihilation -- Decision in the West? -- Strategic stalemate -- Operation Barbarossa -- The War Turns, 1941-1942 -- The road to the Holocaust -- Stalingrad and the battle for oil -- Total War and ethnic-Popular Community -- On the defensive -- Operations Overlord and Bagration -- The Berghof during the War -- The Stauffenberg assassination attempt and its aftermath -- Final rally -- Decline of a dictator -- Staged exit -- The final days in the bunker -- Hitler's Place in History

Downfall, 1939-45