Herman Wouk's War and Remembrance

In the so-called paradise ghetto of Theresienstadt, the Nazis prepare for a visit by neutral observers by cleaning up the village, distributing new clothes to the inhabitants and setting any number of happy scenes. The visit goes so well that the Nazis decide to make a film for which Aaron Jastrow must write script. Those plotting to overthrow Hitler make one last attempt on July 20, 1944 resulting in the execution of Count von Stauffenberg and the other plotters. Field Marshall Rommel is seriously hurt in a car accident but he too must pay the price for his participation in the plot. Still in the Pacific, Pug Henry prepares for the battle of Leyte Gulf while Byron becomes the commanding officer of his submarine. Nathalie and Aaron are transferred to Auschwitz.

Nathalie and Aaron spend four days traveling to Auschwitz; on arrival, one of them is sent directly to the gas chambers. In the Philippines Sea, Byron Henry, in command of a submarine, gets ready for his first action as Captain. Hitler plans for one, all out attack against the Allied Forces in the Ardennes forest. The battle is launched in mid-December but by January 1945, Allied air power has ensured the Nazis will not succeed. With the Red Army advancing from the East, Himmler orders that all traces of the death camps be eliminated. In Yalta, the Allied leaders meet for the last time to divide the recovered territories.

In April 1945, FDR dies and several days later Hitler, along with several of his cronies, commits suicide. Pug Henry and Pamela Tudsbury are finally married. President Harry Truman asks him to become his Naval aide, forcing him to delay his honeymoon. On May 8, 1945 the Germans surrender and the war comes to an end in Europe. Pug learns that Nathalie is hospitalized and Byron arranges a transfer to Europe. There he begins his search for Louis. The U.S. drop atomic bombs on Japan bringing World War II to an end.