The Wehrmacht's Last Stand: The German Campaigns of 1944-1945

Modern War Studies

De: Robert M. Citino

Narrado por: Tom Beyer

By 1943, the war was lost, and most German officers knew it. What kept the German army going in an increasingly hopeless situation? Where some historians have found explanations in the power of Hitler or the role of ideology, Robert M. Citino, the world's leading scholar on the subject, posits a more straightforward solution: Bewegungskrieg, the way of war cultivated by the Germans over the course of history. In this book, Citino charts the path by which Bewegungskrieg, or a "war of movement," inexorably led to Nazi Germany's defeat.

The Wehrmacht's Last Stand analyzes the German Totenritt, or "death ride," from January 1944-with simultaneous Allied offensives at Anzio and Ukraine-until May 1945, the collapse of the Wehrmacht in the field, and the Soviet storming of Berlin. In clear and compelling prose, and bringing extensive reading of the German-language literature to bear, Citino focuses on the German view of these campaigns. Often very different from the Allied perspective, this approach allows for a more nuanced and far-reaching understanding of the last battles of the Wehrmacht than any now available. With Citino's previous volumes, Death of the Wehrmacht and The Wehrmacht Retreats, The Wehrmacht's Last Stand completes a uniquely comprehensive picture of the German army's strategy, operations, and performance against the Allies in World War II.

©2017 the University Press of Kansas (P)2024 Tantor

Readers Style Distracts Heavily

Citano's work is very interesting and seems thorough. Unfortunately for this audio book the reader was either allowed to use awful and distracting fake German accents when quoting German officers or was directed to do so. This is childish and very distracting. He also reads slowly for no reason.

Outstanding

I have read dozens of books on WWII, this book is among the very best.

simply brilliant

comprehensive and detailed yet still clear, original and unbiased, must read for any WWII history buff

Entertaining and informative listen with good historical context.

I enjoyed this audio book. Robert Citino is a very knowledgeable author and historian who is also a very talented story teller. I enjoyed hearing more about the last two years of Wehrmacht as well as how their performance was grounded in German / Prussian history. The narrator did a great job to keep my attention and I appreciated the variation in tone and accent as the sort went on. There were parts of the book where I would have wished to have had a map in front of me, but that is the audio book category weakness and not specific to this book. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in ww2.

Bobby C does it again

He ties up the war with his main thesis perfectly, with detail, decent pace, and clarity. Doesn't fall into the cliche traps of late WW2 history, and illuminates the broader truth.

God why did the reader have to do accents for the entire series, it's almost funny how bad his Russian is. Other than that, very good.

A good story ruined

The problem I had with the performance of this good story was the reader’s use of German, Russian, and American accents for quotes. At first distracting, then bothersome, it was unnecessary and tainted an otherwise good book.

A brilliant Analysis

Another great piece for a better understanding of one of the greatest conflicts in history

Entertaining and informative

Just finished this audiobook by Robert Citino. Almost 26 hours, but it wizzed by. Some people who listened didn’t like the accents that were used to show the nationality of the person being quoted, but I thought they were helpful in keeping it all straight. I really enjoyed it, and learned a lot about campaigns I knew very little about, especially on the Eastern front. I would highly recommend it.

Good but slow and long

I enjoyed the info but it’s written like a textbook. You can listen to it on 1.4 speed just fine. The attempt at various nationalities ascents was awful and not needed. You’ll like the book if you’re hardcore into WWII but there is no real new info.

The fake English with a pseudo German accent,

The information is so interesting. However the presentation is spoiled by the narrator, when quoting German sources descends into a Hogan’s Heroes like fake German accent. It is so annoying I stopped listening. It sounded like a book read by Colonel Klink and Seargant Schultz,