THEIRS THE STRIFE

THEIRS THE STRIFE
by John Russell. 

Whilst serving in the British Army in Germany during the 1980's, the author had access to his regiment's Official History. In particular, the descriptions of the battles fought in April 1945 were very different to what he had previously believed. This was not against a beaten German army surrendering on sight, but mostly against soldiers on home soil ordered to, or deciding to fight until the end.
This started him on a path over many decades, researching in both Allied and German archives, through eyewitness accounts and also walking the ground around these battlefields near the Weser and Aller rivers.
This book is now the result of all his work.

Before those battles are explained, the early chapters provide an immense amount of information on the both the Allied and German armies, the current state of the air forces and the orders of battle. In fact the author, realising this might not be for every reader, suggests some readers may wish to skip these chapters and maybe return to them later. 
What these chapters immediately reveal is the incredible scale of  John's research.

The detailed narrative then covers the fighting, both on the ground and in the air. 
It was particularly fascinating for me to learn more about the Luftwaffe's strengths and tactics at this time. Notably the suicide squadrons who with little or no ammunition would intentionally ram the Allied bombers in an attempt to bring them down.
The ground fighting proved to be equally bitter and costly.
Rivers had to be crossed and every village and town cleared. 

Every chapter is packed with both maps and photographs, of which many reveal the locations as they look today. 
I cannot praise the publisher and author enough for including so many maps to assist the reader. An example I wish many other publishers would only follow.

This highly researched book provides a very detailed account of the battles and those units involved. The level of research is clearly outstanding and I can only agree with the many previous positive reviews that have gone before. A great piece of work.

The paperback edition is available now and published by Helion and Company. 
I thank Helion for this review copy. 

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