Page 95 - History of War - Issue 10-14

REVIEWS

FIRE AND ICE: THE NAZIS’ SCORCHED

CAMPAIGN IN NORWAY

Author Vincent Hunt £20 Publisher The History Press
Just when it seems every story from the World particularly intriguing is the human
War II has been recounted one hundred times story that unfolds: Hunt interviews
over, a book like Fire And Ice arrives. From it many people along the way, uncovering
comes a series of gripping tales, set in a time tales of murdered relatives, prisoners
and place that is often overlooked in popular of war forced into cannibalism, and
WWII lore: the Nazis’ destructive retreat from communities torn apart.
Norway in 1944, during which Hitler ordered The Nazis’ efforts during their retreat
everything that might be used by the Soviets was devastating; the lasting effects
destroyed – the result was docks, bridges, have been equally so, passing down
entire towns torched and loaded with dynamite, generations and giving Hunt’s interviews
devastating vast areas of the country. “1944 a sense of brutal immediacy – as if
is year zero here,” says one of the book’s these events are still fresh, are yet to be
interviewees. “Everything was burned.” fully understood in this part of Europe,
The background and story is enough to make and have not yet been laid to rest.
this worth picking up; for anyone with anything Hunt’s book is a huge success.
more than a passing interest in military history, Dense with superlative research, it will
this is absolutely essential reading. The book’s reveal a whole new side of WWII for
major strength is its meticulous research. many readers – one that’s overdue in
That should come as no surprise: author being told in such detail.
Vincent Hunt is a well-regarded journalist and
fi lmmaker, and his efforts have paid off.
deep into the Nazi campaign against Norway “What’s particularly intriguing is
Fire And Ice is packed with detail, delving
and its people, and the forensic examination the human story that unfolds”
of it at the Nuremberg Trials. But what’s