New book about the war in Austria 1945 by Helion to be released.

[carmilhan]

Hello,

After I received the book the day before yesterday, I had time for a first deeper examination.

Unfortunately, this leaves me disappointed and leaves an ambivalent impression.
There are simply too many comments to be able to make them quickly here.

In any case, the book would have needed a very careful check by an editor experienced in historical contexts.

Regards
Carmilhan

[K.Kocjancic]

I have had this book for a couple of months but have only just started to read it due to my 'to read' pile being of a fair size. It is of the usual Helion standard and the narrative starts on the 1st April and continues to follow the battle on an almost daily basis. The maps (which are clear to follow) are printed on their own page so each page is either 100% narrative or one of the 10 maps with the narrative being substantial. Bearing in mind I have only just started the book, from a glance through it I would say you can tell how well researched it is by the inclusion of a lot of ad-hoc units and kampfgruppen such as Sperrverband Motschmann, Alarm-Bataillon 2 of Luftkriegschule 7, Kampfgruppe Semmering and SS-Regiment Ney just to give a handful of examples. The narrative predominately follows the numerous German units from the very top down but there is also coverage of the Russians and Americans including departments such as O5 that were trying to set up a pseudo-government in Vienna.

Early days yet but I have a feeling that this is going to be a must have for those seeking details on one of the least known, and last, battles of WW2. Reasonably priced with copies available for around £24 and if you have signed up for Amazon's audiobook thingy it is free although as I am not a fan of audiobooks, especially for military books such as this one, I can not say what that is like.

Any coverage of fighting with Slovenian/Yugoslav partisans?

Not much specifically, except as it related to Austria. The book was already so big that I had to cut it off somewhere, although I would love to eventually write a history of the end of Army Groups C and E.

Thanks!

KK