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Fire and Steel: The End of World War Two in the West
The final volume in one of the most acclaimed works of military history of this generation.
Here is Peter Caddick-Adams' third volume in his trilogy about the final year of the Western front in World War Two. Fire & Steel covers the war's final 100 days-beginning in late January 1945 and continuing until May 8th, 1945, when the German high command surrendered unconditionally to all Allied forces. Caddick-Adams' previous two volumes in the acclaimed series-Sand & Steel, which covers the invasion of Normandy in June 1944, and Snow & Steel, the definitive study of the Battle of the Bulge, the German's final offensive in the war-have set the stage for this concluding volume.
In these final months of World War Two, all of Germany is ablaze, from daily bombing runs launched from just across its borders and incessant artillery fire from the east. In the west, the Allied progress was inexorable, with Eisenhower's seven armies taking on Germany's seven armies, town by town, bridge by bridge. With his customary narrative verve and utter mastery of the material, Caddick-Adams does these climactic final months full justice, from the capture of the Ludendorff Railway Bridge at Remagen, to the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, to the taking of Munich on Hitler's birthday, April 20th, and through to VE Day. Fire & Steel ends with the return of prisoners, demobilization of servicemen, and the beginning of the occupation of Germany.
A triumphant concluding volume to one of the most distinguished works of military history of this generation.
Here is Peter Caddick-Adams' third volume in his trilogy about the final year of the Western front in World War Two. Fire & Steel covers the war's final 100 days-beginning in late January 1945 and continuing until May 8th, 1945, when the German high command surrendered unconditionally to all Allied forces. Caddick-Adams' previous two volumes in the acclaimed series-Sand & Steel, which covers the invasion of Normandy in June 1944, and Snow & Steel, the definitive study of the Battle of the Bulge, the German's final offensive in the war-have set the stage for this concluding volume.
In these final months of World War Two, all of Germany is ablaze, from daily bombing runs launched from just across its borders and incessant artillery fire from the east. In the west, the Allied progress was inexorable, with Eisenhower's seven armies taking on Germany's seven armies, town by town, bridge by bridge. With his customary narrative verve and utter mastery of the material, Caddick-Adams does these climactic final months full justice, from the capture of the Ludendorff Railway Bridge at Remagen, to the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, to the taking of Munich on Hitler's birthday, April 20th, and through to VE Day. Fire & Steel ends with the return of prisoners, demobilization of servicemen, and the beginning of the occupation of Germany.
A triumphant concluding volume to one of the most distinguished works of military history of this generation.
688 pages, Hardcover
Published July 1, 2022
About the author
Peter Caddick-Adams
20 books157 followersPeter Caddick-Adams is a lecturer in military history and current defense issues at the UK Defence Academy. He is the author of Monte Cassino: Ten Armies in Hell and Monty and Rommel: Parallel Lives. He holds the rank of major in the British Territorial Army and has served with U.S. forces in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
April 20, 2026
It’s Only Over When It’s Over
You might ask is there really a need for another book on the end of the Second World War? Well my answer to that is ‘yes, always.’ Victory in the West by Peter Caddick-Adams is a great addition to my personal library, a detailed and slow burn book on the intense final 100 days of the war. It focuses on how the war was actually won in the West. It’s the final phase of the conflict which shows that it wasn’t a breeze. It was still war, it was still dangerous and people were still getting killing in their thousands.
Caddick-Adams, an ex-army officer himself, ensures that the subject feels grounded and real. There is plenty of strategy and high-level decision-making, but also personal details. Letters, diary entries, and firsthand accounts bring the story to life, so you’re not just reading about divisions moving across a map, you get a sense of what it was like for the people actually fighting. Coming back to these characters through these phases shows how the men developed and survived or were tragically lost. You feel tension as everyone just wanted to survived by this point.
Victory in the West takes off in the aftermath of the chaos of the Battle of the Bulge. It shows that every town and every village had to still be subdued and taken. Some easier than others as fanatics and school boys were often brainwashed by Goebbels’s propaganda machine into sniping and ambushing allied soldiers, holding out in fruitless last stands. This was not an easy or glorious phase of the war. Another thing Caddick-Adams focuses on is dismantling the simply picture of ‘Allies good, Germans bad.’ He acknowledges Allied mistakes and misjudgments, while also showing how the German forces, even when clearly losing, were still capable of serious resistance.
I found his writing is solid but not flashy and that he leans more toward informative than dramatic. This suits the subject, though it does mean it’s not always a quick or easy read. Overall, Victory in the West is a serious, well-researched book that rewards patience. As the Second World War is so big and there’s so much to know from all angles no single volume can tackle it. In a conflict that changes the course of the world and involved millions more books and research are welcomed and I feel I will never grow tired of them. Not the first book I’d come to on WWII, but well worth reading.
You might ask is there really a need for another book on the end of the Second World War? Well my answer to that is ‘yes, always.’ Victory in the West by Peter Caddick-Adams is a great addition to my personal library, a detailed and slow burn book on the intense final 100 days of the war. It focuses on how the war was actually won in the West. It’s the final phase of the conflict which shows that it wasn’t a breeze. It was still war, it was still dangerous and people were still getting killing in their thousands.
