This is the story of the last eight months of World War II in Europe. In September 1944, the Allies expected that the war would be over by Christmas. But the disastrous Allied landing in Holland, American setbacks on the German border, together with the bitter Battle of the Bulge, drastically altered that timetable. Hastings tells the story of both the Eastern and Western Fronts, and paints a portrait of the Red Army's onslaught on Hitler's empire. He raises provocative questions: Were the Western Allied cause and campaign compromised by a desire to get the Soviets to do most of the fighting? Why were the Russians and Germans more effective soldiers than the Americans and British? Why did the bombing of Germany's cities continue until the last weeks of the war, when it could no longer influence the outcome? --From publisher description.

Time of hope --The bridges to Arnhem -- The frontiers of Germany -- The Russians at the Vistula -- Winter quarters -- Germany besieged -- Hell in the Hürtgen -- The Bulge : an American epic -- Stalin's offensive -- Blood and ice : East Prussia -- Firestorms : war in the sky -- Marching on the Rhine -- Prisoners of the Reich -- Collapse in the west -- "The Earth Will Shake as We Leave the Scene" -- The bitter end.