RYAN, Cornelius - The Last Battle - (Excellent Hardcover in Wrapper)

Book and wrapper still in great unmarked condition - Sturdy unmarked green boards with gilt lettering on spine - 463 pg. - Contains numerous monochrome photos and some coloured diagrams. .   >>>   The Battle for Berlin was at the conclusion of the 2nd world war, written by Cornelius Ryan who also wrote The Longest Day.  As a journalist he was the first Westerner ever permitted to examine the files of Defence Dept. of the Soviet Union regarding Berlins fall in 1945.  Ryan also interviewed hundreds of participants from all sides to produce what many regard as the most comprehensive book on the subject.   >>>  The classic account of the final offensive against Hitler's Third Reich.   -    The Battle for Berlin was the culminating struggle of World War II in the European theater, the last offensive against Hitler's Third Reich, which devastated one of Europe's historic capitals and marked the final defeat of Nazi Germany. It was also one of the war's bloodiest and most pivotal battles, whose outcome would shape international politics for decades to come.   -    The Last Battle is Cornelius Ryan's compelling account of this final battle, a story of brutal extremes, of stunning military triumph alongside the stark conditions that the civilians of Berlin experienced in the face of the Allied assault. As always, Ryan delves beneath the military and political forces that were dictating events to explore the more immediate imperatives of survival, where, as the author describes it, to eat had become more important than to love, to burrow more dignified than to fight, to exist more militarily correct than to win.   -   The Last Battle is the story of ordinary people, both soldiers and civilians, caught up in the despair, frustration, and terror of defeat. It is history at its best, a masterful illumination of the effects of war on the lives of individuals, and one of the enduring works on World War II.