Learn German with the Augsburg Saga – B2.5
Interlinear German–English Reader

The Crumbling Fortress

Learn German through a historically grounded story — with precise B2-level language and immediate English support when you need it.

The Crumbling Fortress is the fifth and final book of the B2 level in the Augsburg Saga.
It is written in controlled, carefully graded B2 German and presented in an interlinear German–English format, sentence by sentence.

Each German sentence is followed directly by its English translation.
The English is not word-for-word and not literary prose. It stays close to the German in meaning and structure and serves purely as a reading aid, allowing you to continue reading without constant dictionary use.

🕰️ The end approaches: Augsburg 1944–1945

This story takes place in Augsburg during the final phase of the Second World War, from early 1944 to the collapse of the German war effort in 1945.

The outcome of the war is no longer uncertain.
But everyday life continues.

Bombing raids intensify.
Materials disappear.
People vanish from streets, from workplaces, from records.

The Hartwig family lives through these months under conditions of exhaustion rather than shock. Work continues under air-raid warnings. Administration functions with reduced staff. Information arrives late, fragmented, and often without explanation. Decisions are no longer about progress, but about endurance and damage control.

At the center of the story is not combat, but procedure.
Files are opened and closed.
Responsibilities shift.
Connections become visible only when examined carefully.

History does not end with a dramatic break.
It erodes structures step by step — until what once seemed solid can no longer hold.

This is not a story of heroism or resistance.
It is a story about collapse as an administrative process — and about how ordinary people move within it.

📖 What this B2.5 reader includes

• One complete B2.5 story (self-contained)
• Interlinear German–English format (sentence by sentence)
• English historical and cultural introduction (Europe and the war, 1944–1945)
• Clear chapter structure
• Chapter summaries
• Questions and answers for comprehension
• Carefully controlled B2 vocabulary and syntax

👥 Who this book is for

• Learners completing the B2 level in German
• Readers interested in the final phase of the Second World War as lived experience
• Self-study learners ready for sustained, nuanced prose
• Teachers working with themes of collapse, responsibility, and moral distance
• Readers who value restraint, precision, and historical realism

📚 Part of a larger series

This book can be read independently.
It also concludes the B2 level of the Augsburg Saga, a long historical reading series that follows the same family from A1 through C1, across many centuries.

For extended reading and better value, Omnibus editions are available:

• German–English interlinear Omnibus
• German-only Omnibus

These combine all books of a level in one volume and are more affordable than purchasing the single books individually.

Continue with the Augsburg Saga — and complete the B2 journey before moving on to C1.

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