by John Toland
Some of Toland’s details might have been challenged in the years since this was published, but not his broad picture of the end of WWII in Europe. What’s most striking is how many of the Germans viewed that final struggle: the vain hopes that the Allies would join them in fighting the Russians, or failing that, the hopes that the Allies would capture most of Germany. It’s also clear how little Eisenhower was interested in geopolitics at the time, slowing down the advance of the Allied armies to avoid putting men in harm’s way despite what this did to give land to the Soviets.
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