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The Last Battle by Stephen Harding
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The Last Battle

When U.S. and German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe

$17.96

Retail price: $19.95

Discount: 9%

This title is not eligible for purchase with membership credits. Why?

Narrator Joe Barrett
Length 7 hours 11 minutes
Language English
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May 1945. Hitler is dead, and the Third Reich is little more than smoking rubble. No GI wants to be the last man killed in action against the Nazis. But for cigar-chewing, rough-talking, hard-drinking, hard-charging Captain Jack Lee and his men, there is one more mission: rescue fourteen prominent French prisoners held in an SS-guarded castle high in the Austrian Alps. It's a dangerous mission, but Lee has help from a decorated German Wehrmacht officer and his men, who voluntarily join the fight.

Based on personal memoirs, author interviews, and official American, German, and French histories, The Last Battle is the nearly unbelievable story of the most improbable battle of World War IIā€”a tale of unlikely allies, bravery, cowardice, and desperate combat between implacable enemies.

Stephen Harding, a journalist specializing in military affairs, has reported from Northern Ireland, Bosnia, and Iraq. Editor-in-chief ofĀ Military HistoryĀ magazine, he lives in Virginia.

Joe Barrettā€™sĀ 30 years as an actor includes appearances off Broadway inĀ ReunionĀ and on Broadway inĀ Raggedy Ann. His television credits includeĀ The Conan Oā€™Brien ShowĀ andĀ The David Letterman Show.Ā He has appeared in features films and has been seen in dozens of commercials.

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Reviews

ā€œStephen Harding has a laser-beam instinct for the detail that tells the story, heā€™s a fine writer, and, most important, knows a good story when he sees one. All the above is true of The Last Battle, one of the more remarkable battles in a truly vast war, now very nicely illuminated.ā€

ā€œAt the heart of The Last Battle is a largely unknown story that (a) seems implausible, (b) would make a great movie, and (c) reminds us that almost seventy years after the end of World War II there are countless tales still to be toldā€¦Hardingā€™s skills as a researcher and dedicated historian are apparentā€¦A moment-by-moment real-time report of the events from the viewpoints of the Americans and prisonersā€¦Page-turningā€¦Harding has brought the implausible story to life.ā€

ā€œThe most extraordinary things about Stephen Hardingā€™s The Last Battle, a truly incredible tale of World War II, are that it hasnā€™t been told before in English, and that it hasnā€™t already been made into a blockbuster Hollywood movieā€¦Steven Spielberg, how did you miss this story?ā€¦Harding is a respected military affairs expertā€¦and his writing style carries immediacy as well as authorityā€¦Everything that Harding reports in this exciting but also historically accurate narrative is backed up with meticulous scholarship. This book proves that history can be new and nail-bitingly exciting all at onceā€¦While the book concentrates on the fight for Castle Itter, it also sets that battle in the wider strategic contextsā€¦This book is thus a fascinating microcosm of a nation and society in collapseā€¦Part Where Eagles Dare, part Guns of Navarone, this story is as exciting as it is far-fetched, but unlike in those iconic war movies, every word of The Last Battle is true.ā€

ā€œWell done and eminently readable.ā€

ā€œI love untold stories from World War II, and this is a great one. Brilliantly told, meticulously researched, and filled with larger-than-life heroes and villains. The Last Battle is such a compelling read, I couldnā€™t put it down.ā€

ā€œThe Last Battle combines good history and good storytelling. Harding writes with the skill and grace of a novelist but also the authority of a historian who has done some rather remarkable research into a previously lost chapter from World War IIā€™s final days. I had trouble putting this book down, and I think you will, too.ā€

ā€œThe Nazis capture two former prime ministers of France (who detest each other) and lock them in a medieval castle in Austria. A handful of intrepid American soldiers sets out to rescue them. And thenā€¦well, youā€™ll have to read The Last Battle to find out what happened. Itā€™s going to make a fantastic action movie. Arnold Schwarzenegger, call your agent!ā€

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