Download or read book Death in the Baltic written by Cathryn J. Prince and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2013-04-09 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The worst maritime disaster ever occurred during World War II, when more than 9,000 German civilians drowned. It went unreported. January 1945: The outcome of World War II has been determined. The Third Reich is in free fall as the Russians close in from the east. Berlin plans an eleventh-hour exodus for the German civilians trapped in the Red Army's way. More than 10,000 women, children, sick, and elderly pack aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff, a former cruise ship. Soon after the ship leaves port and the passengers sigh in relief, three Soviet torpedoes strike it, inflicting catastrophic damage and throwing passengers into the frozen waters of the Baltic. More than 9,400 perished in the night—six times the number lost on the Titanic. Yet as the Cold War started no one wanted to acknowledge the sinking. Drawing on interviews with survivors, as well as the letters and diaries of those who perished, award-wining author Cathryn J. Prince reconstructs this forgotten moment in history with Death in the Baltic. She weaves these personal narratives into a broader story, finally giving this WWII tragedy its rightful remembrance.

Download or read book Ship of Fate the Story of the MV Wilhelm Gustloff written by Roger Moorhouse and published by . This book was released on 2018-05-08 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hitler's Titanic - the deadliest and most secret catastrophe in the history of maritime warfare. When the Wilhelm Gustloff was sunk by a Soviet submarine, with the loss of nearly 10,000 lives in January 1945, it wrote itself an unenviable record in the history books as the deadliest maritime disaster of all time. Yet, aside from its grim fate in the icy waters of the Baltic, the story of the Gustloff is a fascinating one, which sheds light on a number of little-known aspects of the wider history of the Third Reich. Launched in Hamburg in 1937, the luxury liner Wilhelm Gustloff was originally to be christened the "Adolf Hitler", but instead was named after the Swiss Nazi leader, who had been assassinated by a Jewish gunman the previous year. The ship was the pride of the Nazi Labour Movement, and would be run as a cruise liner by the subsidiary KdF, an organisation responsible for German workers' leisure time, cruising the Baltic and Scandinavian coast, seducing its passengers with the apparent benefits of belonging to the Nazi 'national community'. The Gustloff also served a vital propaganda function for Hitler's Reich. It was moored in London in 1938 to allow Austrian citizens in the city to participate in the plebiscite over Hitler's annexation of the country and the following year, it brought the elite German 'Condor Legion' home from service alongside Franco's forces in the Spanish Civil War. When war came in 1939, the Gustloff was used as a hospital ship and ferried wounded soldiers and sailors home from the 1940 campaign in Narvik. Later, moored in the harbour at Gdynia, it served as a floating barracks for U-Boat crews undergoing training. In 1945, the Wilhelm Gustloff would meet its nemesis. That spring, it would be requisitioned for "Operation Hannibal", the attempt to evacuate civilians, soldiers and officials westwards from the German eastern provinces threatened by the Soviet advance. While many ships made numerous crossings, the Gustloff would not survive her first voyage. Packed to the gunnels with desperate evacuees, she was torpedoed off the Pomeranian coast on January 30 - ironically the twelfth anniversary of Hitler coming to power - with the loss of almost 10,000 lives. The story of the Wilhelm Gustloff's sinking in the freezing waters of the Baltic is dramatic and it has rarely been satisfactorily told in the English language. This gripping Kindle Single will explore the history of the German ship that suffered the deadliest maritime disaster of all time. Roger Moorhouse is a critically-acclaimed freelance historian specialising in modern German and Central European history. Published in 15 languages, he is the author of the international bestseller 'Berlin at War' and 'The Devils' Alliance' which was published in the UK & US in the autumn of 2014. He is also author of 'His Struggle: Hitler in Landsberg, 1924.'

Download or read book Hitler s Lost State written by Tim Heath and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2020-12-14 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This WWII history chronicles the rise and fall of Nazi Prussia as well as the ill-fated exodus of its civilian refugees in 1945. Seen as an agricultural utopia within Hitler’s Germany, Prussia is thought to have gone untouched during the Second World War. Yet the violence of the National Socialist regime was widespread throughout the German state. As the Red Army advanced on its borders in 1945, nearly ten thousand civilians evacuated the region aboard the MV Wilhelm Gustloff—only to perish when the ship was sunk by a Soviet submarine. It was the worst loss of life in maritime history, six times greater than that of the RMS Titanic. Combining existing material and new findings, this book tells the story of Prussia’s rise and fall as a military power. It chronicles the attempts made by brave civilians and military personnel to overturn the Nazi regime, as well as the desperate evacuation of refugees in one of the greatest exoduses ever seen, told by those who were there.

