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The Last Attack: Sixth SS Panzer Army and the defense of Hungary and Austria 1945 (Revised Edition) by [William Alan Webb]

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William Alan Webb

The Last Attack: Sixth SS Panzer Army and the defense of Hungary and Austria 1945 (Revised Edition) Kindle Edition

by William Alan Webb (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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Why did Hitler choose Vienna over Berlin?

An introductory essay of a lesser known chapter of World War Two. Following defeat in the Ardennes Offensive, Adolf Hitler and the German leadership faced the question of how best to use what little offensive firepower remained to them, as represented by the Sixth SS Panzer Army. Hitler’s obsession with protecting the last source of natural oil available to the Reich compelled this decision, one made against the strong opposition of his military advisers. The resulting offensive, code-named Operation Spring Awakening, was a disaster for Nazi Germany, but a boon for postwar Europe. Heavily outnumbered and lacking supplies, especially fuel, the Sixth SS Panzer Army nevertheless delayed the Red Army long enough for American and British forces to occupy much of western and southern Austria. There is, therefore, a strong likelihood the presence in Austria of Sixth SS Panzer Army saved that country from being overrun completely by the Red Army, and possibly being included in the Warsaw Pact as a Soviet satellite.

Those already familiar with the topic may not also be aware of the latest research, mostly notably by Webb himself. Impeccably footnoted for peer review, the author hopes this will wet the reader's appetite for more detailed histories on the subject.

Print length

93 pages
Language

English
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On Kindle Scribe
Publication date

October 8, 2016
File size

2323 KB
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01LYO2GI4
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Last Brigade Books (October 8, 2016)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 8, 2016
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2323 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 93 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1519083785

Best Sellers Rank: #643,948 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #173 in Historiography (Kindle Store)
- #540 in Historiography (Books)
- #799 in Two-Hour History Short Reads

Customer Reviews:
112 ratings

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William Alan Webb

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Bill grew up in West Tennessee, riding his bike on narrow rural roads lined with wild blackberry bushes, in the days before urban sprawl. He spent those long rides dreaming of new worlds of adventure. Childhood for him was one interesting activity after another, from front yard football to naval miniatures, but from the very beginning reading was the central pillar of his life.

Any and all military history books fascinated him, beginning before age 8. By his teenage years he had discovered J.R.R. Tolkien and Robert E. Howard, Robert Heinlein and Fritz Leiber. Teachers ripped comic books out of his hands during Spanish and Accounting class. Oops!

After majoring in Creative Writing in college, he turned to writing history and non-fiction and was published a number of times, including in World War Two magazine.

In September of 2014 he wrote the first pages of what would become Standing The Final Watch, and its prequels and sequels in the Last Brigade Universe. Thus, at age 60, his career in fiction had just begun.

Still living in West Tennessee with his wife of 42 years and 8 dogs, four of which are Search and Rescue certified police dogs, life has turned out better than he could ever have dreamed. Yet Bill never forgets that it is you, his readers, who make this possible. There is a covenant between writer and reader that is always uppermost in his mind. Readers who spend their time and money to read an author's works, deserve the best that author has to offer, and he never forgets that.

Bill is proud to be a member of the International Authors of Science Fiction Authors, the Science Fiction Writers of America, the Society For Military History and the Alliance of Independent Authors. To keep up with the latest news, including new releases, join the mailing list at his website, www.thelastbrigade.com.

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5

112 global ratings

5 star		48%
4 star		20%
3 star		15%
2 star		5%
1 star		12%

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Top reviews from the United States

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This is a lively book on a subject of some importance. Short, full of facts and very well written.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 23, 2017

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I read author William Alan Webb's speculative/adventure fiction with great pleasure. When I bought The Last Attack, i fully expected to read more of the same. Silly me. Webb has produced a solid historical account of the death of the 6th Panzer Army in the closing weeks of WWII. Last stands have a certain morbid fascination for many of us and the sacrifice of this major panzer unit makes a good, if unpleasant. read. WWII fans and fans of tanks and tank warfare will be acquainted with the tale, at least in broad outline. Webb brings us up to date in every respect, from the high command to the men in the front line, he tells us everything.
Webb has a straight forward but fluid writing style that brings us a great deal of information but he does so in a way that constantly keeps our interest. This is not some dusty tome written by and for academics and impenetrable to the rest of us. He lets us in on Hitler's decision making process, which might be indistinguishable from madness (my interpretation, not Mr. Webb;s). He includes amazing details like the Panther tank unit that fought the Soviets while actually mounted on flat cars awaiting their train to pull them to the West. In another detail, a telling one to me, he wrote of a pair of brand new, factory fresh Pz. IV tanks that arrived at the front only to be immediately destroyed by their crews. The troops were already fleeing and could not put the tanks to use.
This is a short book but a very useful one to history buffs. I have read of the fighting in Austria at the close of the war but never as fully complete a rendering. The post war status of Austria might well have hinged on the sacrifice of the 6th Panzer Army.
What a nice surprise for me to read this book without preconception,
(The reviewer is the author of The Armed Forces of Iran)

