THEIRS THE STRIFE: The Forgotten Battles of British Second Army and Armeegruppe Blumentritt, April 1945

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The British VIII and XII Corps runs into a new German division made up of naval troops, a Waffen-SS battalion of Hitler Youth and some of the last available Tiger and Panther tanks on the North German Plain in early April 1945. Despite the Germans' inexperience, they are well-motivated troops and determined to acquit themselves to the best of their ability. The destruction of a Churchill tank on the outskirts of Minden on 6 April marked the opening of 11 days of fierce action. For all the combatants, the war is very far from over. Includes 97 black and white photos, 25 black and white figures, and 74 black and white maps.

Although parts of the book were previously published as No Triumphant Procession, this book reflects many years of additional research by the author and provides a significantly broader history. In particular it describes the detail of 6th Airborne and 11th Armoured Division's hard-fought battles for bridgeheads over the Weser, 11th Armoured Division's demanding advance to the Aller, the subsequent battle for the Essel bridgehead and the heavily contested advance to Winsen. The book includes air actions by the RAF and Luftwaffe, the impact of Ultra decrypts, and there are two contextual chapters recording the organization, equipment and state of the participating British and German forces. The Epilogue explores the British strengths and weaknesses and provides an in-depth analysis of why some German units offered stubborn resistance so close to the war's end.