Caddick-Adams, an ex-army officer himself, ensures that the subject feels grounded and real. There is plenty of strategy and high-level decision-making, but also personal details. Letters, diary entries, and firsthand accounts bring the story to life, so you’re not just reading about divisions moving across a map, you get a sense of what it was like for the people actually fighting. Coming back to these characters through these phases shows how the men developed and survived or were tragically lost. You feel tension as everyone just wanted to survived by this point.
Victory in the West takes off in the aftermath of the chaos of the Battle of the Bulge. It shows that every town and every village had to still be subdued and taken. Some easier than others as fanatics and school boys were often brainwashed by Goebbels’s propaganda machine into sniping and ambushing allied soldiers, holding out in fruitless last stands. This was not an easy or glorious phase of the war. Another thing Caddick-Adams focuses on is dismantling the simply picture of ‘Allies good, Germans bad.’ He acknowledges Allied mistakes and misjudgments, while also showing how the German forces, even when clearly losing, were still capable of serious resistance.
I found his writing is solid but not flashy and that he leans more toward informative than dramatic. This suits the subject, though it does mean it’s not always a quick or easy read. Overall, Victory in the West is a serious, well-researched book that rewards patience. As the Second World War is so big and there’s so much to know from all angles no single volume can tackle it. In a conflict that changes the course of the world and involved millions more books and research are welcomed and I feel I will never grow tired of them. Not the first book I’d come to on WWII, but well worth reading.
May 23, 2025
WOW! what an incredibly researched book. Not only giving you the broad picture of events but the man on the ground view of those events also. Nicely written in a style that flows like a novel you will get swept up in the story what is happening. Very recommended
September 17, 2022
Fire and Steel is a powerful, provocative and fitting final installment to Dr. Caddick-Adams’ Second World War trilogy.
In this final volume, our author lays out that the final 100 days of war on the Western Front was much more that the defeat of an enemy and his will to make war, it was also a fight against time to discover, condemn and defeat evil, de-radicalize a people as well as consolidate ground and nations against a Red storm.
Dr. Caddick-Adams gives each Army Group its praise as well as criticism. Rather than leaning on accepted myth and conjecture, the reader is introduced to familiar names such as Eisenhower, Churchill, Montgomery and Patton from new and refreshing angles.
This volume spends much of its final phase discussing the discovery and aftermath of the Final Solution. I encourage the reader to have tissues at the ready for the horrific scenes translated to paper. May we never forget the evil that can find and influence the hearts of humanity.
This was a sensational read. While you can read it as a standalone volume, you’d be missing out on this authors wonderful prose by not starting at the beginning. Let us celebrate the work of those who seek to remind the world that nations committed to caring for peoples can make a difference in a dark and sinister world.
In this final volume, our author lays out that the final 100 days of war on the Western Front was much more that the defeat of an enemy and his will to make war, it was also a fight against time to discover, condemn and defeat evil, de-radicalize a people as well as consolidate ground and nations against a Red storm.
Dr. Caddick-Adams gives each Army Group its praise as well as criticism. Rather than leaning on accepted myth and conjecture, the reader is introduced to familiar names such as Eisenhower, Churchill, Montgomery and Patton from new and refreshing angles.
This volume spends much of its final phase discussing the discovery and aftermath of the Final Solution. I encourage the reader to have tissues at the ready for the horrific scenes translated to paper. May we never forget the evil that can find and influence the hearts of humanity.
This was a sensational read. While you can read it as a standalone volume, you’d be missing out on this authors wonderful prose by not starting at the beginning. Let us celebrate the work of those who seek to remind the world that nations committed to caring for peoples can make a difference in a dark and sinister world.
May 14, 2023
I absolutely enjoyed reading this book. It is very well written and shows the chaotic final gasps from the Third Reich from the eyes of the Allied solders. I highly recomend this book.
March 14, 2023
My Uncle (my Dad’s twin) was a U.S. Paratrooper killed in action at the age of twenty in the Spring of 1945. This is a period of the war that is rarely covered in military history so I was glad to see a new history of that period.
The author provides a detailed view of the action on the Western front. While there were only a few months of war left, what fighting there was was bitter. The movement of the armies is well-covered of course but there are also a lot of interesting anecdotes and detail from the troops on the ground. What I particularly liked was his recognition of General Jacob Devers, who lead the 6th Army Group which liberated southern France and had plenty of vicious and costly fighting in such little known places as the Colmar Pocket. He was an intelligent and decent commander, under appreciated to this day.
I also liked the coverage of the logistics of the Western powers, particularly the Americans. The Allies had 91 full strength divisions on the ground facing the Germans organized into three Army Groups. Just one Army (Hodges’ 1st Army, part of Bradley’s 12th Army Group) was using a million gallons of fuel each day!! They had fuel pipelines running over the Rhine and thousands of trucks and planes delivering the fuel to the front line units. In contrast, most of the German units were using horses. A new fact to me was how Medivac teams were evacuating the wounded from the front line by C-47’s.
I would have like to see more discussion of one question that has long puzzled me. What drove the enemy to continue to fight so hard after it was obvious to everyone, even the most fanatical, that the war was already decided. There’s a good possibility that the man who killed my Uncle survived the war and died an old man in his nice warm bed. Why could this German not have just surrendered a few weeks earlier?
