Armageddon

British military historian Hastings has searched the archives of the major combatants and interviewed 170 survivors to give an understanding of how the great battles were fought, and of their human impact on American, British, German, and Russian soldiers and civilians. He raises provocative questions: Were the Western Allied cause and campaign compromised by a desire to get the Soviets to do most of the fighting? Why were the Russians and Germans more effective soldiers than the Americans and British? Why did the bombing of Germany's cities continue until the last weeks of the war, when it could no longer influence the outcome? Why did the Germans prove more fanatical foes than the Japanese, fighting to the bitter end?