Winter Germany

Germany's winter campaign of 1941-1942 has commonly been seen as its "first defeat". In Retreat from Moscow, David Stahel argues that, in fact, it was its first strategic success in the east. Though the Red Army managed to push the Wehrmacht back from Moscow, the Germans lost far fewer men (one to six), frustrated their enemy's strategic plan, and emerged in the spring unbroken and poised to recapture the initiative.

For nearly a century, historians have depicted Germany as a rabidly nationalist land, born in a sea of aggression. Not so, says Helmut Walser Smith, who, in this groundbreaking 500-year history, challenges traditional perceptions of Germany's conflicted past, revealing a nation far more thematically complicated than 20th-century historians have imagined.

It's 1942 and the Nazis are racing to be the first to build a weapon unlike any known before. They have the physicists, they have the uranium, and now all their plans depend on amassing a single ingredient: heavy water, which is produced in Norway's Vemork, the lone plant in all the world that makes this rare substance. Under threat of death, Vemork's engineers push production into overdrive. For the Allies, the plant must be destroyed.

At the start of World War II, the US Army had two cavalry divisions - and no mountain troops. The German Wehrmacht, in contrast, had many well-trained and battle-hardened mountain divisions, some of whom by 1943 blocked the Allied advance in the Italian campaign. Starting from scratch, the US Army developed a unique military fighting force, the 10th Mountain Division, drawn from the ranks of civilian skiers, mountaineers, and others with outdoor experience.

Here, from New York Times best-selling historian Francis Russell, is the dramatic story of Germany - from the rise of Charlemagne to the age of Martin Luther, from the 30 Years' War to the iron rule of Otto von Bismarck, and from the formation of the Weimar Republic to the fighting of two world wars.

A thrilling day-by-day account of the final months of the Weimar Republic, documenting the collapse of democracy in Germany and Hitler's frightening rise to power.

The Soviet plan to cut Finland in half failed spectacularly with the destruction of the 163rd and 44th Divisions at Suomassalmi and The Raate Road. Undeterred by the disaster, Soviet High Command crafted a new strategy to bisect Finland, targeting the crucial crossroads in the town of Kuhmo. Learning from their mistakes, they deployed the formidable 54th Mountain Division, seasoned in Arctic warfare, to achieve the objective. When ten thousand Red Army soldiers stormed across the border, the Finnish 9th Division, led by Colonel Siilasvuo, raced to intercept them. After days of fierce combat...

For honoring his word to Kuznetsov, Hale finds himself caught in a web of unexpected consequences. To safeguard the future of Nea, Aina, and his unborn child, Hale embarks on a daring odyssey. A nearly impossible mission with long odds. It's a reckless gambit for redemption, where success holds the key to forgiveness. Can Hale navigate the treacherous terrain behind enemy lines and emerge victorious from the heart-pounding crucible of his audacious Raid On Russia?

Es ging rasend schnell. Der Februar 1933 war der Monat, in dem sich auch für die Schriftsteller in Deutschland alles entschied. Uwe Wittstock erzählt die Chronik eines angekündigten und doch nicht für möglich gehaltenen Todes. Von Tag zu Tag verfolgt er, wie das glanzvolle literarische Leben der Weimarer Zeit einem langen Winter wich und sich das Netz für Thomas Mann und Bertolt Brecht, für Else Lasker-Schüler, Alfred Döblin und viele andere immer fester zuzog.

Although the 163rd Division was destroyed at the Battle of Suomassalmi the danger is far from over. The Soviet 44th Motorized Rifle Division is still a powerful force that outnumbers the Finns three to one. In addition to the forces of the 44th, Soviet High Command has dispatched reinforcements to rescue the beleaguered fighters of the 44th, further skewing the odds. Amongst this new force is a group of trained snipers. Now, plagued by a swarm of snipers, the Finnish 9th Division is losing their hold on the trapped men of the Soviet 44th Division. To make matters worse, the enemy sniper ...