The Last Battle

“I love untold stories from World War II. . . . Brilliantly told, meticulously researched, and filled with larger-than-life heroes and villains.*

May, 1945. Hitler is dead, the Third Reich is little more than smoking rubble, and no GI wants to be the last man killed in action against the Nazis.

The Last Battle tells the nearly unbelievable story of the unlikeliest battle of the war, when a small group of American tankers, led by Captain Lee, joined forces with German soldiers to fight off fanatical SS troops seeking to capture Castle Itter and execute the stronghold's VIP prisoners. It is a tale of unlikely allies, startling bravery, jittery suspense, and desperate combat between implacable enemies.

“A tale as compelling as it is unlikely. The Last Battle demonstrates that truth can indeed be stranger than fiction, particularly in war. Well-researched and well-told.” —New York Times–bestselling author Rick Atkinson

“The Last Battle combines good history and good storytelling. Harding writes with the skill and grace of a novelist but also the authority of a historian who has done some rather remarkable research into a previously lost chapter from World War II's final days. I had trouble putting this book down, and I think you will, too.” —John C. McManus, author of The Americans at D-Day

*Patrick K. O'Donnell, bestselling author of Dog Company