The author provides a detailed view of the action on the Western front. While there were only a few months of war left, what fighting there was was bitter. The movement of the armies is well-covered of course but there are also a lot of interesting anecdotes and detail from the troops on the ground. What I particularly liked was his recognition of General Jacob Devers, who lead the 6th Army Group which liberated southern France and had plenty of vicious and costly fighting in such little known places as the Colmar Pocket. He was an intelligent and decent commander, under appreciated to this day.
I also liked the coverage of the logistics of the Western powers, particularly the Americans. The Allies had 91 full strength divisions on the ground facing the Germans organized into three Army Groups. Just one Army (Hodges’ 1st Army, part of Bradley’s 12th Army Group) was using a million gallons of fuel each day!! They had fuel pipelines running over the Rhine and thousands of trucks and planes delivering the fuel to the front line units. In contrast, most of the German units were using horses. A new fact to me was how Medivac teams were evacuating the wounded from the front line by C-47’s.
I would have like to see more discussion of one question that has long puzzled me. What drove the enemy to continue to fight so hard after it was obvious to everyone, even the most fanatical, that the war was already decided. There’s a good possibility that the man who killed my Uncle survived the war and died an old man in his nice warm bed. Why could this German not have just surrendered a few weeks earlier?
July 19, 2022
Peter Caddick-Adams (or PCA is is he often referred to on history Twitter) is a veteran author of SWW histories, notably Monty and Rommel: Parallel Lives. Fire and Steel, is the final volume of his War in the West trilogy from D-Day to the German surrender.
Initially, I was not going to read this book as I wondered if I was going to learn anything new after reading Rick Atkinson's The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 which covers the same ground, albeit in one volume and with a mostly American focus. The relentless promotion of this book on history Twitter by other authors who I respected finally got me to drop a few $$ on the just-released American hardback edition.
It is a weighty volume but reads easily, mostly because PCA is able to weave in countless first person narratives of the British, Canadian, American, and Free French ground forces as they battled to reach the Rhine once the Battle of the Bulge was over, then crossed the Rhine, then swept through Germany until the end.
The best part of the book by far were the accounts of the liberation of concentration camps and assorted slave labor camps. The sheer scale of these locations, the wastage of human lives, and how they aided the Nazi war effort was most memorable.
PCA also gives considerable attention to Devers' Sixth Army Group, perhaps more page ink than either Bradley's 21st Army Group or Monty's 2nd Army Group. How Devers (who was disliked by Ike) kept both his US and French armies working collaboratively despite enormous pressure from de Gaulle to achieve post-war French political ends is a story not well-known. Not to mention capturing huge sections of southwestern Germany.
The final days of the war in Germany had many fascinating vignettes - as major city-by-major city fell to the advancing Allies - sometimes only after bitter fighting and total air and artillery destruction, other times with the city fathers surrendering and many fewer casualties. There are multiple derring-do stories of dramatic rescues of prisoners just prior to execution orders about to be carried out by the SS. Multiple movies could be made from these events.
PCA does a good job paying attention to logistics and logistics troops who often don't get mentioned in history's first person accounts. This also includes combat engineers. The RAF and USAAF are referenced when they were supporting the ground troops but this is not a story of the air war in the final 100 days. Soviet action is provided in just enough detail to keep the reader aware that an even larger conflict was raging just tens of miles from Berlin in the east.
There are many good photos and the maps were useful, though you often needed to bookmark these as they would need to be referenced 100 pages later in the text (they are corps movement maps for the most part covering huge expanses of territory). PCA was almost perfect at ensuring that every place name mentioned in the text could be found on the relevant map.
It is astonishing that Germany got back on her feet post-war (thank you Marshall Plan) as the virtual complete obliteration of villages, towns, and cities from air raids and artillery left one wondering how civilized life could ever re-emerge. I read this book in summer 2022 whilst Russia was doing somewhat the same to cities in the Donbas with massed artillery and missile strikes.
Quibbles?
There's a dearth of first-hand Free French accounts and fewer German first-hand accounts than I might have expected (perhaps more German civilian than soldier accounts).
In places, a few pages would drag as PCA would present the composition of corps movements with division names, their commanders, and their city objectives. As the scale of the final 100 days was so immense, it was hard to keep track (or care) which division was where, when. Of course, someone with family members in one of those units would beg to differ. But quickly, the pages turned into those compelling first-person stories.
PCA is a good writer, on a par with Max Hastings, James Holland or Antony Beevor. He is not quite as eloquent with words as Atkinson. This is not any kind of revisionist history but a welcome change in emphasis to certain aspects of the final 100 days that aren't always well-covered in other books. I had hoped to hear PCA speak at the 2022 Chalke Valley History Festival where he was going to discuss this very book - sadly, he was recovering from an unexpected quadruple bypass.
Will I read the first two volumes - Sand & Steel: The D-Day Invasions and the Liberation of France and Snow and Steel: The Battle of the Bulge, 1944-45? Perhaps the first one as D-Day is such a thrilling story and no matter how many times one reads a history of the invasion, one is always struck by the immensity of effort and accomplishment. AS for the Battle of the Bulge, I think all that can be said about this battle has been said so this is a low priority for me.
Initially, I was not going to read this book as I wondered if I was going to learn anything new after reading Rick Atkinson's The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 which covers the same ground, albeit in one volume and with a mostly American focus. The relentless promotion of this book on history Twitter by other authors who I respected finally got me to drop a few $$ on the just-released American hardback edition.