Download or read book A Night to Remember written by Walter Lord and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2005-01-07 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A cloth bag containing eight copies of the title.

Download or read book The Nazi Titanic written by Robert P. Watson and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 2016-04-26 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Built in 1927, the German ocean liner SS Cap Arcona was the greatest ship since the RMS Titanic and one of the most celebrated luxury liners in the world. When the Nazis seized control in Germany, she was stripped down for use as a floating barracks and troop transport. Later, during the war, Hitler's minister, Joseph Goebbels, cast her as the "star" in his epic propaganda film about the sinking of the legendary Titanic. Following the film's enormous failure, the German navy used the Cap Arcona to transport German soldiers and civilians across the Baltic, away from the Red Army's advance. In the Third Reich's final days, the ill-fated ship was packed with thousands of concentration camp prisoners. Without adequate water, food, or sanitary facilities, the prisoners suffered as they waited for the end of the war. Just days before Germany surrendered, the Cap Arcona was mistakenly bombed by the British Royal Air Force, and nearly all of the prisoners were killed in the last major tragedy of the Holocaust and one of history's worst maritime disasters. Although the British government sealed many documents pertaining to the ship's sinking, Robert P. Watson has unearthed forgotten records, conducted many interviews, and used over 100 sources, including diaries and oral histories, to expose this story. As a result, The Nazi Titanic is a riveting and astonishing account of an enigmatic ship that played a devastating role in World War II and the Holocaust.

Download or read book The Naval War in the Baltic 1939 1945 written by Poul Grooss and published by Seaforth Publishing. This book was released on 2017-04-30 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A military historian and naval warfare expert delivers a revealing history of the Baltic Sea Campaigns and their significance throughout WWII. From the Battle of Westerplatte on the Polish coast in 1939 to the thousands of German refugees lost at sea in 1945, the Baltic witnessed continuous fighting throughout the Second World War. This chronicle of naval warfare in the region merges such major events as the Siege of Leningrad, the Soviet campaign against Sweden, the three wars in Finland, the Soviet liberation of the Baltic states, the German evacuation of two million people from the East, and the Soviet race westwards in 1945. Naval historian Poul Grooss explains the political and military backgrounds of the war in this theatre while also detailing the ships, radar, artillery, mines and aircraft employed there. He also offers fascinating insights into Swedish cooperation with Nazi Germany, the Germans’ use of the Baltic as a training ground for the Battle of the Atlantic, the secret weapons trials in the remote area of Peenemunde, and the Royal Air Force mining campaign that reduced the threat of German submarine technology. A major contribution to the naval history of this era, Naval War in the Baltic demonstrates the extent to which the Baltic Sea Campaigns shaped the Second World War

Download or read book The Damned Don t Drown written by Arthur V. Sellwood and published by US Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Once one of Nazi Germany's most vaunted cruise liners, the Wilhelm Gustloff packed her decks with some 6,500 refugees in January 1945 and made her way out of the Gulf of Danzig just before the Russian army swept in. Scores of SS officers, top-ranking Nazi officials, members of the German Women's Naval Service, and hundreds of wounded German soldiers, fragmented army units, and fleeing peasants were on board when the ship was hit by torpedoes twelve miles off shore. Panic broke out, and more than 6,000 passengers were lost - making it the greatest sea disaster ever recorded. The author of this book, Arthur V. Sellwood, a journalist known for his action-filled naval stories, draws on interviews with some of the survivors and official documents to assure the authenticity of his account.

Download or read book Shipwreck written by Sam Willis and published by Quercus. This book was released on 2013-12-05 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shipwrecks have captured our imagination for centuries. Here acclaimed historian Sam Willis traces the astonishing tales of ships that have met with disastrous ends, along with the ensuing acts of courage, moments of sacrifice and episodes of villainy that inevitably occurred in the extreme conditions. Many were freak accidents, and their circumstances so extraordinary that they inspired literature: the ramming of the Essex by a sperm whale was immortalized in Herman Melville's Moby Dick. Some symbolize colossal human tragedy: including the legendary Titanic whose maiden voyage famously went from pleasure cruise to epic catastrophe. From the Kyrenia ship of 300 BC to the Mary Rose, through to the Kursk submarine tragedy of 2000, this is a thrilling work of narrative history from one of our most talented young historians.

