May 1945. Hitler is dead, and the Third Reich little more than smoking rubble. No GI wants to be the last man killed in action against the Nazis. But for cigar-chewing, rough-talking, hard-drinking, hard-charging Captain Jack Lee and his men, there is one more mission: rescue fourteen prominent French prisoners held in an SS-guarded castle high in the Austrian Alps. It’s a dangerous mission, but Lee has help from a decorated German Wehrmacht officer and his men, who voluntarily join the fight. Based on personal memoirs, author interviews, and official American, German, and French histories, The Last Battle is the nearly unbelievable story of the most improbable battle of World War II—a tale of unlikely allies, bravery, cowardice, and desperate combat between implacable enemies.

The Last Battle: When U.S. and German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe

History

Harding, Stephen

Military

Da Capo Press

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE The incredible story of the unlikeliest battle of World War II, when a small group of American soldiers joined forces with German soldiers to fight off fanatical SS troops May, 1945. Hitler is dead, the Third Reich is little more than smoking rubble, and no GI wants to be the last man killed in action against the Nazis. The Last Battle tells the nearly unbelievable story of the unlikeliest battle of the war, when a small group of American tankers, led by Captain Lee, joined forces with German soldiers to fight off fanatical SS troops seeking to capture Castle Itter and execute the stronghold's VIP prisoners. It is a tale of unlikely allies, startling bravery, jittery suspense, and desperate combat between implacable enemies.

Europe

On August 18, 1945—three days after Japan announced it would cease hostilities and surrender—U.S. Army Air Forces Sergeant Anthony J. Marchione bled to death in the clear, bright sky above Tokyo. Just six days after his twentieth birthday, Tony Marchione died like so many before him in World War IIquietly, cradled in the arms of a buddy who was powerless to prevent his death. Though heartbreaking for his family, Marchione's death would have been no more notable than any other had he not had the dubious distinction of being the last American killed in World War II combat. An aerial gunner who had already survived several combat missions, Marchione's death was the tragic culmination of an intertwined series of events. The plane that carried him that day was a trouble-plagued American heavy bomber known as the B-32 Dominator, which would prove a failed competitor to the famed B-29 Superfortress. And on the ground below, a palace revolt was brewing and a small number of die-hard Japanese fighter pilots decided to fight on, refusing to accept defeat. Based on official American and Japanese histories, personal memoirs, and the author's exclusive interviews with many of the story's key participants, Last to Die is a rousing tale of air combat, bravery, cowardice, hubris, and determination, all set during the turbulent and confusing final days of World War II.

Last to Die: A Defeated Empire, a Forgotten Mission, and the Last American Killed in World War II

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

Shipwrecked on a South Pacific island, a young US Navy lieutenant waged a one-man war against the Japanese In the early hours of July 5, 1943, the destroyer USS Strong was hit by a Japanese torpedo. The powerful weapon broke the destroyer's back, killed dozens of sailors, and sparked raging fires. While accompanying ships were able to take off most of Strong's surviving crewmembers, scores went into the ocean as the once-proud warship sank beneath the waves--and a young officer's harrowing story of survival began. Lieutenant Hugh Barr Miller, a pre-war football star at the University of Alabama, went into the water as the vessel sank. Severely injured, Miller and several others survived three days at sea and eventually landed on a Japanese-occupied island. The survivors found fresh water and a few coconuts, but Miller, suffering from internal injuries and believing he was on the verge of death, ordered the others to go on without him. They reluctantly did do, believing, as Miller did, that he would be dead within hours. But Miller didn't die, and his health improved enough for him to begin searching for food. He also found the enemy--Japanese forces patrolling the island. Miller was determined to survive, and so launched a one-man war against the island's occupiers. Based on official American and Japanese histories, personal memoirs, and the author's exclusive interviews with many of the story's key participants, The Castaway's War is a rousing story of naval combat, bravery, and determination.