It is a weighty volume but reads easily, mostly because PCA is able to weave in countless first person narratives of the British, Canadian, American, and Free French ground forces as they battled to reach the Rhine once the Battle of the Bulge was over, then crossed the Rhine, then swept through Germany until the end.
The best part of the book by far were the accounts of the liberation of concentration camps and assorted slave labor camps. The sheer scale of these locations, the wastage of human lives, and how they aided the Nazi war effort was most memorable.
PCA also gives considerable attention to Devers' Sixth Army Group, perhaps more page ink than either Bradley's 21st Army Group or Monty's 2nd Army Group. How Devers (who was disliked by Ike) kept both his US and French armies working collaboratively despite enormous pressure from de Gaulle to achieve post-war French political ends is a story not well-known. Not to mention capturing huge sections of southwestern Germany.
The final days of the war in Germany had many fascinating vignettes - as major city-by-major city fell to the advancing Allies - sometimes only after bitter fighting and total air and artillery destruction, other times with the city fathers surrendering and many fewer casualties. There are multiple derring-do stories of dramatic rescues of prisoners just prior to execution orders about to be carried out by the SS. Multiple movies could be made from these events.
PCA does a good job paying attention to logistics and logistics troops who often don't get mentioned in history's first person accounts. This also includes combat engineers. The RAF and USAAF are referenced when they were supporting the ground troops but this is not a story of the air war in the final 100 days. Soviet action is provided in just enough detail to keep the reader aware that an even larger conflict was raging just tens of miles from Berlin in the east.
There are many good photos and the maps were useful, though you often needed to bookmark these as they would need to be referenced 100 pages later in the text (they are corps movement maps for the most part covering huge expanses of territory). PCA was almost perfect at ensuring that every place name mentioned in the text could be found on the relevant map.
It is astonishing that Germany got back on her feet post-war (thank you Marshall Plan) as the virtual complete obliteration of villages, towns, and cities from air raids and artillery left one wondering how civilized life could ever re-emerge. I read this book in summer 2022 whilst Russia was doing somewhat the same to cities in the Donbas with massed artillery and missile strikes.
Quibbles?
There's a dearth of first-hand Free French accounts and fewer German first-hand accounts than I might have expected (perhaps more German civilian than soldier accounts).
In places, a few pages would drag as PCA would present the composition of corps movements with division names, their commanders, and their city objectives. As the scale of the final 100 days was so immense, it was hard to keep track (or care) which division was where, when. Of course, someone with family members in one of those units would beg to differ. But quickly, the pages turned into those compelling first-person stories.
PCA is a good writer, on a par with Max Hastings, James Holland or Antony Beevor. He is not quite as eloquent with words as Atkinson. This is not any kind of revisionist history but a welcome change in emphasis to certain aspects of the final 100 days that aren't always well-covered in other books. I had hoped to hear PCA speak at the 2022 Chalke Valley History Festival where he was going to discuss this very book - sadly, he was recovering from an unexpected quadruple bypass.
Will I read the first two volumes - Sand & Steel: The D-Day Invasions and the Liberation of France and Snow and Steel: The Battle of the Bulge, 1944-45? Perhaps the first one as D-Day is such a thrilling story and no matter how many times one reads a history of the invasion, one is always struck by the immensity of effort and accomplishment. AS for the Battle of the Bulge, I think all that can be said about this battle has been said so this is a low priority for me.
June 9, 2022
A well researched and detailed account of the last 100 days of the Second World War in Western Europe. Too many histories of World War 2 tend to skate over this period which begins at the conclusion of the Battle of the Bulge in January 1945 and concludes with the German Surrender in May. In reality these last 100 days saw some very heavy fighting and revealed the unspeakable horrors of the liberation of the concentration and extermination camps operated by the Germans. American and British Generals insisted that as many of their troops as possible witnessed these horrors first hand and understood that Germany had created a slave state in pursuit of its war aims. Eisenhower himself visited one of these camps in order that should anybody start denying the severity of these dreadful scenes he could offer refutation from first hand experience. Eisenhower is very much the hero of this narrative holding together a multi-nation alliance and dealing with such difficult characters as Montgomery, Patton and the loathsome, obstructive and immeasurably selfish Charles De Gaulle. Overall, an excellent and well written account of the courageous and redoubtable men of the British, Commonwealth, Polish and American forces who liberated Western Europe from German occupation and barbarism in 1945. Recommended.
August 19, 2022
I have often said to friends that there are great historians and great writers and occasionally someone who is both and when you find one of those you have a keeper. Peter Caddick-Adams is one of these rare unicorns which he so clearly demonstrates in the last book of his Trilogy on the Western European Theater.
Fire and Steel: The End of World War II in the West is a 5 star read which focuses on the under studied and read on post Battle of the Bulge period, which includes the breaching of the West Wall, the crossing of the Rhine and the final advance on and surrender of German Forces.
Adams is great at painting the big picture while never losing sight of the small unit and individual contributors to the Allied Victory in Europe and winds up the book on the post war careers of key senior Allied Leadership.
Fire and Steel: The End of World War II in the West is a 5 star read which focuses on the under studied and read on post Battle of the Bulge period, which includes the breaching of the West Wall, the crossing of the Rhine and the final advance on and surrender of German Forces.
