"Endkampf if unique in its examination of the end of World War II from both the American and German military perspectives. Fritz documents the harsh fighting experienced by American GIs in Franconia and investigates the complex postwar relationships among GIs, Germans, and displaced persons. He focuses on average soldiers and civilians and how they faced the threat and reality of military violence and Nazi-inspired terrorist measures as they negotiated the often treacherous path from war to peace. Endkampf is a portrait of the collapse of Nazi society and how it affected those involved, whether they were soldiers or civilians, victors or vanquished, perpetrators or victims."--BOOK JACKET.