Y1806

In May 1945, as the war in Europe entered its final chaotic days, a convoy of polished black Mercedes-Benz staff cars sped down a dusty dirt road in western Germany. Inside were not ordinary soldiers but members of the Nazi elite: high-ranking generals of the Wehrmacht and commanders of the Waffen SS. The German military … Read more

In September 1944, the German position in western France had collapsed. General George Smith Patton’s Third Army was racing across the country, and tens of thousands of enemy soldiers were cut off with no hope of escape. Near the Loire River, one German commander faced a decision that would test whether “Old Blood and Guts” … Read more

In August 1943, as the Sicily campaign neared its end, a German commander read an American intelligence summary and wrote a single word in the margin. General Leutnant Fridolin von Senger und Etterlin, sitting in his command post near Messina, had just learned that an American general had struck his own soldiers. The name attached … Read more

On the night of March 22, 1945, along the western bank of the Rhine near a small wine town called Nierstein, 500 assault boats sat ready in the darkness. Behind them stood 13 artillery battalions, loaded and aimed across the water. Their orders came from General George S. Patton: do not fire. No shell, no … Read more

On January 4, 1945, inside a converted chateau in Luxembourg that served as headquarters for the United States Third Army, General George Smith Patton made a decision that would bury a war crime for 70 years. A major from the inspector general's office entered the room carrying a thick manila folder stamped top secret. Inside … Read more

On the night of January 23, 1945, in the War Rooms of the Cabinet Office in London, Churchill read a letter standing up. Reading on his feet was not unusual for him. He read most things standing, in bed, or while pacing, anywhere except seated at a desk, because desks were for men who had … Read more

In May 1945, Germany surrendered. The war in Europe was over. But in a frozen Soviet camp about 200 meters east of Berlin, 5,000 American soldiers remained behind barbed wire. They wore American uniforms. They spoke English. They had survived Hitler's camps. Now they were prisoners again, with new guards, new rifles, and the same … Read more