Adams is great at painting the big picture while never losing sight of the small unit and individual contributors to the Allied Victory in Europe and winds up the book on the post war careers of key senior Allied Leadership.
September 24, 2023
A worthy conclusion to an excellent trilogy, as first, Caddick-Adams presents a coherent operational portrait of the last 100 days of World War II in Northwest Europe. This book would be worthwhile for that if nothing else.
Two, the man continues his mission to debunk some of the "just so" stories that have come down from the war. These include such matters as the agendas and plans relating to crossing the Rhine into Germany, the trade-offs between the reduction of the Ruhr Pocket and the Western allies trying to grab Berlin from the Soviets, the murky story of Anglo-American and Soviet encounters along the Oder River, and the command stresses in ETO as the endgame finally became apparent.
Third and finally, Caddick-Adams devotes a great deal of time to the Allies coming into direct contact with the Nazi economy of forced labor and genocide, and how that radicalized and supercharged a slightly flagging effort; no one who encountered the death camps needed to have any further explanation of what they were fighting for.
I still think the man's book about D-Day and Normandy is the best portion of the lot (which is why I'm not handing out five stars here), but one could do a lot worse than tackling this trilogy.
Two, the man continues his mission to debunk some of the "just so" stories that have come down from the war. These include such matters as the agendas and plans relating to crossing the Rhine into Germany, the trade-offs between the reduction of the Ruhr Pocket and the Western allies trying to grab Berlin from the Soviets, the murky story of Anglo-American and Soviet encounters along the Oder River, and the command stresses in ETO as the endgame finally became apparent.
Third and finally, Caddick-Adams devotes a great deal of time to the Allies coming into direct contact with the Nazi economy of forced labor and genocide, and how that radicalized and supercharged a slightly flagging effort; no one who encountered the death camps needed to have any further explanation of what they were fighting for.
I still think the man's book about D-Day and Normandy is the best portion of the lot (which is why I'm not handing out five stars here), but one could do a lot worse than tackling this trilogy.
April 22, 2025
Good. If you've read one of these sorts of histories then you know exactly what to expect. General strategic overview interspersed with personal reflections and the occasional focus on an individual act of heroism, brutality or sheer bad luck
September 10, 2022
Fire & Steel is the third book in Peter Caddick-Adams' trilogy on the Second World War with the two previous books being, Sand & Steel, and Snow and Steel. This book as you can guess covers the end of the Second World War on mainland Europe covering the western front (British and American forces against the German) over the last 100 days of the war. Roughly late January 1945 till 8 May 1945. It does mention briefly events that happened in Italy and those that involved the Soviet Union as they greatly impacted the Allies' plans, especially the actions of the Soviet Union.
The author does a great job of bringing the stories of the various participants to life, it is especially heart-breaking when he gets to the stories of the discovery and liberation of the various concentration camps. You read them and wonder how people could say that the holocaust never happened.
If you are interested in military history then I recommend this book but I think you should read the other two books first so you get a complete story.
The author does a great job of bringing the stories of the various participants to life, it is especially heart-breaking when he gets to the stories of the discovery and liberation of the various concentration camps. You read them and wonder how people could say that the holocaust never happened.
If you are interested in military history then I recommend this book but I think you should read the other two books first so you get a complete story.
September 28, 2023
Of the 1,800 inscriptions preserved on the walls of the Gestapo building today, mostly names, written in Cyrillic, of those from Eastern lands about to die, there is only one in English: ‘Earl Huge, Cleveland, Ohio. Third Armored Division.'
Following the Battle of the Bulge, the War in Western Europe tends to be wrapped up quickly in history books, notwithstanding the five months of hard fighting left. 1945 is a rolling narrative of that period, moving up and down the three Army Groups under General Eisenhower, with plenty of quotes from individual soldiers.
As mentioned, the book’s ostensible selling point is that it covers the Western Allied Forces in Europe under Eisenhower in detail from the start of 1945. However, there are actually three other interconnected elements that elevate this book:
- Caddick-Adams has an easy-going humanity that lends empathy to his writing;
- he often interacted over his career with veterans, including staff rides with them;
- he devotes significant sections to the atrocities of the Nazis as they were uncovered by the Allies, including the concentration camps in the West.
Yet the freezing mud and sleet we encountered reminded him not of February 1945, but of his father’s tales of Passchendaele in 1917. The Reichswald was the penance his generation had to bear, he thought. This was the same, gloopy Flanders caramel his father was once obliged to navigate. To me, a student of both, I could see the precise similarities.
This combination means that that 1945 feels like more than the product of a guy with a lot of spare time whose shuffled around and reconstituted some sources he’s read, or simply relies on his wit to add a new twist. I consider these elements of humanity something worth crediting non-fiction writers for – I accept that is not always possible or even advisable to do this, but it works here with this material.
There were about 45,000 camps of all kinds run by Hitler's Germany. Such a figure strikes the reader like a sledgehammer, proving there is always something new to learn.
Caddick-Adams, other than a well-handled detour on the MG-42, generally avoids technical discussions of equipment, which makes sense considering that it did not really matter by the last months of the war where German efforts following Operation Norwind were mostly localized stand and die battles. The Allies’ genius for logistics and amphibious warfare, particularly with the Rhine crossings, do show off that their armies were doing more than merely walking across the continent, and indicates that those forces were more competent than they appear in the occasionally negative comparisons with the Soviet’s penchant for “deep-battle”.
