German Military

The Statue of Liberty’s torch has been closed since 1916. Most Americans have no idea why. On July 30, 1916, German saboteurs detonated two million pounds of munitions on the New Jersey waterfront. The blast shattered windows across Manhattan, registered as a 5.5 earthquake, and sent shrapnel into the Statue of Liberty. The torch was closed to the public. It has never reopened. That night was the opening act of a hidden intelligence war on American soil — a thirty-year struggle fought in ports, factories, courtrooms, and FBI sting operations. German Spies on American Soil tells this ...

For almost four desperate years between 1939 and 1943, British and American navies fought a savage, losing battle against German submarine wolf packs. The Allies might never have turned the tide of that historic battle without an intelligence coup. The race to break the German U-boat codes is one of the last great untold stories of World War II.

Before 1871, Germany was not yet a nation but simply an idea. Its founder, Otto von Bismarck, had a formidable task at hand. How would he bring 39 individual states under the yoke of a single Kaiser? How would he convince proud Prussians, Bavarians, and Rhinelanders to become Germans? Once united, could the young European nation wield enough power to rival the empires of Britain and France - all without destroying itself in the process?

German military history is typically viewed as an inexorable march to the rise of Prussia and the two world wars, the road paved by militarism and the result a specifically German way of war. Peter Wilson challenges this narrative. Looking beyond Prussia to German-speaking Europe across the last five centuries, Wilson finds little unique or preordained in German militarism or warfighting. Iron and Blood takes as its starting point the consolidation of the Holy Roman Empire, which created new mechanisms for raising troops but also for resolving disputes diplomatically.

While the Germans knew an invasion was inevitable, no one knew where or when it would fall. Those manning Hitler's mighty Atlantic Wall may have felt secure in their bunkers, but they had no conception of the fury and fire that was about to break. After the initial assaults of June established an Allied bridgehead, a state of stalemate prevailed. The Germans fought with great courage - hindered by lack of supplies and overwhelming Allied control of the air. This book describes the catastrophe that followed, in a unique look at the war from the losing side. 

In the cold morning of June 6, 1944, thousands of German soldiers were in position from Port en Bessin eastward past Colleville on the Normandy coast, aware that a massive invasion force was heading straight for them, although according to Allied Intelligence, they shouldn't have been there. The presence of 352 Division meant that the number of defenders was literally double the number expected - and on the best fortified of all the invasion beaches. What makes this account of the bloody struggle unique is that it is told from the German standpoint, using firsthand testimony....

The German Army lost two consecutive wars and the conclusion is often drawn that it simply wasn't able to cope with its opponents. This image is constantly reinforced in literature and in the media, where seemingly brainless operating German units led by fanatical officers predominate. Nothing...

Considered one of the finest tanks of WWII, the Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger tank killed 11.52 tanks for every one Tiger destroyed in battle. Tigers suffered a large number of non-combat losses, however, as the chaos of wartime and the Tiger’s mechanical reliability reduced the number of deployable tanks, then along with frequent breakdowns the Tiger managed only 5.25 enemy tanks killed for every lost Tiger. The Second World War began with the lightning German Blitzkrieg as their Wehrmacht raced across Europe, spearheaded by the most dreaded weapon of the 20th century. No German tank better ...

A German soldier during World War II offers an inside look at the Nazi war machine, using his wartime diaries to describe how a ruthless psychopath motivated an entire generation of ordinary Germans to carry out his monstrous schemes.

This is the riveting and extraordinary story of Kapitan Herbert Cleff, presented here for the first time by Brian Brinkworth. Cleff, an officer on the staff of General Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma, attached to the 21st Panzer division operating in the Western desert, was captured near El Dab'a in Libya on the sixth of November, 1942. He was interrogated both in the Western Desert and in the United Kingdom, following assessments that led his British captors to believe that he might prove useful to the Allied war effort. During this interrogation period, Cleff kept releasing tantalizing snippets.

In the dark days of war, who can you trust? When journalist Marlene Villeret parachutes into Nazi-occupied France by moonlight, her role is to observe the French way of life until her departure at the next full moon. With swastikas draped around Paris and families torn from their homes in front of helpless friends and neighbours, Marlene wants to do more with her short time in the city. But when she forms a bond with Niklas, a German soldier, she has cause to question all that she thought she knew about the war. With every passing day, Marlene is drawn further into danger. When she is ...

