Soviet soldiers armed with rifles advancing amid rubble towards Reichstag building with Soviet flag, burning and smoke filled sky

Review: Armageddon – Max Hastings

"Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944-1945" by Max Hastings offers a detailed narrative of the war's final months, recounting the German military's resilience and the human suffering endured by soldiers and civilians alike. Hastings critiques military strategies and presents a sobering portrayal of the conflict's devastating consequences, emphasizing moral complexities amidst warfare.

Review: Masters of Death. The SS-Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocaust – Richard Rhodes

These “special task forces,” organized by Heinrich Himmler to follow the German army as it advanced into eastern Poland and Russia, were the agents of the first phase of the Final Solution. They murdered more than 1.5 million men, women, and children between 1941 and 1943, often by shooting them into killing pits, as at Babi Yar.