The Castaway's War: One Man's Battle against Imperial Japan

Americas

As the Pearl Harbor attack began, a U.S. cargo ship a thousand miles away in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean mysteriously vanished along with her crew. What happened, and why? On December 7, 1941, even as Japanese carrier-launched aircraft flew toward Pearl Harbor, a small American cargo ship chartered by the Army reported that it was under attack by a submarine halfway between Seattle and Honolulu. After that one cryptic message, the humble lumber carrier Cynthia Olson and her crew vanished without a trace, their disappearance all but forgotten as the mighty warships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet burned. The story of the Cynthia Olson's mid-ocean encounter with the Japanese submarine I-26 is both a classic high-seas drama and one of the most enduring mysteries of World War II. Did I-26's commander, Minoru Yokota, sink the freighter before the attack on Pearl Harbor began? Did the cargo ship's 35-man crew survive in lifeboats that drifted away into the vast Pacific, or were they machine-gunned to death? Was the Cynthia Olson the first American casualty of the Pacific War, and could her SOS have changed the course of history? Based on years of research, Dawn of Infamy explores both the military and human aspects of the Cynthia Olson story, bringing to life a complex tale of courage, tenacity, hubris, and arrogance in the opening hours of America's war in the Pacific.

Dawn of Infamy: A Sunken Ship, a Vanished Crew, and the Final Mystery of Pearl Harbor

On August 18, 1945—three days after Japan announced it would cease hostilities and surrender—US Army Air Forces Sergeant Anthony J. Marchione bled to death in the clear, bright sky above Tokyo. Based on official American and Japanese histories, personal memoirs, and the author's exclusive interviews with many of the story's key participants, Last to Die is a rousing untold tale of air combat, bravery, cowardice, hubris, and determination, all set during the turbulent and confusing final days of World War II.

Product Description 
This thrilling wartime adventure tells the true story of the downed American aviators who were rescued by French resistance fighters, taken to Nazi-occupied Paris, and hidden under the very noses of the Gestapo. 
Escape from Paris is the true story of a small group of U.S. aviators whose four B-17 Flying Fortresses were shot down over German-occupied France on a single, fateful day: July 14, 1943, Bastille Day. They were rescued by brave French civilians and taken to Paris for eventual escape out of France. In the French capital, where German troops walked on every street and Gestapo agents hid around every corner, the flyers met a brave Parisian resistance family living and working in the Hôtel des Invalides, a complex of buildings and military memorials, where Nazi officials had set up offices. Hidden in the complex the Americans, along with dozens of other downed Allied pilots and resistance operatives, hatched daring escape plots. The danger of discovery by the Nazis grew every day, as did an unlikely romance when one of the American airmen begins a star-crossed wartime romance with the twenty-two-year old daughter of the family sheltering him—a noir tale of war, courage and desperation in the shadows of the City of Light.Based on official American, French, and German documents, histories, personal memoirs, and the author's interviews with several of the story's key participants, Escape from Paris crosses the traditional lines of World War II history with tense drama of air combat over Europe, the intrigue of occupied Paris, and courageous American and Allied pilots and French resistance fighters pitted against Nazi thugs. All of this set in one of the world's most beautiful and captivating cities.\nReview 
"Stephen Harding has done it again. With this well-researched, well-written and genuinely exciting account of American airmen shot down over Occupied France and hidden by the French Resistance in Paris, he has proved that he has an extraordinary feel for the hitherto untold stories of World War II."― 
Andrew Roberts, bestselling author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny\n" 
Escape from Paris is a thrilling, brilliantly told true tale of heroism, love, and escape, set in the dark shadows of Nazi Paris. Tense and compulsively readable from beginning to end."― 
Alex Kershaw, bestselling author of The First Wave\n" 
Escape from Paris has the emotional pull of a great thriller, yet it's a true and memorable account of the interlinked heroism of courageous American bomber crews downed in enemy territory and intrepid French resisters who risked everything to spirit them to safety. History of a high order rendered with verve and riveting authenticity." 
― 
Donald L. Miller, bestselling author of Masters of the Air\n"From the first exhilarating moments of a fierce air battle over France, Stephen Harding delivers page-after-page of high adventure, intrigue and drama. He paints a vivid, unforgettable portrait of Nazi-occupied Paris and the efforts of a band of resistance fighters who risk everything to secret downed Allied airmen to freedom. Bravo!"― 
Neal Bascomb, author of The Escape Artists \n"From Stephen Harding, a brilliant and thrilling recreation of a great World War II story, a story of love in time of war. Harding is a scrupulous and knowledgeable author and, caution; you will not put 
Escape from Paris down until you've finished it. Very highly recommended."― 
Alan Furst, New York Times bestselling author of Mission to Paris\n"Stephen Harding's 
Escape from Paris is fascinating and a terrific read. I honestly could not turn the pages fast enough. It is thrilling and terrifying in equal measure; an amazing story of love and resistance that -- almost unbelievably -- happens to be true." 
― 
Anne Sebba, award-winning author of Les Parisiennes\n"In this thrilling WWII history,... Harding masterfully recreates thrilling details of air combat, the intrigue of the French Resistance, and the horrors of w

