The Last Battle is a 1966 book by Cornelius Ryan about the events leading up to the Battle of Berlin in World War II. The book, which was published by Simon & Schuster, is structured as a historical narrative. It is based on interviews with hundreds of persons actually involved, including Americans, British, Germans and Russians. Ryan was granted unique historical access to Soviet archives and Soviet generals involved in the battle, which was rare at the time. The book was published simultaneously in England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland... and Portugal, when it appeared in March 1966. The Last Battle made news at the time it was published. The book revealed that German capture of a top-secret Allied plan for dividing and occupying Germany helped stiffen German resistance and prolonged World War II. Also receiving publicity were assertions of an American general quoted in the book, General William Hood Simpson, commander of the Ninth United States Army in World War II, that he is convinced his Army "could have captured Berlin well ahead of the Russians if it had not been stopped on the Elbe River on 15 April, 1945".
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