The Final Battle of WWII in Western Europe: Guns at Last Light 1944-1945

Barbara G. Rice: Very detailed, engaging analysis of European portion of the war.
Would recommend to anyone interested in the details of the war.

United States on Nov 06, 2023

eric marcum: I enjoy the first 2 volumes of the trilogy, but after reading some of the negative reviews by others, stating the last book did not measure up to the 2 previous books, I adjusted my expectations. Fortunately I found the last book equal to the earlier volumes. Highly recommend.

United States on Oct 27, 2023

David E: Excellent book bringing this trilogy on WW2 to its conclusion. Highly recommended.

United Kingdom on Oct 19, 2023

Amazon Customer: Rick Atkinson again accomplishes a superb rendering of the European Theater in WW II. He manages to not only to cover the military history of the period but also to personalize it in such a way that one feels as if it were on the spot reporting. A writer of the first order who is often poetic in his descriptions has produced another volume to be treasured.

United States on Sep 29, 2023

Blue Man: I am very happy with the quality of this second hand book. The service was also prompt and the price appropriate. I look forward to enjoying the last book in this exceptional series.

Canada on Feb 23, 2023

Keith F. Massey: This is the third of Rick Atkinson’s trilogy and is just as thorough and entertaining as the two previous volumes.

The author’s ability to convey the strategic picture, before “zooming in” to the experience of individuals actually doing the fighting is first class.

This is a big book in terms of page count, but not one page is wasted in covering such a monumental period of history.

I think the book will be enjoyable to both readers without prior knowledge of WWII and those who enjoy well written military history.

United Kingdom on Nov 10, 2022

Phred: Before giving this review over to why this is a very worthy addition the many shelves of World War II military histories, let us try to understand what this book is not.

Rick Atkinson's The Guns at Last Light is not a comprehensive , critical analysis of the last 340 days of the War in Europe. It is, from beginning to end a purely American version of the events, with scant attention to the life or contributions of many allies and virtually no narrative assigned to the Germans, Civilian, Soldier or Officer. There is minimal critical analysis of either strategic or tactical considerations. What is here is for orientation; more to prepare you for the next section than to educate you on military planning. This book does not catalog the various tensions between the various national, political and military staffs as each worked to balance between electoral, economic and battlefield considerations. There is a surprising amount of criticism surrounding individual decisions but much of this is tied to the costs of those decisions and not to any larger context.

Because others have noticed this specific short-fall: The maps in this book are mostly for orientation. On a Kindle I...

United States on Jul 04, 2014

Workingboat32: This would have been a 5 star rating except that there are two bits that I know are wrong. He reports that soon after D Day Spitfires and Hurricanes were based in France. In the summer of '45 I was flying a Hurricane in a training job in Scotland and I know there were no Hurricanes operational in France at that time. The author also relates that during ground attacks pilots flew at 50 feet while firing at ground targets;.personal experience again says he has got it wrong. In January '45 I was posted to 137 Squadron, 124 Wing, 2nd Tactical Air Force in Holland to fly Typhoons. I flew ground attacks firing air to ground rockets and cannon and to aim at a ground target required that the aircraft be nose down and aimed at the target. Do that when flying at 50 feet and you hit the ground.
These are two very small points but it means that twice the author has included material without checking it for accuracy and one must have some thought that he may have done this in other parts of the narrative.
These points apart, I think this book is excellently well written and, as one who was there at the time, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

United Kingdom on Sep 23, 2013

Peter OW: I started the trilogy at the end, but I'll soon ready the first two editions. I am not a novice at WWII history, having read many detailed reports of various battles and campaigns, but this ties it all together.

Beginning just weeks ahead of D-Day the northern European campaign is spread out in remarkable detail. When the pace of advance is slow and bloody, the pace of the book slows too, with many first person reports and descriptions. As the advance across France moves into a sprint, so does the pace of the book. Now the problems of logistics and allies come to the fore.

As the armies approach the Rhine the prima donna generals and their desires and problems get highlighted. The depth of reporting when the Battle of the Bulge (Ardennes) erupts is remarkable. Again the problems of logistics and lack or replacement troops are highlighted. And let's not forget the inter-Allies conflicts. Some of the very bitter but hardly reported local conflicts are described in bloody detail -- as are some of the political constraints and results.

Finally the armies creep, jump and burst over the Rhine. The war should be so easily won, but problems persist (not least being...

Canada on Aug 04, 2013

Writing Historian: I was a bit surprised when I went to post this review. There were already a number of reviews on Amazon about this book. Yet I had obtained an advance readers copy several weeks before the official release date of May 14 (my hardback copy was received that same day). I would like to state up front that I have read the whole book from cover to cover. It is an excellent book, with very few factual errors (in my opinion), most of which pertain to the discussion of the concluding phase of the Normandy campaign, e.g. the Mortain counteroffensive. For example, the 1st SS Panzer Division was not late because a shot down fighter bomber crashed on a tank in a defile. They got misoriented, in large part due to the hurried nature of the planning for the German counterattack on the morning of 7 August, and the fact they had to make a night road march in unfamiliar terrain. The 116th Panzer Division did NOT lag back when the attack kicked off, and as a matter of fact made the deepest penetration, with its Panther battalion (2/24 Panzer Regt) reaching Le Mesnil Adelee - where they were destroyed by a counterattack launched by the 119th Infantry Regiment (30th ID) and 3d Armored Division - not...

United States on May 17, 2013