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SS Charlemagne is a gripping, fluently written study of one of the most revealing side stories in the Second World War.
In May 1945, as the triumphant Red Army crushed the last pockets of German resistance in central Berlin, French soldiers fought back. They were the last surviving members of SS Charlemagne the Waffen-SS division made up of French volunteers. They were among the final defenders of the city and of Hitler's bunker. Their extraordinary story gives a compelling insight into the dreadful climax of the Battle for Berlin and into the conflicts of loyalty faced by the French in the Second World War.
Though eventful, the life of the Charlemagne as a brigade division and finally battalion from August 1944 to May 1945 was brief. Using extended eyewitness testimony from surviving members of the division, SS Charlemagne reconstructs in graphic detail the part they played in the desperate combat in the devastated German capital. This gripping narrative gives the reader a close-up view of the appalling conditions in which they fought in this final confrontation of the European war and looks back at the division's history, its recruitment and training. This book also describes the confused political background and the anti-Bolshevik convictions that motivated some of these Frenchmen to join the Nazi cause, and the more dubious motives of others who were regarded as outcasts and renegades by the countrymen.
Tony Le Tissier has accumulated a vast knowledge of the campaign that led up to the fall of Berlin during many years working in several senior official positions in Berlin - including spells as a provost marshal and British governor of Spandau prison.
This book can be found at Pen and Sword Books http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/