Using his own experiences, log books, and correspondence with other U-boat crewmen, Hans Goebeler offers rich and personal details about what life was like in the German Navy under Hitler. Since his first and last posting was to U-505, Goebeler's perspective of the crew, commanders, and war patrols paints a vivid and complete portrait unlike any other to come out of the Kriegsmarine. He witnessed it all, from deadly sabotage efforts that almost sunk the boat to the tragic suicide of the only U-boat commander who took his life during World War II.

The Third Reich has fallen. The war continues. The overthrow of Hitler saved Germany from destruction—but it did not bring peace. As the newly restored German Empire struggles to secure its future, the Eastern Front erupts once more. Vast Soviet armies gather for a decisive offensive aimed at crushing Germany before the new government can consolidate its power. The city of Rostov becomes the focal point of the coming storm. German infantrymen dig in along frozen defensive lines. Panzer crews prepare for battles of annihilation. Fighter pilots clash for control of the skies while ...

Rommel: The Desert Fox — Genius and Tragedy is a gripping and balanced portrait of one of the most fascinating and controversial commanders of the Second World War, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. Celebrated as a brilliant tactician and feared by his enemies, Rommel became a legend during the North African campaign, earning the enduring nickname “The Desert Fox.” Yet behind the myth stood a complex man shaped by ambition, duty, propaganda, and the moral contradictions of serving under Adolf Hitler. Drawing on wartime records, personal writings, and modern historical research, this book ...

Germany's success in the Second World War was built upon its tank forces; however, many of its leading generals, with the notable exception of Heinz Guderian, are largely unknown. This biographical study of four German panzer army commanders serving on the Eastern Front is based upon their unpublished wartime letters to their wives. David Stahel offers a complete picture of the men conducting Hitler's war in the East, with an emphasis on the private fears and public pressures they operated under.

What if Germany had chosen a different path? Winter 1942. As the battle for Stalingrad rages and the Third Reich marches toward catastrophe, a group of German officers takes a desperate gamble. Adolf Hitler is overthrown, the Nazi regime collapses, and Germany stands on the brink of civil war. But the struggle is only beginning. While loyalists fight to restore the old order, a new government emerges under the banner of the German Empire led by Kaiser Louis Ferdinand I. Facing enemies on every front, Germany must rebuild its shattered armed forces, restore stability at home, and continue a ...

The Salerno Kill Zone The beachhead is open. The exits are covered. The sniper is waiting. When the 36th Infantry Division lands at Salerno, the men expect a dangerous beach. What they find is worse: a battlefield already measured by the enemy. German positions overlook the sand. Machine guns control the exits. Mortars wait for the clusters. And somewhere in the stone terraces inland, a sniper begins cutting the nerve lines of the American advance. Sergeant Cade Parker understands the danger immediately. The enemy shooter is not wasting ammunition on easy targets. He is killing the men who ...

Under orders of the Fuhrer, the German General Staff reluctantly drew up a lackluster plan of invasion for France. Yet it was the audacious scheme of three of Hitler’s top generals that brought down France’s military force, Rather than simply move troops to engage the enemy, for the first time they would unleash the tank and drive straight into the heart of their foe.

Ich bin zurückgekehrt. Nicht, um zu retten. Nicht, um zu vergeben. Sondern, um SIE zu holen. In ihrem geheimen Online-Tagebuch beichtet sie Gelüste, die kein anderer kennen dürfte. Doch ich lese jedes Wort. Jede Zeile ruft nach mir, nährt die Bestie, die sich nach ihr verzehrt. Sie glaubt, sie schreibt im Schutz der Anonymität. Aber ihre Geheimnisse haben mich längst entfesselt. Ich bin der Schatten, der sie jagt. Die Maske, die niemals fällt. Und wenn ich sie finde, wird das Licht in ihr erlöschen. Dann bleibt nur der Albtraum. Und er trägt meinen Namen: DARK CAVALIER

It's 1943 and the world is at war. On the European front, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill have already picked a date for Allied soldiers to storm Normandy's beaches and take the battle to Germany. But the Germans may have new weapons to stop the invasion dead in its tracks. British Intelligence learned four years earlier that the Germans were developing rockets to be used for warfare but could not corroborate the information. Then, information from Polish Resistance and Royal Air Force reconnaissance photos revealed similar information. Finally, recorded conversations between ...