Publisher: Baen : Wake Forest, NC, 2011
Only days after the D-day landings, Hitler is killed, not by an assasination plot but by a lost American bomber. Off course and desperately trying to jetison weight the unlucky pilot dumps his entire bombload over the East Prussian forest in order gain the range to fly home, not realising they have scored a direct hit on Hitlers "Wolf's Lair" command centre.
In the resulting chaos, with scores of Nazi and military leaders dead, Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, assumes control of the Reich and begins purging his competitors with the help of the sinister and fanatical Otto Skorzceny.
Without the blinkered and deluded will of Hitler in control, Himmler, the master opportunist, gives the German generals free reign -for the moment- to carry out the war on the basis of military expediency. Trains to the death camps are stopped and Albert Speer and General von Runstedt construct a gigantic belt of defensive bunkers using slave labour and civil volunteers to stop the Allied advance in its tracks on the Rhine.
On the Allied side, there is confusion. With losses mounting and the coalition teetering, should attempts be made to negotiate with the new government or should unconditional surrender still be the only option? With the spectre of a German super-weapon moving closer to completion and the technocrats running Germany efficiently for the first time in the war, the allies are pushed toward a course of accommodation or even defeat.
This tense, plot driven novel derives a personal touch by describing events through the eyes of real and fictional characters serving on the front lines, German civilians, and fugitives from the murderous SS. Sharply drawn characters, and realistic dialogue make for an enjoyable and intriguing page-turner, with Conroy's usual deft and accurate descriptions of military affairs.
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