The last hill The epic story of a ranger battalion and the battle that defined WWII

Frequent collaborators Drury and Clavin (Blood and Treasure) revisit the 1944 Battle of Hürtgen Forest in this exhaustive history. Before they get to the action, the authors detail the U.S. Army Rangers' origins in Gen. George Marshall's admiration for Lord Louis Mountbatten and his British commandos; conceived as "soldiers first, scout-saboteurs second," the 1st Ranger battalion was organized in 1942 and played a key role in forcing the Axis surrender in North Africa. Commanded by Lt. Col. James Earl Rudder, the 2nd Ranger battalion's mission in Hürtgen Forest was to take Hill 400 and the observation tower at its top, from which German spotters directed artillery barrages. In dramatic fashion, the authors recount how the Rangers charged up the icy hill with "no semblance of order" ("It was like scrabbling up a thirteen-hundred-foot child's playground slide while being shot at") and attacked the Germans "with knives, entrenching tools, steel helmets, bare fists." After achieving "the deepest penetration into German territory by any American or British unit across the vast Allied front," the Rangers defended the hill against a series of fierce counterattacks. Drury and Clavin pack the narrative with biographical details about the Rangers and skillfully toggle between battle scenes and big-picture analysis. WWII buffs will savor this deep dive. (Nov.)

Cofounder of the Centre for Army Leadership, British Army, at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Clark weaves together the lives and careers of three consequential Commanders in World War II: U.S. general George Patton, British field marshal Bernard Montgomery, and German field marshal Erwin Rommel. In The Lion House, Orwell Prize--winning historian/journalist de Bellaigue chronicles the rule of Suleyman the Magnificent, the powerful 16th-century sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from the perspectives of those closest to him, e.g., an enslaved Greek turned Grand Vizier and a Russian consort turned beloved wife (15,000-copy first printing). From No. 1 New York Times best-selling Drury and Clavin (e.g., Blood and Treasure), The Last Hill re-creates the efforts of "Rudder's Rangers"--an elite U.S. Army battalion--to take and hold Hill 400 in Germany (200,000-copy first printing). Joined by freelance investigative journalist Ashworth, popular historian Everitt (Cicero, The Rise of Rome) rethinks Nero, the magnet-for-trouble populist ruler who proved to be the last of the Caesars. In The Rebel and the Kingdom, Pulitzer Prize finalist Hope (Blood and Oil) tracks the activism of Adrian Hong, who abandoned his Yale studies in the early 2000s to help usher North Korean asylum seekers to safety and has become increasingly involved in efforts to track and oppose North Korea's government, culminating in an alleged raid on Madrid's North Korean Embassy in 2019. Author of the multi-best-booked, New York Times best-selling The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt, Wilkinson commemorates the 100th anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb by chronicling 100 key artifacts, including the silver-shiny Tutankhamun's Trumpet.

The bestselling authors return with another tale of an elite military unit's battles and ultimate triumph. Journalists Drury and Clavin have turned out a steady stream of well-received military histories, including Halsey's Typhoon, Valley Forge, Blood and Treasure, and Lucky 666, and their latest fits well with their previous titles. Having raced across France after the breakthrough in Normandy, U.S. troops were surprised at the sudden resistance when they crossed into Germany. Among their worst experiences was a nasty November-December 1944 battle in the Hürtgen Forest, a fortified wilderness on the frontier. Historians agree that American leaders mishandled it, sending in units that suffered terrible casualties for minimal gains. Drury and Clavin focus on the final, bloody attack of Castle Hill, toward the end of the campaign, which was ultimately taken by the 2nd Ranger Battalion. Special forces remain controversial among the military because they cost far more than regular troops but don't fight often and, formed by volunteers, deprive units of their best men. Still, civilians and popular writers find them irresistible. Clearly fascinated by the subject, the authors rewind the clock to deliver the Rangers' history since its 1942 approval by Gen. George Marshall, inspired by British Commandos. Ranger units distinguished themselves during the invasions of North Africa and Italy and then landed at Normandy in June 1944 before the main force to destroy an artillery emplacement that endangered Omaha Beach. Military buffs will enjoy the authors' account of the often bitter fighting that followed, described in minute, occasionally excessive detail; the authors vividly capture the miserable, freezing, wet conditions and the bloody small-unit actions that often failed. Drury and Clavin conclude that victory was costly, and the Hürtgen campaign was a mistake: "The American high command knew well…how much blood had been spilled in that woodland to accomplish so little." "Untold" and "epic" war stories remain a persistent genre, and this should satisfy its substantial readership. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.