As to battlefield commander assessments, General Devers, who is generally spoken in other books as underrated, gets proper treatment here as an Army Group Commander who had to deal with Patton on one flank and near insubordinate French forces under him (though again, Caddick-Adams shows his remarkable degrees of empathy to the French position). Commanders down to Corps level are all covered with at least a paragraph, with notable lower ranking officers occasionally receiving similar treatment. Other than Devers and possibly the crossing at Remagen, there’s nothing particularly revelationary, which is fine, because the novelty is the period in which they are fighting in.
I don’t know if you need to read 1945 to understand 1945, but it is a good example of adding warmth to what is a very grim exchange, while remaining clear eyed about the moral standpoints (there’s no myth of the noble Wehrmacht here), even including the sins of Allied forces.
Though the miserable Rhine camps, guarded by other Germans, and only ever a temporary expedient, were shut down in September 1945, prisoner abuse undoubtedly took place and up to 10,000 may have died from disease, malnutrition and neglect.
While probably not necessary for understanding the general context of World War II, Caddick-Adams’ writing style is worth emulating.
Following the Battle of the Bulge, the War in Western Europe tends to be wrapped up quickly in history books, notwithstanding the five months of hard fighting left. 1945 is a rolling narrative of that period, moving up and down the three Army Groups under General Eisenhower, with plenty of quotes from individual soldiers.
As mentioned, the book’s ostensible selling point is that it covers the Western Allied Forces in Europe under Eisenhower in detail from the start of 1945. However, there are actually three other interconnected elements that elevate this book:
- Caddick-Adams has an easy-going humanity that lends empathy to his writing;
- he often interacted over his career with veterans, including staff rides with them;
- he devotes significant sections to the atrocities of the Nazis as they were uncovered by the Allies, including the concentration camps in the West.
Yet the freezing mud and sleet we encountered reminded him not of February 1945, but of his father’s tales of Passchendaele in 1917. The Reichswald was the penance his generation had to bear, he thought. This was the same, gloopy Flanders caramel his father was once obliged to navigate. To me, a student of both, I could see the precise similarities.
This combination means that that 1945 feels like more than the product of a guy with a lot of spare time whose shuffled around and reconstituted some sources he’s read, or simply relies on his wit to add a new twist. I consider these elements of humanity something worth crediting non-fiction writers for – I accept that is not always possible or even advisable to do this, but it works here with this material.
There were about 45,000 camps of all kinds run by Hitler's Germany. Such a figure strikes the reader like a sledgehammer, proving there is always something new to learn.
Caddick-Adams, other than a well-handled detour on the MG-42, generally avoids technical discussions of equipment, which makes sense considering that it did not really matter by the last months of the war where German efforts following Operation Norwind were mostly localized stand and die battles. The Allies’ genius for logistics and amphibious warfare, particularly with the Rhine crossings, do show off that their armies were doing more than merely walking across the continent, and indicates that those forces were more competent than they appear in the occasionally negative comparisons with the Soviet’s penchant for “deep-battle”.
As to battlefield commander assessments, General Devers, who is generally spoken in other books as underrated, gets proper treatment here as an Army Group Commander who had to deal with Patton on one flank and near insubordinate French forces under him (though again, Caddick-Adams shows his remarkable degrees of empathy to the French position). Commanders down to Corps level are all covered with at least a paragraph, with notable lower ranking officers occasionally receiving similar treatment. Other than Devers and possibly the crossing at Remagen, there’s nothing particularly revelationary, which is fine, because the novelty is the period in which they are fighting in.
I don’t know if you need to read 1945 to understand 1945, but it is a good example of adding warmth to what is a very grim exchange, while remaining clear eyed about the moral standpoints (there’s no myth of the noble Wehrmacht here), even including the sins of Allied forces.
Though the miserable Rhine camps, guarded by other Germans, and only ever a temporary expedient, were shut down in September 1945, prisoner abuse undoubtedly took place and up to 10,000 may have died from disease, malnutrition and neglect.
While probably not necessary for understanding the general context of World War II, Caddick-Adams’ writing style is worth emulating.
May 27, 2022
This highly researched and thoroughly enjoyable book will no doubt become THE BOOK on the final months of the war in Europe.
Every chapter is full of fascinating facts and stories. The pages are packed with details, but the writing style of the author makes it a pleasure to read.
I have learnt so much from reading this book.
Through reading his books, this author has become a favourite of mine. He has again written something to admire.
This completes his trilogy of the Second World War. I recommend you read them all.
Every chapter is full of fascinating facts and stories. The pages are packed with details, but the writing style of the author makes it a pleasure to read.
I have learnt so much from reading this book.
Through reading his books, this author has become a favourite of mine. He has again written something to admire.
This completes his trilogy of the Second World War. I recommend you read them all.
September 5, 2022
A thorough and well-written history of the last 100 days of WW II in the European Theater. It is curious that the details of this period have seldom appeared in histories. A couple of minor quibbles: (1) The Italian campaign, which is surely part of the western war in this theater is barely mentioned. (2) The parade of names, and unit numbers, quickly grows exhausting and hard to follow, so I recommend that you not try to read more than an hour a day of this book.
