Escape from Berlin: The Incredible Journey of the Latvian 15th SS Janums Battle Group, April 1945 [Hardcover]

Tells the extraordinary escape of the Latvian 15th SS Division from certain death in 1945, as captured in First Lieutenant Edv+ns Buamanis diary.An hour after midnight, on 27 April 1945, 850 men of the Latvian 15th SS Division surrendered to American troops at G?tergl?ck. They reached the River Elbe south of Berlin a week after abandoning their positions south-east of the city. To defend Hitlers capital meant almost certain death: to desert was deadly dangerous, and to survive they needed to dodge German patrols and Red Army tanks. The river meant survival.Remarkable film of the Latvians that day was discovered during the writing of this book. The still images reproduced here show the relief etched on their faces. Now for the first time in English, their exhilarating story can be told through the diary of the regiments adjutant, First Lieutenant Edv+ns Buamanis. The Buamanis diary is a tense, gripping and wonderfully eloquent account revealing the drama and detail of their incredible escape  and their will to survive.Eighty years later, the author follows their journey to the banks of the river through the fields of sunflowers and tiny countryside villages of Brandenburg. His new research in a modern landscape brings to life this virtually unknown story of daring, determination and a desire for life.Abandoning positions south-east of Berlin as the Red Army approaches in 1945, a courageous Latvian Colonel leads the 900 men of his battle group on a dramatic escape through swamps and forests to surrender to the Americans.Gripping eyewitness accounts of the escape from senior officers and men involved, never before in EnglishAn almost hour-by-hour account of the Latvians journey through swamps and forests to surrender to the Americans on the Elbe, with extensive mapsRare photographs drawn from Latvian and German archives and stills from US Army newsreel footageGB