Abandoned Places of World War II

With outstanding color photographs, Abandoned Places of World War II is a brilliant pictorial examination of both the military and nonmilitary legacy of the conflict.

A rusting antiaircraft fort in the North Sea. A German submarine base in France. A flak tower in a Viennese park--more than 70 years after the end of World War II, its legacy can still be seen from Europe to Japan. Abandoned Places of World War II explores more than 100 bunkers, pillboxes, submarine bases, forts, and gun emplacements from the North Sea to Okinawa. Included are defensive structures, such as the Maginot Line on France’s eastern border with Germany, Germany’s own western and eastern border defenses, and the Atlantic Wall, the German-built bunkers and pillboxes on the coast from Denmark down to Brittany. The book also includes both Hitler’s and Himmler’s Eastern Front bunkers in Poland. But beyond the military installations, the book explores the ruins of concentration camps, the empty village of Oradour-Sur-Glane, Hitler’s mountain retreat at Berchtesgaden, and the dilapidated Nazi Party rally grounds in Nuremberg, among other nonmilitary places.

Michael Kerrigan was educated at St. Edward’s College and University College, Oxford, England. He is the author of The History of Death, The Roman Emperors: A Dark History, Ancients in Their Own Words, World War II Plans That Never Happened, and American Presidents: A Dark History. He is a columnist, book reviewer, and feature writer for publications including TheScotsman and the Times Literary Supplement. Michael Kerrigan lives with his family in Edinburgh.