September 4, 2023
Some of Caddick-Adams best work is telling the back story, in this case the savage fanaticism of Nazi holdouts (think Proud Boys or Ammon Bundy on steroids) and what GIs found at the concentration camps. It takes some fortitude to make your way through his trilogy, but it is well worth it.
June 27, 2024
"These thoughts were echoed by another Kaufering IV liberator, Staff Sergeant Jerry D. Salinger, a German speaking Jew and D-Day veteran, whose job was to interrogate captured German soldiers. 'You never really get the smell of burning flesh out of your nose entirely, no matter how long you live, he later told his daughter Margaret. Soon after he checked himself into a psychiatric clinic in Nuremberg, his experience of Kaufering trigger a form of nervous breakdown."
This is an excellent military history of the Western Allies invasion of Germany in 1945 and the destruction of the Third Reich. I sometimes find military history hurts my brain as I struggle to organise all the XII Corp from 3rd Army met the 134th Grenadiers in a sensible fashion but Caddick-Adams does an excellent job of balancing that necessary part of military history with stories of individuals and a solid narrative history.
But this isn't just a book about the brave men who did the fighting. It is also an account of the horrors of the Nazi regime and its slave and murder system of camps, factories, and farms. The roll call of camps as they are discovered and the soldiers responses to them run as a horrible core to this book. The fact that even as their defeat was inevitable the Nazis kept killing and using trains that you'd think would be better used elsewhere to transfer people to their deaths. It is the story of cruel madness. The number of soldiers who were haunted by what they discovered - like Salinger - and their accounts are a blazing torch to wave in the faces of ignorant wannabe Nazis who would deny the Holocaust (and associated Nazi crimes.) The hardback is the perfect size and weight to use to smack these people around the head.
He also does a good series of pen portraits of the main senior officers, from the well-known to the less well-known. He gives credit to people who often don't get it too - Devers and the 6th Army in particular. He's also balanced about some of the more controversial figures, particularly Monty. Monty never helped himself because of his diva antics both during and after the war, but American historians tend to over do this and go on about his caution. Because - ooh look isn't Patton fun. But Patton was as much of a diva as Monty. But, as Caddick-Adams, points out Monty had a army of finite size and he couldn't afford to throw men away so why not use the Allies advantage in terms of equipment.
So, I really recommend this. I do think it is interesting though that what this book has done is make me angry about how little the Nazis seem to matter in the world now we're all in panic mode about the foreigns. I used to think it could never happen again but the rise of the extreme right...but this isn't the place for that.
A good read.
This is an excellent military history of the Western Allies invasion of Germany in 1945 and the destruction of the Third Reich. I sometimes find military history hurts my brain as I struggle to organise all the XII Corp from 3rd Army met the 134th Grenadiers in a sensible fashion but Caddick-Adams does an excellent job of balancing that necessary part of military history with stories of individuals and a solid narrative history.
But this isn't just a book about the brave men who did the fighting. It is also an account of the horrors of the Nazi regime and its slave and murder system of camps, factories, and farms. The roll call of camps as they are discovered and the soldiers responses to them run as a horrible core to this book. The fact that even as their defeat was inevitable the Nazis kept killing and using trains that you'd think would be better used elsewhere to transfer people to their deaths. It is the story of cruel madness. The number of soldiers who were haunted by what they discovered - like Salinger - and their accounts are a blazing torch to wave in the faces of ignorant wannabe Nazis who would deny the Holocaust (and associated Nazi crimes.) The hardback is the perfect size and weight to use to smack these people around the head.
He also does a good series of pen portraits of the main senior officers, from the well-known to the less well-known. He gives credit to people who often don't get it too - Devers and the 6th Army in particular. He's also balanced about some of the more controversial figures, particularly Monty. Monty never helped himself because of his diva antics both during and after the war, but American historians tend to over do this and go on about his caution. Because - ooh look isn't Patton fun. But Patton was as much of a diva as Monty. But, as Caddick-Adams, points out Monty had a army of finite size and he couldn't afford to throw men away so why not use the Allies advantage in terms of equipment.
So, I really recommend this. I do think it is interesting though that what this book has done is make me angry about how little the Nazis seem to matter in the world now we're all in panic mode about the foreigns. I used to think it could never happen again but the rise of the extreme right...but this isn't the place for that.
A good read.
November 17, 2025
Having consumed several accounts of late war Western European combat (which is to say, post Battle of the Bulge), I was always a tad disappointed in that they were framed as mostly an afterthought. A bit of hand waving, and the allies basically appear at the Elbe. With Fire and Steel, Caddick-Adams aims to beef up this narrative, more studiously getting into some of the later war operations, as well as covering the tragic and occasionally strange tales of this period.
Starting from the west bank of the Rhine, the author meticulously runs up and down the allied line, detailing operations as they occur. There are definitely some areas where the text can bog down, but the overall action is very readable. Sources from both sides are used liberally. I particularly found the accounts of the 6th army group, under Devers to the south, interesting given the rough terrain and international conflicts that rose between French and US planning. Montgomery's operations are also detailed, but perhaps there is again a sense of being "ushered through" some of the acts of the British and Canadians, at least in the very north.
While reading, I had mentally labeled the work as a solid account of the war. However, there are a few things that set apart Caddick-Adams's version, namely the author's own experience of physically leading tours of the battlefields he writes about, with lots of tidbits for readers. He also gently brings up past events when a character from earlier in the book is brought up, so even those without an almenac roster of commanders in their heads can feel smart enough to recall their trek through the war. There are also postwar expositions, lengthy enough to be interesting, but not becoming ensnared in cold war machinations.
