Jones Michael K. After Hitler: The Last Days of the Second World War in Europe

John Murray (Publishers), 2015. — Ebook ISBN: 978-1-84854-497-0.
May 2015 will be the seventieth anniversary of VE-Day in Europe. For many, in the Allied armed forces and among the civilians who supported the war effort, it will be a last opportunity to connect with a vitally important achievement – the overthrow of Hitler and the Nazi regime. We remember those who sacrificed their lives so that we might see this day. All of us are in their debt.
This book tells the story of the last ten days of the war, from the death of Hitler on 30 April to the celebration of VE-Day in Moscow on 9 May, a day after it is held in the West.
In its structure, it follows a countdown formula from day to day – but within this framework it also takes a thematic approach, bringing out the complex international politics and diplomacy that underlay these military events. It also addresses a wider concern – the humanitarian catastrophe that was engulfing Europe and the psychological impact this had on those caught up in it.
Its central aim is to show why we celebrate two VE-Days – 8 May in the West, 9 May in the East (although the Channel Islands also celebrate their liberation on 9 May): how this came about and what its real significance is. These separate days tell a story of the common cause between allies, but also of the divisions that nearly caused a rift between them in the days after Hitler’s death. It was a crisis largely hidden from public view and in the event it was successfully mastered. All those involved in the behind-the-scenes diplomacy deserve credit for that.
List of Illustrations.
Illustration Credits.

Maps.
Timeline.
The Funeral Pyre, 30 April 1945.
May Day in Berlin, 1 May.
East Meets West, 2 May.
A Shadow Realm, 3 May.
Lüneburg Heath, 4 May.
Prague, 5 May.
The Dispossessed, 6 May.
Rheims, 7 May.
Karlshorst, 8 May.
Moscow, 9 May.
The War That Did Not End.
Notes.

Picture Section.
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