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They Shall Not See the Dawn: The Manhunt for the Third Reich's Most Wanted
An “Army of Werewolves” and the greatest manhunt in history. . . . After Hitler’s suicide, American intelligence feared that surviving Third Reich leaders were plotting a comeback with hidden weapons, rocket programs, and their Führer’s final testament. Bestselling historian Charles Lachman follows the unlikely band of citizen-soldiers in America’s Counter Intelligence Corps who tracked down Hitler’s inner circle and brought them to justice at Nuremberg.
May 1945. The Reich is in ruins. Hitler is dead. Yet for the US Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps, the real war has just begun.
They Shall Not See the Dawn is the true historical thriller following a secret unit of American agents, drawn from every walk of life, hunting Hitler’s inner circle—the dangerous henchmen still at large and feared to be carrying their Führer’s final political testament, orders for a guerilla resistance, and plans for rocket and nuclear programs hidden in mountain strongholds. It was a race against time to capture World War II’s most notorious Nazis before they could vanish or rally a new resistance.
The CIC men leading the greatest manhunt in history were scholars, motivated college students, an actor, linguists, young draftees and refugees—men like Henry Kissinger—armed not just with guns, but with intellect, intuition, and sheer daring. Their quarry included Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the monstrous Gestapo chief; Julius Streicher, Hitler’s notorious “Jew-baiter”; Robert Ley, master of slave labor; and other high-ranking war criminals desperate to escape justice. Against all odds, the CIC brought them down, ensuring their places in the dock at Nuremberg.
Told with cinematic urgency and timed for publication during the 80th anniversary of the Nuremberg verdict and hangings, They Shall Not See the Dawn resurrects the heroic exploits of America’s “G-men in khakis,” the men who ensured that the architects of Nazi horror would never walk free.
May 1945. The Reich is in ruins. Hitler is dead. Yet for the US Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps, the real war has just begun.
They Shall Not See the Dawn is the true historical thriller following a secret unit of American agents, drawn from every walk of life, hunting Hitler’s inner circle—the dangerous henchmen still at large and feared to be carrying their Führer’s final political testament, orders for a guerilla resistance, and plans for rocket and nuclear programs hidden in mountain strongholds. It was a race against time to capture World War II’s most notorious Nazis before they could vanish or rally a new resistance.
The CIC men leading the greatest manhunt in history were scholars, motivated college students, an actor, linguists, young draftees and refugees—men like Henry Kissinger—armed not just with guns, but with intellect, intuition, and sheer daring. Their quarry included Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the monstrous Gestapo chief; Julius Streicher, Hitler’s notorious “Jew-baiter”; Robert Ley, master of slave labor; and other high-ranking war criminals desperate to escape justice. Against all odds, the CIC brought them down, ensuring their places in the dock at Nuremberg.
Told with cinematic urgency and timed for publication during the 80th anniversary of the Nuremberg verdict and hangings, They Shall Not See the Dawn resurrects the heroic exploits of America’s “G-men in khakis,” the men who ensured that the architects of Nazi horror would never walk free.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published August 25, 2026
About the author
Charles Lachman
10 books48 followersCharles Lachman is Executive Producer of the television news magazine show, Inside Edition. Previously he was Managing Editor of the nightly news broadcasts at WNYW-TV in New York City and was a reporter for the New York Post.
Lachman is the author of In the Name of the Law, The Last Lincolns: The Rise and Fall of a Great American Family, A Secret Life: The Lies and Scandals of President Grover Cleveland and most recently Footsteps in the Snow.
Lachman is the author of In the Name of the Law, The Last Lincolns: The Rise and Fall of a Great American Family, A Secret Life: The Lies and Scandals of President Grover Cleveland and most recently Footsteps in the Snow.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 15, 2026
The book tells about the search for the top brass of the German armed forces at the end of WW2. Other than the historical narrative itself, there were some issues I want to address.
I’ve posted on Goodreads a number of critiques of nonfiction books which were authored by so-called “science writers’ who have repeatedly demonstrated that they didn’t know their subject matter.
That is the case with this book, “They Shall Not See the Dawn”. The author is not a science writer, but he attempts to impress the reader with his supposed knowledge of German, but fails over and over again, because it’s obvious he doesn’t know German. The author could have found a German-speaking person to proofread his rough draft to make sure his German terms, phrases, and sentences were correct, but he didn’t. His errors misinform the readers who don’t know any German.
One of the cardinal rules of German which the author ignored: ALL German nouns (not just proper names) are capitalized, no matter where they are in sentences. Yes, a noun at the beginning of a German sentence is obviously capitalized, but so are ALL the other nouns in the sentence, regardless of where they are and regardless of whether they are subjects, direct objects, or indirect objects.
