Das Reich : Resistance, Revenge and the 2nd SS Panzer Division in France, June 1944

'The literary VC goes without doubt to Max Hastings . . . the story of a march that left behind a trail of blood and death, torture and heroism' – The Sunday Telegraph Written from the perspective of the French Resistance, British SOE and SAS, and the German SS, Das Reich is bestselling historian Max Hastings's gripping and powerful examination of wartime brutality in the aftermath of D-Day. Within days of the D-Day landings in June 1944, the elite 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich marched north through France to reinforce the front-line defenders of Hitler’s Fortress Europe. Veterans of the bloodiest fighting of the Russian Front, 15,000 men with their tanks and artillery, they were hounded for every mile of their march by saboteurs of the Resistance and agents of the Allied Special Forces. Along their route they took reprisals so savage they will live for ever in the chronicles of the most appalling atrocities of war, including the massacre of 642 men, women and children from Oradour-sur-Glane. Even-handed and insightful, Das Reich vividly brings to life a dark period of the Second World War, revealing stories of cruelty on both sides as well as tales of heroism and sacrifice. 'A gripping blend of narrative and investigation' – Evening Standard