The last rally

"Drawing on a superb collection of rare photographs this sequel to Battle in the Baltic States 1944-45 covers the last battles fought by the Wehrmacht and their SS counterparts in East Prussia, Pomerania and the West Prussian city of Danzig ... The book provides ... insight into this long, most bitter and most unknown Eastern Front campaign. It reveals how the remnants of Hitler's once-vaunted forces were hurled out of the Baltic States and ordered to wage an unprecedented war of attrition against an overwhelming foe. Here is East and West Prussia, Pomerania and the ancient city of Danzig the Germans stood on the fringes of the Reich and fought a series of colossal battles ... The Last Rally is a unique study of a struggling German Army trying in vain to avoid being sucked into a maelstrom of destruction. It was the final desperate attempt by the German forces to hold onto land conquered by the Reich during its conquest through Poland five years earlier. Now, as tension, turmoil and tragedy reached its peak in the ruined villages, towns and cities, the ethnic Germans, or so-called Volksdeutche, fled their homes to avoid the Red Army's advance. What followed was a mass exodus of men, women and children intermingled with withdrawing German troops trying to stave off defeat"--Page 7.