The Wolves Of World War Ii

On September 25, 1944, Hitler attempted to shore up his faltering forces by creating the Volkssturm or People’s Army. His new draft called into service all remaining able-bodied men, including those whose civilian labor had previously been deemed indispensable. Among the latter was an East Prussian farmer named Hans Thiel, who suddenly found himself on the Eastern front, fighting not to bring glory to the Nazi Party (for which he felt at best a troubled resignation) but to save his country from destruction. With the defeat of the Germans, Thiel was taken prisoner by the advancing Soviet forces. From the closing days of World War II through three years of postwar captivity, this memoir details the experiences of Hans Thiel. Beginning with the realities of agrarian life during World War II, it then describes Thiel’s conscription, his combat experiences, and his life as a postwar prisoner, held first by the Red Army and then transferred to camps under Polish control. The atrocities these prisoners suffered at the hands of their captors—as retaliation for German military war crimes—are discussed in detail. The book includes a glossary (general terms), an appendix commenting on German agrarian policy under the Third Reich, a second appendix discussing the difficulties of tracing Thiel’s route through the war-torn countryside, and a third appendix of placenames. Photographs and maps are also included.

As heard on the New Yorker Radio Hour: The triumphant and "engaging history" (The New Yorker) of the young women who devised a winning strategy that defeated Nazi U-boats and delivered a decisive victory in the Battle of the Atlantic. By 1941, Winston Churchill had come to believe that the outcome of World War II rested on the battle for the Atlantic. A grand strategy game was devised by Captain Gilbert Roberts and a group of ten Wrens (members of the Women's Royal Naval Service) assigned to his team in an attempt to reveal the tactics behind the vicious success of the German U-boats. Played on a linoleum floor divided into painted squares, it required model ships to be moved across a make-believe ocean in a manner reminiscent of the childhood game, Battleship. Through play, the designers developed "Operation Raspberry," a counter-maneuver that helped turn the tide of World War II. Combining vibrant novelistic storytelling with extensive research, interviews, and previously unpublished accounts, Simon Parkin describes for the first time the role that women played in developing the Allied strategy that, in the words of one admiral, "contributed in no small measure to the final defeat of Germany." Rich with unforgettable cinematic detail and larger-than-life characters, A Game of Birds and Wolves is a heart-wrenching tale of ingenuity, dedication, perseverance, and love, bringing to life the imagination and sacrifice required to defeat the Nazis at sea.

The scourge of Allied shipping during World War II, the U-Boot Waffe was one of the most feared components of Hitler's war machine, yet the Kriegsmarine was the least political branch of the Third Reich. The sailors of the U-boat arm were courageous, highly skilled seamen, who fought a war in the toughest conditions: subject to immense tension, and forced to cope with the challenges of the Atlantic, life for a U-boat recruit was far from easy. This title explores the life of a typical U-boat crewman, from recruitment, through training and service conditions, to combat experience throughout the war. Illustrated with many previously unpublished images, this book offers a fresh insight into the experiences of the men in Dönitz's legendary 'wolf packs'.

One of the most extraordinary and poignant survival stories to come out of World War II; Misha was only six years old when her parents were taken away from their home in Belgium to Auschwitz. She was given a new name, a new home, and forced into a new religion. No one told her why her parents were no longer with her, only that they had gone East. So one day, equipped only with a tiny compass and a few provisions, she set out East to find them. Misha crossed Belgium, Germany and Poland on foot alone - until, close to starvation in a vast forest, she was adopted by a family of wolves. She ate and played with the wolf cubs, and was protected by their mother. Finally, at the end of the war, she found her way home to Belgium via the Ukraine, Romania and Italy. She never found her parents.

Master spy, Nazi hunter—and werewolf on the prowl—in occupied Paris: A classic of dark fantasy from a Bram Stoker Award—winning author. Allied Intelligence has been warned: A Nazi strategy designed to thwart the D-Day invasion is underway. A Russian émigré turned operative for the British Secret Service, Michael Gallatin has been brought out of retirement as a personal courier. His mission: Parachute into Nazi-occupied France, search out the informant under close watch by the Gestapo, and recover the vital information necessary to subvert the mysterious Nazi plan called Iron Fist. Fearlessly devoted to the challenge, Gallatin is the one agent uniquely qualified to meet it—he’s a werewolf. Now, as shifting as the shadows on the dangerous streets of Paris, a master spy is on the scent of unimaginable evil. But with the Normandy landings only hours away, it’s going to be a race against time. For Gallatin, caught in the dark heart of the Third Reich’s twisted death machine, there is only one way to succeed. He must unleash his own internal demons and redefine the meaning of the horror of war. From the award-winning author of Swan Song and Boy’s Life, this is a “powerful novel [that] fuses WWII espionage thriller and dark fantasy. Richly detailed, intricately plotted, fast-paced historical suspense is enhanced by McCammon’s unique take on the werewolf myth” (Publishers Weekly).

* A fascinating book about an otherwise neglected aspect of the First World War

Virginia Hall left her Baltimore home in 1931 to enter the Foreign Service and went to work for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) when Hitler was building toward the peak of his power in Europe. She was assigned to France, where she helped the Resistance movement, escaped prisoners of war, and American Allied paratroopers. By 1942 she was considered so dangerous to the Gestapo that she had to escape over the Pyrenees mountains—on an artificial leg, no less. When she got to England, she was reassigned to France by the OSS, disguised as an old peasant woman. She helped capture 500 German soldiers and kill more than 150, while she sabotaged Nazi communications and transportation. Hitler's forces were hot on her trail, however, and her daring intelligence activities and indomitable spirit defied the expectations of even the Allies until the very end of the war. Her story was ignored for more than fifty years, and this book now brings Virginia Hall's story to patriots young and old.

This haunting, heart-stopping middle grade novel follows three of the Wolfskinder, German children left to fend for themselves in the final days of World War II, as they struggle to hold onto themselves and each other while surviving in the wild. Sometimes it’s good to be wild. Sometimes, you have to be. When the Russian Army marches into East Prussia at the end of World War II, the Wolf family must flee. Being caught by the Russians or Americans would be the end for them. Liesl, Otto, and baby Mia’s father has already been captured, and they get separated from their mother in a blizzard after only a few days on the run. Liesl promised Mama that she’d keep her brother and sister safe, no matter what. They’ll forage in the forests if they have to. Little do they know at the start that there are hundreds of other parentless children doing the same thing. And they far too quickly learn that, sometimes, to survive, you have to do bad things. Dangerous things. Wild things. Sometimes you must become a wolf.