Here’s a rundown of problems I found:
P 1 (and many other pages): He mistranslated the English word “werewolves” into German as “Der Wehrwolfs”. Ouch. The singular is “der Werwolf” (no “h”), and the plural is “die Werwölfe“ (The letter “h” is NOT in the word, and the word is pluralized by converting the “o” to “ö” and adding an “e”.) You can’t just add an “s” to a German noun to pluralize it. Ouch. Maybe he inserted the “h” because he was confusing the word with “Wehrmacht” (Army), which does have an “h” in the first syllable. Ouch.
p 29: Traunsee is a real location. The name is a compound word and the spelling is correct. However, the author confused the first syllable “Traun” (ending in “n”; maybe someone’s name?) with the German word “der Traum” (ending in “m”; meaning “the dream”). The second syllable “See” is indeed German for “lake”. The author thus decided that “Traunsee” is translated to “Dream Lake”, but that’s incorrect. Maybe in English, the lake was named Traun Lake? Ouch.
p 40: The author doesn’t state clearly that Arnold Hans Weiss was Jewish, but I surmised it only after the author stated that the boy was put into a Jewish orphanage after he was expelled by Nazis from public school. I had to piece together the tidbits to surmise that he was indeed Jewish.
p 72: The author misspells and mistranslates the German army rank of “feldwebal” as “private”. It is spelled “Feldwebel” (with a capital “F” because it is a noun, and the letter “a” should be “e”), so Feldwebel is the rank of sergeant, not private.
p 79 and others: The author refers to “der führer”, but it should be spelled “der Führer” with a capital “F” because it is a noun. Ouch again.
p 92: The author causes more confusion like he did on page 40 with Mr. Weise, because he didn’t clearly state that Mr. Plitt was Jewish until a page later, and I surmised this only because the author said the man’s dog tag had the capital letter “H”. The letter “H” was stamped into the dogtags of Jewish American soldiers in the vain attempt to label Jews as “Hebrews” and confuse the Germans, who were looking for “J” (for Jewish) among the American POWs. Side note: Hebrew is NOT a people; it’s a language.
P 222: The author finally described as Jewish one of the people in his book, Hanns Alexander, so there was no confusion.
All the errors the author made trying to impress the reader with his (incorrect) German begs the question: is the historical information in the book correct?
I’ve posted on Goodreads a number of critiques of nonfiction books which were authored by so-called “science writers’ who have repeatedly demonstrated that they didn’t know their subject matter.
That is the case with this book, “They Shall Not See the Dawn”. The author is not a science writer, but he attempts to impress the reader with his supposed knowledge of German, but fails over and over again, because it’s obvious he doesn’t know German. The author could have found a German-speaking person to proofread his rough draft to make sure his German terms, phrases, and sentences were correct, but he didn’t. His errors misinform the readers who don’t know any German.
One of the cardinal rules of German which the author ignored: ALL German nouns (not just proper names) are capitalized, no matter where they are in sentences. Yes, a noun at the beginning of a German sentence is obviously capitalized, but so are ALL the other nouns in the sentence, regardless of where they are and regardless of whether they are subjects, direct objects, or indirect objects.
Here’s a rundown of problems I found:
P 1 (and many other pages): He mistranslated the English word “werewolves” into German as “Der Wehrwolfs”. Ouch. The singular is “der Werwolf” (no “h”), and the plural is “die Werwölfe“ (The letter “h” is NOT in the word, and the word is pluralized by converting the “o” to “ö” and adding an “e”.) You can’t just add an “s” to a German noun to pluralize it. Ouch. Maybe he inserted the “h” because he was confusing the word with “Wehrmacht” (Army), which does have an “h” in the first syllable. Ouch.
p 29: Traunsee is a real location. The name is a compound word and the spelling is correct. However, the author confused the first syllable “Traun” (ending in “n”; maybe someone’s name?) with the German word “der Traum” (ending in “m”; meaning “the dream”). The second syllable “See” is indeed German for “lake”. The author thus decided that “Traunsee” is translated to “Dream Lake”, but that’s incorrect. Maybe in English, the lake was named Traun Lake? Ouch.
p 40: The author doesn’t state clearly that Arnold Hans Weiss was Jewish, but I surmised it only after the author stated that the boy was put into a Jewish orphanage after he was expelled by Nazis from public school. I had to piece together the tidbits to surmise that he was indeed Jewish.
p 72: The author misspells and mistranslates the German army rank of “feldwebal” as “private”. It is spelled “Feldwebel” (with a capital “F” because it is a noun, and the letter “a” should be “e”), so Feldwebel is the rank of sergeant, not private.
p 79 and others: The author refers to “der führer”, but it should be spelled “der Führer” with a capital “F” because it is a noun. Ouch again.
p 92: The author causes more confusion like he did on page 40 with Mr. Weise, because he didn’t clearly state that Mr. Plitt was Jewish until a page later, and I surmised this only because the author said the man’s dog tag had the capital letter “H”. The letter “H” was stamped into the dogtags of Jewish American soldiers in the vain attempt to label Jews as “Hebrews” and confuse the Germans, who were looking for “J” (for Jewish) among the American POWs. Side note: Hebrew is NOT a people; it’s a language.
