“A gripping, human-centred account of the WWII’s chaotic end” Review: Victory ’45

We Have Ways podcast co-hosts tell unflinching and human stories from the Second World War’s chaotic conclusion

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Author James Holland and Al Murray | Price £16.39 for Pre-order on Amazon | Released 24 April 2025

*Victory ’45* is available now for Pre-order on Amazon

Al Murray and James Holland’s first literary collaboration, marking the 80th anniversary of the Second World War’s conclusion, showcases the best of popular history. It is entertaining, readable and rigorous. The book features all eight surrenders, six in Europe and two in the Pacific.

Victory ‘45’s main strength is in populating its world with colourful characters, each buckling from the stress of six years of fighting. For the Allies, there was the eccentric Bernard Montgomery, the troubled Dwight Eisenhower and Soviet commanders floundering to avoid liquidation.

On the other side of the battlefield, Adolf Hitler gets closer to insanity with every page, while the cream of the Third Reich appears more mafiosi than military commanders. These men were locked in a bitter and personal struggle to save themselves from the coming Allied reckoning or a Nazi firing squad’s sights.

Holland and Murray’s book is not an exclusively ‘Great Man’ history. They also zoom in on the ordinary men and women on the battlefield who changed the course of history. In Berlin, Elena Kagan, a Red Army interpreter, was tasked with finding, identifying and protecting Hitler’s remains.

Months later, Flight Lieutenant Marcus McDilda was shot down two days after the Hiroshima bombing. Under torture, he claimed that the next targets were Tokyo and Kyoto. McDilda’s words contributed to Japanese fears of atomic annihilation and their decision to surrender.

Victory ‘45 is a gripping, human-centred account of the Second World War’s chaotic end. It is an impressive first collaboration from the We Have Ways podcast co-hosts. The book arrives at a historic moment, with the world in flames once more and searching for a path to peace.

Pick up History of War issue 145 to read our interview with James Holland an Al Murray

Since joining History of War magazine as Staff Writer in September 2023, Louis has written on battlefields across history and interviewed leading historians. On top of his magazine responsibilities, he regularly contributes to History of War’s social media output. Louis studied at the University of Exeter, where he became interested in military history while writing his dissertation on the Spanish Civil War.