The title of this book is, I feel, a tad misleading. As a good deal of it is more about SOE, British/Allied special forces, and French Resistance, operating behind the lines, than the infamous SS Das Reich!
Still, whatever it’s about, it’s a fascinating and well-written work on a very particular period and events, including the appalling massacre at Oradour Sur Glane, with which subject The World At War TV series so memorably commences.
One criticism I have, which has several interconnected strands, has to do with the class to which Max Hastings himself and a good number of the public school educated British ‘cast’ of his subject belong.
The self-love and self-regard of all elites is always rather unctuous and not a little odious. And when Hastings rhapsodises over numerous toffs, playing at war, esp’ when it’s real and costs theirs and others their lives, it’s hard not to wince a bit.
A secondary point arising from this is the possible overstatement of British/Allied efforts, and a concurrent downplaying of the French natives’ own efforts. But rather than going over all this here, I’d urge the interested reader to simply try Max’s book, and decide for themselves.
The ostensible story simply traces how Das Reich, pulled out of their role on the Ostfront, start out resting and refitting in Southwestern France, are then tasked with fighting insurgents, and finally head for Normandy, in the aftermath of D-Day. And how the aforementioned insurgents, with help from Allied agents, seeks to impede their northward journey.
Definitely worth reading.
I found it a fascinating and exciting, well-researched and written, and – despite Hastings slightly patrician establishment vibes – pretty well-balanced account of a very interesting episode in the Normandy (and beyond) campaign.
NB – This is a pretty old (as in years) review, which, for reasons unknown to me, never made it on to my AQOS* mini-military blog. So rather than leave it languishing, I’ve put it up here.
*A Question of Scale.