Paths of Death & Glory: The Last Days of the Third Reich (10)

by Charles Whiting

This is an authoritative account of the conclusion to World War II assembled through interviews and battalion journals. It is the final volume of a classic series by Britain's most prolific military writer, all being reprinted in paperback. The author is a World War II combat veteran.On January 4, 1945, General "Blood and Guts" Patton confided gloomily to his diary "We can still lose this war." The Germans were attacking in Eastern France, Luxembourg, and Belgium. General Eisenhower's allied armies had lost over 300,000 men in battle (with a similar number of non-battle casualties) and they were still in the same positions they had first captured three months before. Veteran military historian Charles Whiting has assembled the fighting men's individual stories. From material such as interviews and battalion journals he has built up an authentic picture of the Allied fighting man, so that the reader sees and feels what it was actually like to be there. In this suspense-filled history, Whiting vividly conveys the experiences and responses of the ordinary soldier who knew that for some of his comrades the paths that would lead to glory could also lead to death.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Charles Whiting was a British writer and military historian and with some 350 books of fiction and non-fiction to his credit, under his own name and a variety of pseudonyms including Ian Harding, Duncan Harding, K.N. Kostov, John Kerrigan, Klaus Konrad, and Leo Kessler.

Born in the Bootham area of York, England, he was a pupil at the prestigious Nunthorpe Grammar School, leaving at the age of 16 to join the British Army by lying about his age. Keen to be in on the wartime action, Whiting was attached to the 52nd Reconnaissance Regiment and by the age of 18 saw duty as a sergeant in France, Holland, Belgium and Germany in the latter stages of World War II. While still a soldier, he observed conflicts between the highest-ranking British and American generals which he would write about extensively in later years.

After the war, he stayed on in Germany completing his A-levels via correspondence course and teaching English before being enrolled at Leeds University reading History and German Language. As an undergraduate he was afforded opportunities for study at several European universities and, after gaining his degree, would go on to become an assistant professor of history. Elsewhere, Whiting held a variety of jobs which included working as a translator for a German chemical factory and spells as a publicist, a correspondent for The Times and feature writer for such diverse magazines as International Review of Linguistics, Soldier and Playboy.

His first novel was written while still an undergraduate, was published in 1954 and by 1958 had been followed by three wartime thrillers. Between 1960 and 2007 Charles went on to write over 350 titles, including 70 non-fiction titles covering varied topics from the Nazi intelligence service to British Regiments during World War II.

One of his publishers, Easingwold-based Rupert Smith of GH Smith & Son said he was a quiet man and prolific writer.

"He's one of a band of forgotten authors because he sold millions of copies and still, up to his death was doing publishing deals.He was the kind of man who was very self-effacing, one of Britain's forgotten authors, still working at 80 years of age, with his nose down and kicking out books."

Charles Henry Whiting, author and military historian died on July 24 2007, leaving his wife and son.

Reviews

[Luís · Rating 4 out of 5]

Veteran military historian Charles Whiting assembled individual stories from the frontline as the war entered its last bloody but an ultimately victorious phase. He vividly builds a picture of the soldiers and combatants from diaries, interviews and battalion journals. Yet, as the most significant conflict of them all came to its epic crescendo, those on the ground knew that paths that lead to glory could also lead to death.

Perfect for fans of Anthony Beevor, Richard Overy and Damien Lewis.

Paths of Death and Glory by Charles Whiting | Canelo. https://www.canelo.co/books/paths-of-...

[Jan Kjellin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Att ge sig på den här direkt efter W G Sebalds On the Natural History of Destruction kanske bidrar till mitt låga - men samtidigt höga - betyg. Whiting har anlagt ett propagandiskt tonläge som genomsyrar den här skildringen av jordnära, men hjältemodiga allierade soldater och officerare som strider mot förvisso också hjältemodiga, men hjärntvättade och hänsynslösa nazister.

När det är som värst, skildrar Whiting hur allierade soldater plundrar, mördar och våldtar civila i de byar och städer de "befriar" med en överslätande och rentav ursäktande ton, samtidigt som jag inte kan undvika att dra paralleller till hur ryska soldater betedde sig i de Ukrainska byar och städer de tog över i början av Rysslands fullskaliga invasion av Ukraina.

Det förtar det mesta av den historiska skildring jag ändå utgår från att han föresatte sig att skriva.

Att det ändå blir två stjärnor istället för den enda, beror på att jag känner på mig att jag kommer att återkomma till den här boken som ett "bra" exempel på dålig, historisk litteratur.

[Kenneth Barclay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This engaging title provides an exciting retelling of the final months of World War 2, at the expense of some finer details. This book is a relatively easy read, compared to more dense historical works, it is closer in feeling to a novel than a textbook. While Whiting's retelling does make it a page turner, and it does give a good overview of events and individuals crucial during this time, it also has a tendency to exaggerate and inflate specific details (the number of casualties suffered during the battle of the bulge for instance, stating that the RAF attack on the Cap Ancona and related vessels were the largest loss of life at sea, which is incorrect, although still this incident was one of the worst naval sinkings during the war) and using anecdotes which lack significant evidence (claiming that while taking Wismar British Paratroopers killed 6 Russians in a firefight). Despite some of these issues, it absolutely brings to light the stories of some fabulous heroes (such as the story of Audie Murphy) and does a wonderful job talking about the horrors of war, the atrocities of the Holocaust, and the lasting impact war has on the soldiers that fight in it. Overall, Paths of Death and Glory is a decent historical recounting, which provides a good overall understanding of the final months leading to VE, while understanding that some of the more specific details should be double-checked by more robust sources.

[Rabspur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book, difficult to put down, very graphic and lots of details on how the British, Canadians, Russians and the USA eventually forced the surrender of Germany, highly recommended.

[Lilli · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an easy read with very captivating and interesting facts in places. Personally I missed hearing what happened to some of the key people mentioned in the book at the end of it.