The Last Battle made news at the time it was published. The book revealed that the German capture of a top-secret Allied plan for dividing and occupying Germany (Operation Eclipse) 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". The Soviet Communist Party newspaper
Pravda accused Ryan of trying to smear the Red Army in his depiction of the Battle of Berlin. After Ryan's death, it was revealed that the author had written to the publisher of the works of
Stephen Ambrose, accusing Ambrose of plagiarism: in September 1970, Ryan addressed a letter to
Doubleday, alleging the use of two quotations from
The Last Battle in the Eisenhower biography
The Supreme Commander without proper attribution.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer planned a joint American-Soviet co-production film version to be released in 1968 but due to financial trouble experienced by the studio, the project was never produced. ==References==