Book description
At the end of World War II, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, fearing that
retreating Germans would consolidate large numbers of troops in an
Alpine stronghold and from there conduct a protracted guerilla war,
turned U. S. forces toward the heart of Franconia, ordering them to
cut off and destroy German units before they could reach the Alps.
Opposing this advance was a conglomeration of German forces headed by
SS-Gruppenf?hrer Max Simon, a committed National Socialist who
advocated merciless resistance. Under the direction of officers
schooled in harsh combat in Russia, the Germans succeeded in bringing
the American advance to a grinding halt. Caught in the middle were the
people of Franconia. Historians have accorded little mention to this
period of violence and terror, but it provides insight into the
chaotic nature of life while the Nazi regime was crumbling. Neither
German civilians nor foreign refugees acted simply as passive victims
caught between two fronts. Throughout the region people pressured
local authorities to end the senseless resistance and sought revenge
for their tribulations in the "liberation" that followed.
Stephen G. Fritz examines the predicament and outlook of American
GI's, German soldiers and officials, and the civilian population
caught in the arduous fighting during the waning days of World War II.
Endkampf is a gripping portrait of the collapse of a society and how
it affected those involved, whether they were soldiers or civilians,
victors or vanquished, perpetrators or victims. Stephen G. Fritz,
professor of history at East Tennessee State University, is the author
of Frontsoldaten: The German Soldier in World War II.
"This thoroughly researched and superbly written study
illuminates the impact of Nazism on German resistance in the little
known campaign in Franconia." -- WWII History
Stephen G. Fritz, professor of history at East Tennessee State
University, is the author of Frontsoldaten: The German Soldier in
World War II. He lives in Johnson City, Tennessee.
