The Last Campaign

New York, NY, U.S.A.: Walker & Company, 1985. Hard Cover. Fine/Fine. First Edition. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. ISBN:0802708676. Very Scarce book. The Last Campaign describes a a band of weary, famished German soldiers on retreat from the Russian front at the end of WWII. They are held together by the kind of intense camaraderie that veterans acknowledge is rarely found in civilian life. They have faced 6 years of battle and now they face the unfamiliar prospect of peace. The story hinges on the wry perspective of the man who tells the tale. Whether avoiding a Russian patrol is better than playing the blackmarket, or burglarizing a German tire depot to keep their stolen truck going, he and his unflappable mates can cope. Underneath the humorous facade, though, are the fears of hardened boys on the brink of manhood. They have been resig ned to war too long: now the sight of intact villages, the need not to kill troops from the occupying armies, the sanctity of human life in peacetime, the experience of waking without the threat of s u dden death - these are disturbing sensations that give The Last Campaign quiet power and a bite that is rare in novels of war..