Download or read book Essentials of Sea Survival written by Frank Golden and published by Human Kinetics. This book was released on 2002-06-13 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Essentials of Sea Survival contains original scientific research and investigations from two internationally recognized experts on cold-water survival. In addition to having practical personal experience with cold water immersion, Frank Golden and Michael Tipton regularly lecture at various international conferences about water survival, and they are frequently called on for expert commentary on television and radio. The majority of books on this subject are personal survival accounts; few relate to scientific studies. This book is different: Using reader-friendly language, two leading environmental physiologists present the facts and dispel the myths of surviving a sea accident. The book, thanks to the real-life stories and easy-to-read format, will appeal primarily to the layperson who works or plays on or near the water. The text will also be of interest to an academic audience, who will appreciate the original research and up-to-date physiological and medical information Essentials of Sea Survival is a compelling, informative, and comprehensive guide to open-water survival. Drawing from classic maritime disasters and personal accounts of near-miraculous survival, as well as carefully controlled laboratory experiments, it offers practical advice for avoiding as well as surviving a cold-water accident. It’s an important reference for anyone associated with open-air aquatic activities, such as members of the Coast Guard, Navy, and Marines; offshore oil rig employees; fishermen; divers; amateur and professional sailors; water safety instructors and life guards; water rescue personnel; boaters; water skiers; outdoor survival course instructors; and other recreational water sports enthusiasts.

Download or read book The Devils Alliance written by Roger Moorhouse and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2014-10-14 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: History remembers the Soviets and the Nazis as bitter enemies and ideological rivals, the two mammoth and opposing totalitarian regimes of World War II whose conflict would be the defining and deciding clash of the war. Yet for nearly a third of the conflict's entire timespan, Hitler and Stalin stood side by side as partners. The Pact that they agreed had a profound -- and bloody -- impact on Europe, and is fundamental to understanding the development and denouement of the war. In The Devils' Alliance, acclaimed historian Roger Moorhouse explores the causes and implications of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, an unholy covenant whose creation and dissolution were crucial turning points in World War II. Forged by the German foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and his Soviet counterpart, Vyacheslav Molotov, the nonaggression treaty briefly united the two powers in a brutally efficient collaboration. Together, the Germans and Soviets quickly conquered and divided central and eastern Europe -- Poland, the Baltic States, Finland, and Bessarabia -- and the human cost was staggering: during the two years of the pact hundreds of thousands of people in central and eastern Europe caught between Hitler and Stalin were expropriated, deported, or killed. Fortunately for the Allies, the partnership ultimately soured, resulting in the surprise June 1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union. Ironically, however, the powers' exchange of materiel, blueprints, and technological expertise during the period of the Pact made possible a far more bloody and protracted war than would have otherwise been conceivable. Combining comprehensive research with a gripping narrative, The Devils' Alliance is the authoritative history of the Nazi-Soviet Pact -- and a portrait of the people whose lives were irrevocably altered by Hitler and Stalin's nefarious collaboration.

Download or read book Berlin at War written by Roger Moorhouse and published by Random House. This book was released on 2011-10-31 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Berlin was the nerve-centre of Hitler's Germany - the backdrop for the most lavish ceremonies, it was also the venue for Albert Speer's plans to forge a new 'world metropolis' and the scene of the final climactic bid to defeat Nazism. Yet while our understanding of the Holocaust is well developed, we know little about everyday life in Nazi Germany. In this vivid and important study Roger Moorhouse portrays the German experience of the Second World War, not through an examination of grand politics, but from the viewpoint of the capital's streets and homes.He gives a flavour of life in the capital, raises issues of consent and dissent, morality and authority and, above all, charts the violent humbling of a once-proud metropolis. Shortlisted for the Hessell-Tiltman History Prize.

