The Last Battle (nonfiction book)

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The Last Battle is a 1966 book by Cornelius Ryan about the events leading up to the Battle of Berlin in the Second World War.

The book, which was published by Simon & Schuster, is structured as a historical narrative. It is based on interviews with hundreds of persons actually involved, including Americans, British, Germans and Russians. Ryan was granted unique historical access to Soviet archives and Soviet generals involved in the battle, which was rare at the time.

The book was published simultaneously in England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland and Portugal, when it appeared in March 1966.

[edit] Controversy

The Last Battle made news at the time it was published. The book revealed that German capture of a top-secret Allied plan for dividing and occupying Germany helped stiffen German resistance and prolonged World War II.

Also receiving publicity were assertions of an American general quoted in the book, Gen. William H. Simpson, commander of the Ninth Army in World War II, that he is convinced his army "could have captured Berlin well ahead of the Russians if it had not been stopped on the Elbe on 15 April, 1945."

The Communist Party newspaper Pravda attacked Ryan for trying to smear the Russian Army in his depiction of the Battle of Berlin.

After his death, it was revealed that Ryan had written to the publisher of historian Stephen Ambrose, accusing him of plagiarizing from The Last Battle. In September 1970, Ryan wrote a letter to Ambrose's publisher, Doubleday, accusing Ambrose of taking two quotations from The Last Battle without attributing them to Ryan.

[edit] References

• "Book--Authors," The New York Times, Dec. 22, 1965 [1]
• "German Capture of Plan Extended War, Writer Says," The New york Times, Feb. 23, 1966 [2]
• "March on Berlin in 1945 Detailed," The New York Times, June 12, 1966 [3]
• "The Last Battle Enrages Pravda," The New York Times, July 11, 1966 [4]
• "Dueling D-Day Authors, Ryan Versus Ambrose," Forbes.com[5]