Endgame 1944

A gripping and authoritative account of the year that sealed the fate of the Nazis, from the bestselling historian

June 1944: In Operation Bagration, more than two million Red Army soldiers, facing 500,000 German soldiers, finally avenged their defeat in Operation Barbarossa in 1941. The same month saw the Allies triumph on the beaches of Normandy, but, despite the myths that remain, it was the events on the Eastern Front that sealed Hitler's fate and destroyed Nazism.

In his new book, bestselling historian Jonathan Dimbleby describes and analyses this momentous year, covering the military, political and diplomatic story in his evocative style. Drawing on previously untranslated German, Russian and Polish sources, we see how sophisticated new forms of deception and ruthless Partisan warfare shifted the Soviets’ fortunes, how their triumphs effectively gave Stalin authority to occupy Eastern Europe and how it was the events of 1944 that enabled Stalin to dictate the terms of the post-war settlement, laying the foundations for the Cold War . . .

Review

Titanic . . . This book is his best yet . . . For all their popularity, many books about the world wars are immensely boring and inelegantly written. Dimbleby’s work is in a different league, told with such skill and judgment that, despite the harrowing subject, it is still a pleasure to read. As in all good narrative histories, it is the human details that linger in the mind. -- Dominic Sandbrook ― Sunday Times

Jonathan Dimbleby’s best book yet ― Observer

Pacily written . . . The detail is terrific, and the extracts from diaries, letters and so on make an indelible impression. The description of the last months of the war in Budapest is a tour de force. -- Sir Richard Evans, author of The Third Reich in History and Memory

Dimbleby has unearthed some powerful voices to producing an engaging mix of the familiar and the new. Fascinating stuff. -- Roger Moorhouse, author of The Forgers

Magnificent . . . draws on so much good material. -- Dr David Stahel

Extraordinary . . . Dimbleby paints a unique picture of the vast, unremitting living hell that was the Eastern Front in the final full year of the war. ― Frederick Taylor, author of Dresden: Tuesday, 13 February, 1945

One of the strengths of this book is the line it draws between the awful then of 1944 and the grim events of today . . . Endgame 1944 is thus as much a primer for the present as it is sound history -- Patrick Bishop ― Telegraph

Endgame 1944 paints a vivid picture of thefighting at both the bayonet endand at high command, but rightlyprobes the complex relationship between Churchill, Roosevelt andStalin, powered by different andincompatible visions of the purposeof victory -- Allan Mallinson ― Country Life

Mr. Dimbleby is a sure-footed guide to the labyrinthine military operations alonga front line that extended nearly 2,000 miles, from the Baltic to the Black Sea ― Wall Street Journal

About the Author

Jonathan Dimbleby's previous books include the highly acclaimed Second World War histories The Battle of the Atlantic and Destiny in the Desert: The Road to El Alamein, which was shortlisted for the Hessell-Tiltman Prize and was followed by his BBC2 programme Churchill's Desert War. His other books include, Russia: A Journey to the Heart of a Land and Its People, Richard Dimbleby: A Biography, The Palestinians, The Prince of Wales: A Biography and The Last Governor: Chris Patten and the Handover of Hong Kong.