HITLER'S DEFEAT ON THE WESTERN FRONT 1944-45:

In this publication from Images of War, witness the struggle between the Nazis and Allied military over a ten month period, between 1944 and 1945. This is a fascinating combination of rare photographs from the war time archive and authoritative commentary from Hans Seidler, an authority on German armed forces and their equipment. The book includes chapters on different historical moments on defending northern France and the Rhine, and battles in Holland and Belgium, as well as appendices on the battle in Ardennes on 15 December 1944, weapons composition in 1944, and the composition of infantry and panzergrenadier division. The author provides stunning detail of the machinations of the German army including how heavy weapons in the engineer battalion were predominantly pulled by animal draught while the troops were mounted on bicycles during 1944 as well as a note on one photo that shows a well-concealed soldier who has a rubber band holding foliage in place around his steel helmet which was the most popular means of camouflaging a helmet, alongside the use of chicken wire. A highlight is, of course, the photographs, ranging from a shot of a column of vehicles and troops marching on a road with a 2cm FlaK gun defending the column from a possible attack, to shots of people on the front such as a grenadier smiling at the camera while armed with a deadly Panzerfaust (a handheld rocket-propelled grenade) over his shoulder and an SS grenadier sitting in a Volkswagen Schwimmwagen during reconnaissance operations on the Western Front. On one page, grenadiers are hitching a lift onboard a Panther Ausf.G. in France with saplings placed over the Panther to help conceal it for enemy observation. On another, Waffen-SS soldiers advance through a wooded area in summer camouflage smocks providing additional concealment during daylight. The photos offer insight into the day-to-day lives of individuals in the army, such as a shirtless gunner tucking into his rations while standing next to his 8gun, a crew sitting and chatting on the tracks of a Sturmgeschütz, and a Hitlerjugend soldier in camouflage laying out a national flag for aerial recognition by placing rocks on the flag to stop it blowing in the wind. This is fascinating and, at times, an intimate look into life behind German lines. Paperback, black and white photographs, 144pp.