Download or read book Killing Hitler written by Roger Moorhouse and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2007-03-27 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the first time in one enthralling book, here is the incredible true story of the numerous attempts to assassinate Adolf Hitler and change the course of history. Disraeli once declared that “assassination never changed anything,” and yet the idea that World War II and the horrors of the Holocaust might have been averted with a single bullet or bomb has remained a tantalizing one for half a century. What historian Roger Moorhouse reveals in Killing Hitler is just how close–and how often–history came to taking a radically different path between Adolf Hitler’s rise to power and his ignominious suicide. Few leaders, in any century, can have been the target of so many assassination attempts, with such momentous consequences in the balance. Hitler’s almost fifty would-be assassins ranged from simple craftsmen to high-ranking soldiers, from the apolitical to the ideologically obsessed, from Polish Resistance fighters to patriotic Wehrmacht officers, and from enemy agents to his closest associates. And yet, up to now, their exploits have remained virtually unknown, buried in dusty official archives and obscure memoirs. This, then, for the first time in a single volume, is their story. A story of courage and ingenuity and, ultimately, failure, ranging from spectacular train derailments to the world’s first known suicide bomber, explaining along the way why the British at one time declared that assassinating Hitler would be “unsporting,” and why the ruthless murderer Joseph Stalin was unwilling to order his death. It is also the remarkable, terrible story of the survival of a tyrant against all the odds, an evil dictator whose repeated escapes from almost certain death convinced him that he was literally invincible–a conviction that had appalling consequences for millions.

Download or read book What Really Sank the Titanic written by Jennifer Hooper McCarty and published by Kensington Books. This book was released on 2009-03-01 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using the same methodology employed by forensic scientists, researchers Jennifer Hooper McCarty and Tim Foecke have applied new tools to the century-old mystery of what sank the Titanic. By analysing how the Titanic was designed and constructed, what vulnerabilities were overlooked and how this marvel of modern engineering may have been a disaster waiting to happen, they build a compelling new scenario with shattering impact.

Download or read book Hitler s Third Reich in 100 Objects written by Roger Moorhouse and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-01-06 with total page 391 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hitler's Third Reich is still the focus of numerous articles, books and films: no regime of the twentieth century has prompted such interest or such a body of literature. Collated and presented by one of the world's leading historians of Nazi Germany and illustrated with photographs throughout, this book is an accessible, compelling and often revelatory guide to the Third Reich. Ranging from documents and postcards to weapons and personal effects, these objects include Pervitin, Hitler's Mercedes, Hitler's grooming kit, the Messerschmitt 262, the Luger pistol, the Tiger Tank, Eva Braun's lipstick case, the underpants of Rudolf Hess, and, of course, the Swastika and Mein Kampf.

Download or read book The Wolf s Lair written by Roger Moorhouse and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 75 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In this brilliant collection of articles and essays, Roger Moorhouse examines some of the more obscure aspects of the history of Hitler's Germany, whilst also using personal stories to expertly illustrate the great themes of World War Two."--Back cover.

Download or read book Poland 1939 written by Roger Moorhouse and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2020-07-14 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A "chilling" and "expertly" written history of the 1939 September Campaign and the onset of World War II (Times of London). For Americans, World War II began in December of 1941, with the bombing of Pearl Harbor; but for Poland, the war began on September 1, 1939, when Hitler's soldiers invaded, followed later that month by Stalin's Red Army. The conflict that followed saw the debut of many of the features that would come to define the later war-blitzkrieg, the targeting of civilians, ethnic cleansing, and indiscriminate aerial bombing-yet it is routinely overlooked by historians. In Poland 1939, Roger Moorhouse reexamines the least understood campaign of World War II, using original archival sources to provide a harrowing and very human account of the events that set the bloody tone for the conflict to come.

Download or read book The Bad War written by M. S. King and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Subject: "During the decades that have passed since the end of the history-altering geopolitical event known as World War II, only a single narrative of the great conflict in which tens of millions perished has ever been heard. It is a story which has been scripted by the victors and implanted, no, pounded, into the minds of subsequent generations. Every medium of mass indoctrination has been harnessed to the task fo training the obedient masses as to what the proper view of this event should be. Academia, news media, public education, book publishing, TV documentaries, Hollywood films, clergymen and political whores of every stripe all sing the same dreadful anthem of lies, ignorance, and hundreds of 'missing notes.' World War 2 was a cataclysm of unparalleled human suffering, but we don't have to be victimized and