Wilhelm Tieke – författare

The Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Waffen-SS was a formation with a very unique history. Its members volunteered and were spirited out of Finland to Germany under watchful Russian eyes. Unlike other legions from various countries, the battalion did not fight until the end of the war. In fact, upon its return home, its soldiers were immediately drafted into the Finnish army and fought against the Soviets. When Finland sued for peace, former Finnish SS-men fought against German troops as they retreated from Finland. The Battalion joined the SS-Wiking Division in January 1942 and fought in southern Russia and the Caucasus until its mission ended in April 1943. With its soldiers badly needed on the home front, it was recalled due to intense pressure from the Finnish government. The battalion served with great sacrifice and proved itself worthy of being a part of one of Germany's elite divisions.

Between the Oder and the Elbe, the first of two volumes exploring the Battle for Berlin, examines the last months of the Third Reich and the defense of Berlin. It describes in detail the German attempts to stem the Soviet tide at the Oder River and the Russian drive on Germany’s capital and Hitler’s increasingly frantic and delusional efforts to halt the onslaught of the Red Army. Streams of German soldiers and civilians desperately tried to flee the city before it was surrounded. Their fate if captured by the Russians was too horrible to imagine.This account mixes the descriptions of the overall military situation with many personal accounts of small unit actions. The desperation, fear and resolve of the soldiers often turned to admirable feats of bravery as well as acts of cowardice and brutality. Hope for a last minute alliance with the Western Powers encouraged the Germans to defend to the limit of human endurance. Ultimately, the dashing of such an alliance and the possibility of capture by the Soviets drove many soldiers and civilians to suicide. The reader has the opportunity here to relive the last days of the Third Reich, as seen through the eyes of the German soldiers and the foreign volunteers who fought before and in Berlin. In one of the ironic incidents of the war, as German soldiers were trying to bypass Berlin to the north, a force of French Waffen-SS troops was trying to enter the city to defend it!

A masterfully researched, factual and expansive examination of the III SS Panzer Korps including its formation in 1943 and first battles on the Eastern Front in the Baltic in 1944\. Translated from the original German, this book represents the best English account of many of the SS formations that made up the III Corps, including the 11th SS-Freiwilligen-Panzergrenadier-Division Nordland and the 4th SS-Panzergrenadier-Brigade Nederland .

Blood in the Oder, is the second of two volumes exploring the Battle for Berlin and the last months of the Third Reich and the defense of Berlin. It describes in detail the German attempts to stem the Soviet tide at the Oder River and the Russian drive on Germany’s capital and Hitler’s increasingly frantic and delusional efforts to halt the onslaught of the Red Army. Streams of German soldiers and civilians desperately tried to flee the city before it was surrounded. Their fate if captured by the Russians was too horrible to imagine.This account mixes the descriptions of the overall military situation with many personal accounts of small unit actions. The desperation, fear and resolve of the soldiers often turned to admirable feats of bravery as well as acts of cowardice and brutality. Hope for a last minute alliance with the Western Powers encouraged the Germans to defend to the limit of human endurance. Ultimately, the dashing of such an alliance and the possibility of capture by the Soviets drove many soldiers and civilians to suicide. The reader has the opportunity here to relive the last days of the Third Reich, as seen through the eyes of the German soldiers and the foreign volunteers who fought before and in Berlin. In one of the ironic incidents of the war, as German soldiers were trying to bypass Berlin to the north, a force of French Waffen-SS troops was trying to enter the city to defend it.