Escape from Paris: A True Story of Love and Resistance in Wartime France

Hachette Books

This book is The Nightingale meets All the Light We Cannot See, only it's all true--a thrilling wartime adventure story of downed American aviators rescued by French resistance fighters, taken to Nazi-occupied Paris, and hidden under the very noses of the Gestapo Escape from Paris is the true story of a small group of U.S. aviators whose four B-17 Flying Fortresses were shot down over German-occupied France on a single, fateful day: July 14, 1943, Bastille Day. They were rescued by brave French civilians and taken to Paris for eventual escape out of France. In the French capital, where German troops walked on every street and Gestapo agents hid around every corner, the flyers met a brave Parisian resistance family living and working in the Hôtel des Invalides, a complex of buildings and military memorials, where Nazi officials had set up offices. Hidden in the complex the Americans, along with dozens of other downed Allied pilots and resistance operatives, hatched daring escape plots. The danger of discovery by the Nazis grew every day, as did an unlikely romance when one of the American airmen begins a star-crossed wartime romance with the twenty-two-year old daughter of the family sheltering him--a noir tale of war, courage and desperation in the shadows of the City of Light. Based on official American, French, and German documents, histories, personal memoirs, and the author's interviews with several of the story's key participants, Escape from Paris crosses the traditional lines of World War II history with tense drama of air combat over Europe, the intrigue of occupied Paris, and courageous American and Allied pilots and French resistance fighters pitted against Nazi thugs. All of this set in one of the world's most beautiful and captivating cities.

During the past century, some of the most magnificent passenger ships ever built were commandeered by the military and converted to floating hospitals, armed merchant cruisers, dummy battleships, or troop transports. Several of the world’s largest shipwrecks occurred when liners were sunk in wartime, from the Titanic’s sister ship Britannicsunk in 1916 when she hit a mineto Canadian Pacific’s Empress of Britain, which was attacked and sunk by a U-boat in 1940. Passenger ships played a huge role in World War II in particular; it is estimated that the huge troop-carrying capacity of the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth shortened the war by at least a year. This is a captivating look at the civilian-made liners that served in conflicts ranging from World War I up through more recent conflicts such as the Falkland Islands and the enormous contributions they have made to the armed services.

Great Liners at War

Tempus Pub Ltd

During the past century, some of the most magnificent passenger ships ever built were commandeered by the military and converted to floating hospitals, armed merchant cruisers, dummy battleships, or troop transports. Several of the world’s largest shipwrecks occurred when liners were sunk in wartime, from the Titanic’s sister ship Britannicsunk in 1916 when she hit a mineto Canadian Pacific’s Empress of Britain, which was attacked and sunk by a U-boat in 1940. Passenger ships played a huge role in World War II in particular; it is estimated that the huge troop-carrying capacity of the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth shortened the war by at least a year. This is a captivating look at the civilian-made liners that served in conflicts ranging from World War I up through more recent conflicts such as the Falkland Islands and the enormous contributions they have made to the armed services.

Engineering & Transportation

Transportation

Motorbooks Intl

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Harding, Stephen. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Harding, Stephen

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Harding, Stephen. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Last Battle: When U.S. and German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe

The Last Battle: When U.S. and German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe

Last to Die: A Defeated Empire, a Forgotten Mission, and the Last American Killed in World War II

The Castaway's War: One Man's Battle against Imperial Japan

Dawn of Infamy: A Sunken Ship, a Vanished Crew, and the Final Mystery of Pearl Harbor

Last to Die: A Defeated Empire, a Forgotten Mission, and the Last American Killed in World War II

Escape from Paris: A True Story of Love and Resistance in Wartime France

Escape from Paris: A True Story of Love and Resistance in Wartime France

Great Liners at War

Great Liners at War