Invasion of the Third Reich War and Peace Operation Eclipse

by Delaforce, Patrick

• ISBN13: 9781848689480
• ISBN10: 1848689489
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-01-01
• Publisher: Amberley Publishing

Summary

Early in 1945 the British Liberation Army (BLA), who had battled their way from the Normandy beaches to the borders of Germany, embarked on Operation Eclipse. This was the 'end-game' of the Second World War, the unique military campaign to invade and conquer Hitler's Third Reich and liberate 20 million enslaved nationals from Holland, Denmark and Norway; to free multitudes of displaced persons (DPs) or slaves; and inter alia to free the survivors of twenty concentration camps and many Allied POW camps.The Allied Military Government (AMG) brought law and order to 23 million German nationals in the allocated British zone of occupation (BAOR) and appropriate retribution too. A thrilling race with Stalin's Red Army ensued to reach the Baltic. A matter of a few hours and Denmark and Norway would have been swept into the evil Soviet empire.The author fought vigorously as a junior RHA offi cer in the fi ve great river battles Rhine, Dortmund-Ems, Weser, Aller and the Elbe. Soon after VE Day he was the junior offi cer in War Crimes Tribunals in Hamburg and Oldenburg and witnessed Mr Alfred Pierrepoint administering the hanging of prison camp guards. This is his 40th book and the sequel to The Rhine Endeavour (Amberley, June 2010).

Author Biography

Patrick Delaforce fought with the 11th Armoured Division as a troop leader in Normandy and as FOO in Holland and Germany during the Second World War. He has published over thirty books including The Black Bull, Churchill's Desert Rats and The Fighting Wessex Wyverns for Alan Sutton Publishing's series of British Army divisional histories. His latest releases are Red Crown and Dragon (Amberley, 2010) and Battles With Panzers (Amberley, 2010).

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. 8
Introduction: The British Liberation Army	p. 9
Hitler's Crumbling Third Reich	p. 21
Making War	p. 33
Bleak Mid-Winter: Longstop in the Ardennes	p. 47
Hobart's Terrible 'Funnies'	p. 65
Bleak Mid-Winter: Operation Blackcock	p. 75
Betuwe: The 'Island' Campaign	p. 90
Reichswald Battles: Operation Veritable	p. 101
Reaching the Rhine: Operation Blockbuster	p. 131
Capturing Arnhem: Operations Destroyer and Anger	p. 147
Weapons of Revenge	p. 162
Rhine Crossing Battle: Operation Plunder	p. 168
Airborne Attack: Operation Varsity	p. 182
Affairs of State	p. 190
Over the Rhine	p. 195
Battle for the Teutoburger Wald	p. 202
T-Force:'Thieving Magpies'	p. 215
Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp	p. 220
Operation Forrard On to Bremen	p. 233
Capture of Bremen: Operation Clipper	p. 244
Alpenfestung: Göbbels' Hoax	p. 261
Capture of Hamburg	p. 265
Racing the Russians to the Baltic	p. 278
Admiral Donitz's 'Fourth Reich'	p. 300
Final Surrender: Operation Eclipse	p. 309
Liberation of Festung Holland	p. 330
Liberation of Denmark	p. 362
Liberation of Festung Norwegen	p. 381
Liberation of POW Camps	p. 398
Freedom for Hitler's Slaves	p. 408
Retribution: War Crimes Tribunals	p. 420
Appendices
The Holocaust and the Death Camps	p. 427
Hitler's Nuclear Option	p. 430
Operation Unthinkable	p. 436
Bibliography	p. 438
Acknowledgements	p. 439
Glossary	p. 440
Index	p. 444
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