March 1945. Allied troops are poised to cross the Rhine and sweep on into Germany. Victory is at last within their grasp. But if they believe this victory can be easily won, they face swift disillusionment. The final I00 days of the Second World War will prove to be bitterly and bloodily fought, village by village, town by town.

This is the extraordinary and gripping story of those final I00 days.
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‘Superbly written and full of wisdom and deep understanding, this will stand as a defining work on these darkest months of the conflict.’ JAMES HOLLAND

‘An important contribution to military history. A great read and powerful reminder of how the Second World War in Europe was definitely not over until the final surrender.’ BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE

In Victory in the West 1945 acclaimed military historian Peter Caddick-Adams brings this closing stage of the Allies’ fight against Nazi Germany brilliantly to life. He explores the immense challenges they faced in crossing the Rhine on a 300-mile front. He tells stories of individual acts of resolve and heroism, of often exhausted troops pressing forward attacks in the face of ferocious resistance. He recounts their shocked first encounters with the barbarities of Hitler’s regime as they reached the gates of Buchenwald, Belsen and Dachau. And he goes behind the front line to analyse the strategic decisions made at Allied headquarters and to offer pin-sharp portraits of the military leaders.

Throughout he draws on a vast range of memoirs and personal interviews with survivors to give a vivid sense of what it was like to encounter enemy combatants and civilians face to face. Compulsively readable, this will be the standard work on the closing days of the Second World War for a generation.

‘Extraordinary’ Andrew Roberts
‘Fascinating’ Daily Mail
‘Magisterial’ James Holland
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6 June 1944, 4 a.m. Hundreds of boats assemble off the coast of France. By nightfall, thousands of the men they carry will be dead.

This was D-Day, the most important day of the twentieth century.

In Sand and Steel, one of Britain’s leading military historians offers a panoramic new account of the Allied invasion of France. Drawing on a decade of new research, Peter Caddick-Adams masterfully recreates what it was like to wade out onto the carnage of Omaha Beach, or parachute behind enemy lines in Normandy. He explores the year-long preparations that went into the invasion, overturning decades-old assumptions about Allied strategy. And he pays tribute to the remarkable individuals who made D-Day possible – not just soldiers on the beaches, but also paratroopers, sailors, aircrews, and women on the Home Front.

The result is a compulsively readable account of the greatest battle of the Second World War. It will be the definitive work on D-Day for years to come.
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‘A hugely impressive book which makes full use of a lifetime of learning and experience.’ Herald

‘Peter Caddick-Adams’ D-Day must surely go down as the definitive narrative of that pivotal moment in the history of the war.’ James Holland

‘This is a warts-and-all forensic examination of the Allied invasion, offering stacks of insight based on a decade of research.’ Soldier