In Europe, the "Second World War" by the British military historian Max Hastings is the most famous and authoritative one-volume book about this war. In a fast-paced, immersive narrative, Hastings masterfully combines the scale of vision with the expressiveness of detail. The giant canvas clearly and clearly distinguishes the details of the battles and economies of the warring countries, the logistics of supplying armies, political portraits and sketches at the French General Staff, at the White House, at the Ministry of Colonial Affairs or at Stalin's headquarters. The original pearls of the book are personal documents, letters, diaries, memoirs of various people - from ordinary soldiers to famous writers such as Vasily Grossman, Ilya Ehrenburg. In the combination of the memory of people and documents, a terrible and convincing story of the most monstrous war in human history appears before us.