The author conveys the events during the Siege of Breslau very well. For those who are interested in the history of this lesser known aspect of the Second World War, this publication is certainly a recommendation.

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Traces of War

A powerful, haunting indictment of a lunatic time and place where two fanatical military-political meat grinders chewed up a city and its people as they tore each other to pieces in the closing stages of the 20th Century's most terrible war.

Warships

This is a very interesting story of the last holdouts of the crumbling Third Reich. This book belongs in the library of all WWII scholars and enthusiasts.

EXCELLENT!+” rating.

The Lone Star Book Review

In 1945 Breslau held out for longer than any other German city. The siege began on 13 February when the Soviets first encircled the city the city finally surrendered on 6 May, four days after the fall of Berlin. Hargreaves does an excellent job of putting the siege in its wider context.

The siege itself is covered in great detail, with eyewitness accounts from the civilian inhabitants, the German defenders (from experienced troops to newly recruited novices) and the Red Army attackers. Both sides suffered during the fighting, but life within 'Fortress Breslau' was particularly terrible, and the first-hand accounts of civilian life and the experiences of the city's defenders make this very clear. Their situation was made worse by a realisation their suffering was almost certainly in vain with only a few of the more dedicated Nazis believing that the war could still be won.

This is a superb study of a bitter siege, giving a very clear image of the dreadful nature of the war on the Eastern Front and the cost suffered by the civilian population as the war flowed around them.

www.historyofwar.org

Mr Hargreave's latest book, tells how the Nazi leadership in the city used brutal methods to force the scratch German army to keep fighting, although they must have known the game was up and how they retained order among the dwindling population.
The author describes the chaos following surrender of "Hitler's fortress" as Tartars and Kalmuks broke into remaining homes to steal food and then hid in their booty in the cemetery vaults - after slinging out the cadavers.

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