The Mammoth Book of the Third Reich at War

by Michael Veranov

In January 1933, Adolf Hitler, leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party - the "Nazis" - was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany. No sooner was he installed than the Fuhrer began ruthlessly transforming the fragile democratic republic, founded only fifteen years earlier, into a brutal dictatorship - a new German empire, one that he claimed would last for a thousand years. In fact, it ended a little over twelve years later in May 1945, with total military defeat, economic and political collapse, and Hitler's suicide.The Third Reich at War is the riveting story of those twelve years - twelve agonizing years for the entire world. The book begins with a perceptive examination of the Third Reich's tortured roots in modern European history and a forceful narrative of Adolf Hitler's irresistible rise to power in mid-1930s Germany. Successive chapters detail the ferocity of Hitler's massive war machine that ultimately came to dominate an area extending from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, and from the Pyrenees to the Caucasus.Included are detailed accounts - with maps - of all the major land, air, and sea battle and campaigns, descriptions of Nazi weaponry and fighting tactics, fascinating profiles of Hitler's generals and henchmen, the history of Hitler's horrifying "final solution" in the death camps, and much more. From the rise of the Nazi military machine to its utter destruction, this is possibly the most complete account available in one volume. Contributions by numerous well-known historians make this all-in-one compendium thoroughly authoritative, while the many eyewitness accounts add haunting realism.Massive in scope and exhaustive in content, The Third Reich at War is for everyone who wants to know the full story of those twelve years that shook the world.

Genres: History, War, Military History, World War II, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published October 30, 1997

Reviews

[Rpmorrissette · Rating 1 out of 5]

Definitely, I do not recommend it. This is what I call: Gumbo History. In it there is everything: some some fictions, lots of myth making material, some boasting that would be better in a work of fiction, mix up with historical facts
For example the author claims boastfully that "The agents of the Gestapo, or of a parallel "security service" set up by Heydrich, the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), were everywhere. Right! they were in every closets. under every tables, in every vehicles. Not very historical for statement.


Another statement was: "Hitler detested German participation in these discussions, as much as German membership in the League of Nations, which had been established as a peacekeeping forum after the First World War." Hitler did no detest it, but did not see the usefulness for Germany attendance to these meeting as related to his agenda in the participation of the League of Nation. Again, the author is putting emotional words to boast and convince rather then relate the facts at hand.


The author related a fictional event regarding the sniper battle in Stalingrad extracted from either the book Rattenkrieg or from the movie Enemy at the Gate. The SS Colonel Heinz Thorwald is a fictional character. There are no documented evidence of his existence. The fictional story was created as a Soviet propaganda to shore up morale and enhance the profile of a Soviet sniper. How could an historian produce such non-sense in this book which is supposed a factual review of the history of the military actions of the Third Reich.? Very disappointing.


And it goes on and on. The author states that the two-prong attack of Operation Uranus started at the same moment, when in fact the offensive in the north started on November 19, while the one in the south started on November 20, and not at the "same moment" as the author claimed. Wrong again.

Unfortunately there are too many innuendos, wrong statements, wrong facts, mixed with actual events, to list them all here.


Because it is such Gumbo history, it is a wonder why Little Brown Company would publish such book without verifying the accuracy of the information. And because the book is full of inaccuracies, it makes one question what event he/she is reading is true, and accurately reported. The absence of footnote in the edition I read, makes it even more conspicuous as Gumbo History.

In one of the review, it was mentioned that it was a description of man inhumanity to man. Unfortunately, the only way to do justice to a description of man inhumanity to man is to accurately report the events. This book does not do that.

Consequently I cannot recommend this book at all.

[Gayaprashad Saravanabhavan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is an excellent account of third reich and its prowess in world war 2. The book starts with a history of germany and ww1 and then gives a brief intro about hitler and his skewed world view, everything after this gives a detailed account of the war. It gives detailed account of each battle with personal accounts of veterants on both side, the logic of the generals who lead the war. I thoroughly enjoyed the chapter on u-boat war and the chapters afterwards when the weirmacht is being pushed back .It also describes hitlers logic in conducting the war ,how he became more paranoid towards the end of the war .The book has one drawback of describing the war only from the view of germans, the allied and the russian perspective of war is missing which reduces our understanding of the victors. Overall it does justice to its title.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy book to read. Quite broad but I found the early chapters interesting detailing German history and the previous 2 Reichs I had never learnt about.
Nice to have the German perspective
But anyone with a decent knowledge of the Second World War wouldn’t find too much new in here

[Zac Stojcevski · Rating 5 out of 5]

624 well researched pages to give as comprehensive an analysis of this phase of history as can be imagined.

[Ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Wardyyo · Rating 3 out of 5]

well the author covered a huge amount of territory. From a short history of the first and second Reich, to the rise of Hitler and the preparation of his war machine, through each campaign and finally the collapse and aftermath.

His writing is concise, factual but doesn't long enough the develop the personalities behind the names. Its easy to imagine that a whole book could be written on Rommel, Himmler or Goering let alone the myriad of other Nazi figures and their opponents.

I like to think of this book as a summary, and helps the reader understand the immense scale and terrible sacrifices of WW2

[James]

618 pages of man's inhumanity to man. A prodigious tome of the first two Reichs and culminating in a meticulous rendition of the Nazi real estate expansion and population limiting run from the mid-30s LMFAO era to the mid-40s WTF work stoppage and reconstruction requirement. Planners, players and prosecutors are featured with insights into their psyches, substances and seizures.

[Steven]

Not very memorable.

[Rob Christiansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little sparse compared to other books on the same subject

[Marc94 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was full of information, but there were multiple typographical errors throughout the book and sometimes a few inacurracies. But I would recommend it to people interested in WWII.

[Varun Appaswami · Rating 2 out of 5]

😔