Hitler's Engineers: Fritz Todt and Albert Speer - Master Builders of the Third Reich - Hardcover

Taylor, Blaine

3.73

26 ratings by Goodreads

9781932033687: Hitler's Engineers: Fritz Todt and Albert Speer - Master Builders of the Third Reich

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1932033688 ISBN 13: 9781932033687

Publisher: Casemate, 2010

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Explains the importance of engineering to the Third Reich s survival. Covers two often-overlooked, but incredibly significant Nazi figures. Copiously illustrated and carefully described, this is the first full treatment of two of the Third Reich's most important figures. While Nazi Germany s ascendancy owed much to military skill, the talent of its engineers allowed it to survive longer than would normally be expected. This unique work focusing on Dr. Fritz Todt and Albert Speer, based on many previously-unpublished photographs and artwork from captured Nazi records, describes how this was possible. Dr. Todt was the builder of the world's first superhighway system (the Autobahn), as well as the architect of the German West Wall (Siegfried Line). The builder of each of the wartime 'Fuhrer Headquarters', as well as the submarine pens, Dr. Todt was killed in a mysterious aeroplane crash that may have been a Nazi death plot, though Hitler gave him a state funeral. Todt was succeeded by the Fuhrer's long-time personal architect, Albert Speer, who was credited by the Allies after the war as having prolonged the conflict by at least a year. Called a genius by Hitler himself, Speer designed and built the pre-war Nuremberg Nazi Party Congress rally stands and buildings, many of which can still be visited. Together, Todt and Speer were the pillars that supported the Third Reich. This is the first work that examines their unique role in history s most terrible war.

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Review:

...a heavily illustrated popular work engagingly balancing biography, major Nazi engineering, architectural and industrial projects, a profile of Hitler s leadership regarding such projects, and the complexities and rivalries of the Nazi hierarchy closest to Hitler... --Midwest Book Review, November 2010

This book represents a major reassessment of Speer, who was continually reinventing himself, postwar as the charming matyr, playing down his complicity in the holcaust. --Windscreen, May 2011

...an intriguing account of two of Nazi Germany s top architects --WWII History, March 2011

....this is another slant on hitler s Third Reich for anyone who likes to read about it s other side and the men that organised it and kept it moving, whatever the cost in human beings and materials. --Military Modelling, December 2010

Copiously illustrated and carefully described, this is the first full treatment of two of the Third Reich s most important figures. --Classic Military Vehicle, January 2011

For the author, there is no question about Speer s implication in the Holocaust, I ve come to the inescapable conclusion, he knew. --The Armourer Militaria Magazine, January 2011

Copiously illustrated and carefully described, this is the first full treatment of two of the Third Reich s most important figures. --Classic Military Vehicle, January 2011

From the Publisher:

Blaine Taylor is the author of 10 previously published illustrated works on the history of the Axis Pact powers during the Second World War. A former press secretary for the Congress of the United States on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, Taylor served under enemy Communist Viet Cong fire in America’s Vietnam War during 1966-67 as a Military Policeman of the elite US Army 199th Light Infantry Brigade, being awarded 12 medals, awards, and decorations, including the coveted Combat Infantryman’s Badge. A career professional newspaperman and magazine editor/writer, Mr. Taylor has been awarded six prizes for writing and editing worldwide. He resides in Towson, MD, USA.

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