Fire and Steel is thus not a completely flawless account, but certainly still brings a fresh look to the western front, even after all the Ambroses and Atkinsons have ran rampant with the stories. I'd definitely recommend this one to general readers of the war in Europe.
Starting from the west bank of the Rhine, the author meticulously runs up and down the allied line, detailing operations as they occur. There are definitely some areas where the text can bog down, but the overall action is very readable. Sources from both sides are used liberally. I particularly found the accounts of the 6th army group, under Devers to the south, interesting given the rough terrain and international conflicts that rose between French and US planning. Montgomery's operations are also detailed, but perhaps there is again a sense of being "ushered through" some of the acts of the British and Canadians, at least in the very north.
While reading, I had mentally labeled the work as a solid account of the war. However, there are a few things that set apart Caddick-Adams's version, namely the author's own experience of physically leading tours of the battlefields he writes about, with lots of tidbits for readers. He also gently brings up past events when a character from earlier in the book is brought up, so even those without an almenac roster of commanders in their heads can feel smart enough to recall their trek through the war. There are also postwar expositions, lengthy enough to be interesting, but not becoming ensnared in cold war machinations.
Fire and Steel is thus not a completely flawless account, but certainly still brings a fresh look to the western front, even after all the Ambroses and Atkinsons have ran rampant with the stories. I'd definitely recommend this one to general readers of the war in Europe.
August 23, 2025
Finished reading this 5 minutes ago and it was incredible. As someone who has read a LOT on the 2nd world war, the level of research and precise detail is almost another level. To the extent where he would visit events I thought I knew and understood and add new unknown details that changed my pre-understanding of them. The herding of so many events, characters and events into this is flawless. Notwithstanding this, the writing is engaging, fascinating and highly thought provoking. Definitely a must read. One of the most fascinating aspects is the impact of the death camps upon those who liberated them. The fact these people had already seen around 2 years of intense deep war were still so shocked and traumatised by what they then saw in the camps really shocked and surprised me. There is also a warm understated acknowledgment chapter at the end.
Am preparing to start a MA on the war shortly and this was great preparation…
Am preparing to start a MA on the war shortly and this was great preparation…
December 31, 2022
A very balanced book covering the final months of WWII in the ETO. Calls out errors by all sides of the Allies and praises good decisions by all participants. Caddick-Adams reads easily and I felt this volume is the best of the trilogy. Plenty of detail but not so overwhelming to make a need for notes, but if you choose to make some the Kindle makes notetaking effortless. Again the Kindle is not good at handling maps that have many details
April 20, 2023
A first class history of the final months of the war in the west, a widely ignored element of the second world war, which tend to focus of the three pivotal moments prior to 1945: D-Day, Operation Market Garden and the Ardennes offensive. In particular, the shock of western soldiers when they liberated concentration camps and slave-labour factories is something that is rarely talked about, nor there changed views on German soldiers, especially those in the SS, after.
May 27, 2023
Another excellent WW2/SWW history by Peter Caddick-Adams - this one covers the end of WW2 in Western Europe. This is a very good narrative history of the final 2 months of the Allied campaign in Western Europe, and Caddick-Adams interweaves individual stories to help provide some context to the situation, some of his own experience touring the battlefields, and interesting historical cameos from people such as J D Salinger.
September 7, 2024
A really tremendous account of the final 100 days of WW2 as the allied armies fight through Germany, after Operation Market Garden and The Battle of the Bulge.
The author’s exhaustive research has brought us a really fascinating perspective on these final days. Truly inspiring. I have included copious extracts from the book here to give you a flavour of it.
The author’s exhaustive research has brought us a really fascinating perspective on these final days. Truly inspiring. I have included copious extracts from the book here to give you a flavour of it.
November 5, 2024
A fairly solid look at the last 100 days of the Second World War in Western Europe. This book was focused mainly on the military history of that time. It was interesting, but I also found it dry at times and found it could drag at points. The author tells the stories of a lot of people (famous and non-famous) and it was hard to keep track of all of them at times.
August 24, 2025
A great overview from the Ardennes Offensive to the end of the war in the ETO.
Although detailed, don't expect detailed description of unit actions. This is a summary of the broad front approach in a broad manner, using some units as a means to tell the story.
Definitely one for those with a casual to keen interest of the Second World War.
Although detailed, don't expect detailed description of unit actions. This is a summary of the broad front approach in a broad manner, using some units as a means to tell the story.
Definitely one for those with a casual to keen interest of the Second World War.
June 7, 2026
PCA has really pushed the envelope with research for this book. Detailed, yet still riding the line well between what is still a people focused and enjoyable read.
Often making you recall when individuals with “we met So&so earlier when”. Genius.
Often making you recall when individuals with “we met So&so earlier when”. Genius.
July 22, 2022
Like all of his books, a magnificent door stop. Truly he has written a marvelous trilogy.
February 10, 2024
Another comprehensive account from the author. So good!
November 29, 2024
Very detailed account of the often neglected final few months of WW2 in the west
May 11, 2025
State-of-the-art military history at its finest, and a fitting end to a trilogy.
October 2, 2025
Comprehensive, readable, and interesting. Well done!
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