It was high in the Bavarian Alps that Adolf Hitler worked on the second volume of Mein Kampf. Smitten with the area, he eventually bought a chalet in Obersalzberg. Hitler hosted Neville Chamberlain there, and many of the dictator's most audacious plans were hatched at the Berghof. Jim Ring's exhaustive work addresses much more than the destruction of the fortified mountain headquarters in April 1945. Using memoirs, he recounts tales of oppression and resistance in the Alps across Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Yugoslavia during the second World War. With so many places and individuals to keep track of, the narrative can get overwhelming. The focus on neutral Switzerland is most instructive. Among other things, it details how Switzerland became a hub for foreign intelligence services, some of which helped end the war.
