title: The Guns of Victory: A Soldier's Eye View, Belgium, Holland, and Germany, 1944-45
author: George Blackburn
description: It is exciting when the second volume of a great memoir continues and deepens the experiences of the first one. This is so with<i>The Guns of Victory</i>  now a companion to last years triumph, <i>The Guns of Normandy</i>.<br />Douglas Fisher, columnist<br /><br />Thisvolume, continuing Blackburns story from the clearing of the Channel ports through the Scheldt and Rhineland battles to V-E Day, is a stunning successor [to <i>The Guns of Normany</i>].This epic should be a part of every Canadians consciousness.<br />J.L. Granatstein, <i>Quill &amp; Quire</i><br /><br />an outstanding historical balance in which the human element of warfare is much more prominent than in purely operational accounts.<br />Lee A. Windsor, <i>Vanguard</i><br /><br />A riveting narrative worthy of a novelist.<br />David Evans, <i>Edmonton Journal</i><br /><br />The narrative is enthralling.The personal experience, quiet integrity and unstated courage of the author make his work so much more authentic and deeply felt than any academic historiancould hope to emulate.<br />Peter Buitenhuis, <i>Vancouver Sun</i><br /><br />Blackburns scope is immense, his writing fast-paced and gritty.This is a riveting good read.<br />Paul Jackson, <i>Calgary Sun</i><br /><br /><i>The Guns of Victory</i> is a bittersweet, exhilarating account of some of the darkest days in human history.Blackburn writes well, lacing his narrative with anecdotes and word pictures that are vivid, telling and lasting. This is history first-hand, perhaps the best kind there is.<br />John Melady, <i>Globe and Mail</i><br /><br /><i>The Guns of Victory</i> rings with utter authenticity.<br />S.F. Wise, <i>Ottawa Citizen</i><br /><br /><i>The Guns of Victory</i> shows how young Canadians liberated a people and captured their hearts forever.[It] and <i>The Guns of Normandy</i> are now part of our national heritage, a beacon for future generations of Canadians.<br />Tom Clark, National Editor, BBS-TV<br /><br />Blackburns work reads like a fine novel  gripping, tense  but its strength is in the stark realism. He was there.<br />H. Clifford Chadderton, Chairman, National Council of Veteran Associations<br /><br /><i>The Guns of Victory</i> adds immeasurably to the understanding of what went on at the ordinary front-line soldiers level.The book ranks with Robert Gravess First World War account in <i>Good-by to All That</i>.<br />David Green, <i>Regina Leader-Post</i><br /><br /><br /><i>From the Hardcover edition.</i>
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  ![Cover](images/red.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Red Inferno
  
  
    
  
  
  ### Robert Conroy
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Robert Conroy
  
  
  
  
  
  ## Red Inferno
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ## CHAPTER 1
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The hastily gathered flotilla of small motor launches plowed through the calm
  water of the Elbe River as their outboards churned toward the rapidly closing
  enemy-held ground ahead. The helmeted men inside the collection of small boats
  hunched down, as if willing themselves to be invisible and, thus, out of
  harm’s way.
  
  
  This was when soldiers were the most vulnerable, and the tightly packed men in
  each of the dozen assorted craft knew that a hit anywhere would impact on
  something soft, meaty, and human. In a perverse and illogical way, the
  American soldiers hoped they would be opposed only by rifles and machine guns.
  Anything, they thought, but the damn German 88 mm antitank guns that could
  instantly turn their frail craft into flaming coffins.
  
  
  But where were the Germans? The April morning was clea