Book Review: Violence in Defeat. The Wehrmacht on German Soil, 1944-1945 by Bastiaan Willems.

Bastiaan Willems' impressive new study examines the Wehrmacht's contribution to the suffering of civilians in Germany itself during the war's final months. Yet Wehrmacht forces in East Prussia in 1945, from senior command levels down to the rank and file, were dismissive of civilian needs and subordinated them to the dictates of "military necessity". Willems begins by examining East Prussia's broader experience under the Third Reich, emphasizing, among other things, the region's long tradition of animosity towards "the East". [Extracted from the article]