Battleground Prussia: The Assault on Germany’s Eastern Front 1944-45

First things first, the hat must be cast at Prit Buttar's feet for the sheer amount of research that he must have done to write this book. I have no idea where he found all the information that he did, or the enduring motivation he had to put it all together into a book of this size. Truly, William L. Shirer would be proud. As for a critical analysis, what you get out of this book really depends on what you expect coming in. If you're looking for an overwhelmingly accurate narrative of first-person accounting and a more or less journalistic feel of history, this is the book for you. Like I said about William L. Shirer, this is like The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, but focused solely on the fall of Prussia and the final months of the Eastern Front. It contains a HUGE amount of first person accounts with narrative exposition bridged between. This gives the book about as much of an accurate historical narrative as you could ask for. So if that's your concern, or if you're a fan of William L. Shirer, you will find the book very much to your liking. On the other hand, it can be a bit of a tedious, if not dry listen. There are simply SO MANY first-person accounts that they all begin to run together. There's not really a single character with whom you stick around for the whole time. That, and you may start to grow numb at the SHEER AMOUNT of Wehrmacht units, whose actions and designations are meticulously detailed and described in this book. And it goes on and on and on. It's essentially the Wehrmacht's East Prussian records from September 1944 to the end of the war. Again, respect Prit Buttar's research. One other point, if you're looking for something more along lines of a clean historical analysis and conclusion, say, in the manner of revisionist history, you will not find that here. This is strictly an accounting narrative that focuses on what happened in East Prussia. This is journalism with a more miserly analysis. As for the narration of Nigel Patterson, it is top notch and very good. His German pronunciation is fantastic and his voice is always crisp and clear, and so is the audio. He is always able to spark a certain life into what would otherwise be dry and emotionless material if you were reading it by text. And speaking of reading it by text, unless you're really dedicated, you probably will never get through it all if you're trying it by that method. I would certainly recommend the audiobook version over the printed version, as it will at least be a little bit more entertaining.