28 people found this helpful

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Jose Serrano De La Frontera (A "Golden Gloves")

A fascinating quick read on a largely uncovered battle of profound later significance. I loved it.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 25, 2019

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I bought 3 Amazon books recently and finished this one first, the shortest, in one setting, not being able to put it down. The Last Battle, 6th SS Panzer Army, after the Ardennes defeat, transferred to Hungary and held off the Red Army advance on Vienna, saving Austria from post war absorption into the Soviet controlled Warsaw Pact. This last combat move by Hitler saved Austria, and Western Europe altering the Cold War. Great little read, about a forgotten battle not covered in historical accounts. The Ardennes was not the end. This was. I researched and bought this book because my grand uncle Heinz Werner fought in this engagement. I found it fascinating, and it definitely added to my knowledge base of this service record. It explains alot to me now. Including Hitler's infamous and bizzare cuff title removal order. And Werner's late war field award of the swords from Sepp Dietrich with no documentation or records. As well as their final surrender to Western forces. Small book. Only about 60 pages. But totally unfamiliar to me, and highly enlightening. I loved it.

2 people found this helpful

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The Little Known Battle that Destroyed the Last Great Waffen SS Panzer Formations in a Nutshell

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 17, 2018

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I picked this up because I am interested in the little known subject and because I have read William Alan Webb's superb "Last Brigade" series. The first thing to understand approaching this is that it is only 69 pages, and there is a limit of how much depth one can get in that space. That said and accepted, however, it give a marvelous synopsis of the last months of the 6th SS Panzer Army (of Battle of the Bulge fame) in its misbegotten attempts to save the Austria and the Hungarian oilfields for Hitler. As I expected, Webb is a master of both strategy and tactics as well as the military background to understand and explain, succinctly, events in Hungary in 1945. I left the slim volume with a much better grasp of "the big picture" of what happened and a desire to read more in detail. I strongly recommend the book to those interested in the fate of the legendary Waffen SS formations which had so distinguished themselves in the titanic struggle on the Eastern Front. No one struggling to understand the fall of Berlin should miss this account of events in Hungary which have everything to do with that event.

13 people found this helpful

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Don W. Alexander

Skip this one

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 14, 2020

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This is a new low for self-published history. The author claims this is his first entry into a series of WWII articles that go "beyond the myths." A book (pamphlet, really) has a hard time alleging that it is demolishing myths when it only uses a hand full of printed sources, and instead focuses on a few memoirs and narratives about the SS. His method of annotating his sources is bizarre, when sometimes we have a page number but no source, or sometimes a source with a publication date but no page number. Finally, preparing a book for an American audience on ground operations in Hungary and along the Danube with no maps is ridiculous. His basic thesis runs as follows. The deployment of the Sixth SS Panzer Army failed offensively, but its presence prevented the Russians from over running Austria and thereby potentially changing the Cold War. There is no consideration that a Russian failure to evacuate western zones of Austria could have been countered by the West's refusal to withdraw from the Elbe River. Stalin certainly valued maintaining control of German territory more than holding on to Austrian mountains. This is the first pamphlet in the series--with any luck, it will be the last.

2 people found this helpful

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Mountain Mike

Wish there was more of it!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 23, 2019

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This is a rather thin book, large type and double-spaced. I enjoyed reading about this last hurrah of German Armed Forces in Hungary, etc. As the Reich collapsed on all fronts, this force tried to protect Hungary from Soviet advances. Of course it was doomed to failure. I appreciate the author's efforts with research. It was an enjoyable read of this "not-so-well-known" episode at the end of WWII.

4 people found this helpful

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Gary R Hibler

Last Attack

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 28, 2020

Verified Purchase

Could have been me but I found it hard to follow

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G2

Good read. Mostly unknown campaign

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 28, 2018

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The shape of post war Europe was set by this ill advised campaign ordered by Hitler. It's an overview of the campaign and what led up to it.

One person found this helpful

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Jerry

A nice addition to a WWII library

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 28, 2018

Verified Purchase

A nice addition to a WWII library. Makes sense of the campaigns in the Austria-Hungary region at the end of the war which is typically ignored in WWII histories.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Pieter

Dissapointing

Reviewed in the Netherlands 🇳🇱 on October 4, 2018

Verified Purchase

Although written in an easy style this “book” does not answer or give insight in the decisions made during the fights in Hungary or Austria. It refers to many other books a about the subject and tries to correct figures without facts to prove. Very dissapointing and a waste of mony.