P 222: The author finally described as Jewish one of the people in his book, Hanns Alexander, so there was no confusion.
All the errors the author made trying to impress the reader with his (incorrect) German begs the question: is the historical information in the book correct?
September 2, 2026
(Audiobook) (3.5 stars) Solid overview of the capture, incarceration and trial of some of the major Nazis that survived the end of World War II. Perhaps the most intriguing part of the book involves the stories of the capture of the various Nazi leaders. Some are well-known, but others are not as well-understood. Along with the Nazi criminals, there was also the accounts of those tasked with hunting down those Nazis. It was quite the collection of men and women who by skill and luck, managed to bring to justice some of the most notorious Nazis out there. One area that was also good was that Lachman highlighted that in 1945, the back story about the final fate of Hitler was not known. Was he alive, was he in hiding, had he even married...all were questions that we didn't have answers to at that time, thus this book was also about answering those questions.
While the strength of the book was the hunt and capture of the wanted criminals, the second half of the book was a bit anticlimactic with the brief survey of the Nuremberg Trials. There were some good nuggets and tails, but it felt much like a throw-away part of the book. Still, this was a solid read. Worth a library checkout, especially for the tales of the hunt and capture.
While the strength of the book was the hunt and capture of the wanted criminals, the second half of the book was a bit anticlimactic with the brief survey of the Nuremberg Trials. There were some good nuggets and tails, but it felt much like a throw-away part of the book. Still, this was a solid read. Worth a library checkout, especially for the tales of the hunt and capture.
October 13, 2026
After the end of WWII in Europe, American Army's Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) had a mission to bring to justice the perpetrators of the Nazi atrocities, from Hitler on down. Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide (their bodies incinerated in the garden of Hitler's lair), but the hunt for the others makes for disturbing reading at times. The hunt for the others was a dogged search, often aided by German citizens, and often not.
I found myself having to take this book in small pieces, because of the disturbing nature. Worthwhile reading this part of the history of the war. What I didn't know was that, with the approach of the Russian troops (Russia had been brutalized by Nazi army) many German citizens opted to commit suicide rather than face what they would have when the Russians got there.
There are details of the Nuremburg Trials, which brought a satisfying end to this chapter, if only it had eradicated evil men who do evil things, which we know still exist.. The title comes from the time that the guilty were hanged, in the middle of the night.
(I also watched the movie, Nuremburg, which was a pretty accurate depiction of part of this book.)
A disturbing read of one of mankind's evil chapters, but worth the read.
I found myself having to take this book in small pieces, because of the disturbing nature. Worthwhile reading this part of the history of the war. What I didn't know was that, with the approach of the Russian troops (Russia had been brutalized by Nazi army) many German citizens opted to commit suicide rather than face what they would have when the Russians got there.
There are details of the Nuremburg Trials, which brought a satisfying end to this chapter, if only it had eradicated evil men who do evil things, which we know still exist.. The title comes from the time that the guilty were hanged, in the middle of the night.
(I also watched the movie, Nuremburg, which was a pretty accurate depiction of part of this book.)
A disturbing read of one of mankind's evil chapters, but worth the read.
September 5, 2026
An astonishing true story, told in pulse-pounding prose by Charles Lachman. World War Two is over, and what a challenge faces the good guys - track down those ruthless leaders of the Nazi party to hang them, before they can commit suicide. Lachman's painstaking account of Hitler's final days will haunt your dreams, and you'll find yourself cheering for the everyday soldiers whose heroics brought those monsters to justice. This just might be the most important book of the year.
September 15, 2026
They tried to hide after they were defeated but the allied soldiers caught them. They were tried, convicted and hanged. Then the heroes went home to their ordinary lives
This book tells about the heroes and the hunt.
This book tells about the heroes and the hunt.
October 16, 2026
This was a difficult read for me. It was very insightful into what steps were taken and the commitment to be sure they found the people responsible for their crimes. I wish the author had given more details about the trial. Overall it is something we should all remember and never forget.
September 9, 2026
Excellent
A great read , Very informative and easy to read and follow. Some brave characters in a dangerous time all over Europe and the world in general
A great read , Very informative and easy to read and follow. Some brave characters in a dangerous time all over Europe and the world in general
September 19, 2026
I really liked this. It was en engaging read about the average joes who were involved in hunting down and incarcerating nazi criminals. There was a lot I did not know about. Really interesting!
October 2, 2026
Interesting history told in a pulpy, swashbuckling tone.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews