Gotterdammerung 1945: Germany's Last Stand in the East

Gotterdammerung 1945 was a great book,I have read a lot of accounts of the end of the war (January-May 1945).This book is a carefully written masterpiece of the end of the Third Reich as seen by ordinary German soliders,from the Courland pocket down to the fighting in Austria the author describes it all.Alot of the photos in the book I haven't seen elsewhere.I highly recommend this book to anyone with a interest in the Eastern Front.Also the author covers the sinking of the German refugee ships leaving East Prussia and Courland,also the sinking of the Goya.

Germany's Last Stand in the East. The late Russ Schneider's Gotterdammerung 1945 is an excellent overview of the final 5 months of Germany's collapsing Eastern Front. He picks up the narrative with the January 1945 Vistula-Oder Russian Offensive and concludes with the final battle of the Seelow Heights in mid April 1945. In between he hits all the major and minor combat actions while examining all the major players in modest depth. He includes following several common German frontline soldiers as they fight their way through to the bitter end of the war and Germany's capitulation. In addition to examining all the major combat action, Mr. Schneider also includes numerous interesting vignettes and little known tidbits of side history concerning this monumental conflict. Even during this epic struggle of death and destruction there were many heroes and heroic acts that tended to mitigate the more unsavory aspects of Germany's collapse and utter destruction. At 500+ pages the book is jammed with all kinds of information while still being a quick page turner. I enjoyed the stories or the common soldiers, their insights, trials and tribulations. I also liked how Mr. Schneider analyzed the major players interaction with each other and the ensuing general military collapse. The drawbacks to this book were few but glaring. There were no real maps to speak of which made it tough to follow. I recommend you have a WW2 atlas handy to help you follow the "action" and unit movements. The book basically ended with the final battle of the Seelow Heights. He gave short shrift to the actual Battle and downfall of Berlin and did not mention the Battle of Halbe at all. Still, I recommend the book as a classic and a must read for WW2 buffs, especially those interested in the final days of the German Eastern Front and how the major German players interacted. Be advised this book has been out of print for some time and will be difficult to find. Regardless, it is worth the effort IMHO.