Product Description

The Red Army's invasion of Berlin in January 1945 was one of the most terrifying examples of fire and sword in history. Frenzied by terrible memories of Wehrmacht and SS brutality, the Russians wreaked havoc, leaving hundreds of thousands of civilians dead and millions more fleeing westward. Drawing upon newly available material from former Soviet files, as well as from German, American, British, French, and Swedish archives, bestselling author Antony Beevor vividly recounts the experiences of the millions of civilians and soldiers caught up in the nightmare of the Third Reich's final collapse. The Fall of Berlin 1945 is a heartrending story of pride, stupidity, fanaticism, revenge, and savagery, yet it is also one of astonishing human endurance, self-sacrifice, and survival against all odds.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #60266 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-29
• Released on: 2003-04-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Amazon.com Review
By December 1944, many of the 3 million citizens of Berlin had stopped giving the Nazi salute, and jokes circulated that the most practical Christmas gift of the season was a coffin. And for good reason, military historian Antony Beevor writes in this richly detailed reconstruction of events in the final days of Adolf Hitler's Berlin. Following savage years of campaigns in Russia, the Nazi regime had not only failed to crush Bolshevism, it had brought the Soviet army to the very gates of the capital. That army, ill-fed and hungry for vengeance, unloosed its fury on Berlin just a month later in a long siege that would cost hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides. But as Beevor recounts, the siege was also marked by remarkable acts of courage and even compassion. Drawing on unexplored Soviet and German archives and dozens of eyewitness accounts, Beevor brings us a harrowing portrait of the battle and its terrible aftermath, which would color world history for years to follow. --Gregory McNamee

From Publishers Weekly
Covering the months from January to May in 1945, as Soviet and other Allied troops advanced to Berlin, freelance British historian Beevor (Stalingrad) opts for direct narrative with overheard quotes from the main players, making the reader an eavesdropper to Hitler and Stalin's obiter dicta. Brisk and judgmental, the narrative is studded with short sentences and summary judgments: about Nazi minister Hermann Goring, we are told that his "vanity was as ludicrous as his irresponsibility" and he looked more like " `a cheerful market woman' than a Marshal of the Reich." During the rubble-strewn city's Christmas of 1944, "the quip of that festive season was: `be practical: give a coffin.' " The book is based on material from former Soviet files as well as from German, American, British, French and Swedish archives, but the somewhat limited bibliography is disappointing, and many of the usual sources are quoted, such as Hitler's personal secretary, who took dictation in the bunker to the end. Her expectation that Hitler would suddenly produce "a profound explanation" of the war's "great purpose" says as much about German self-delusion of the time as about Hitler, but here and elsewhere, Beevor simply quotes her flatly and fails to connect the dots. However, given the scope of this book the 1945 advance on Berlin is thought to be the largest battle in history, with two and a half million Soviet troops attacking one million Germans the summary approach is inevitable.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
By 1945 much of Berlin had been reduced to rubble by British and American air raids. Three million Berliners lived in fear as the Russian Army approached the city. The Russians entered Berlin in late April. Beevor describes how SS execution squads and Hitler Youth broke into wherever white flags had appeared and shot any men they found, and how, on April 30, Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide. The author gives a detailed account of Russian troop movements through the German countryside, looting and pillaging as they approached Berlin. He chronicles the political maneuvering between Russia and its Western Allies. (He insists that Eisenhower's decision to stop advancing at the Elbe River was almost certainly the right one but for all the wrong reasons.) Beevor also reveals Stalin's motives for his swift assault on the city. He relies on material from American, German, British, French, and Swedish archives and documents from former Soviet files, making the book an invaluable and meticulous account. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

brutal end to a brutal war
This is a story of epic violence, the final act of staggering and extended violence of the Second World War in Europe, the campaign for, envelopment and destruction of Berlin and a good share of its population, by the Red Army. Beevor's book is riveting, well written, engrossing, and emotionally compelling.

Beevor covers the campaign from every perspective, from the planning by Stalin and STAVKA, the competition between Zhukov and Konev, through the campaign itself to the doorsteps of the Reich Chancellery, the capture of Berlin and its subsequent occupation. The military aspects of the campaign are well presented (more and better maps would have helped); the personal competitions and rivalries given good treatment; the desperation and hopelessness of the German soldier's predicament fully explored; and the Nazi leadership's impotence to accomplish anything other than further murder of their own population and nation in full relief. It is the end of the world.

Perspectives below the strategic and presented fully as well. The stoic bravery of the Russian soldier, mixed with craven drunkenness and thievery; the plight of millions of civilians; the ongoing mass murder of the concentration camps; the delusion of the Nazis - it's all here in personal interviews, exerpts from memoirs, newspaper articles, etc. The surreal nature of the end of the war, with movies playing in Berlin theaters until the very last days, while hundreds of thousands die in the space of a few weeks.

And, throughout, there are the rapes and murders, rapes and murders, rapes and murders. For all the crimes committed by the Nazis in Russia (and elsewhere), the Russian soldiers wasted no time in paying German civilians back. The scale and viciousness of the crimes committed by Russians, whatever the justifications or reasons, was staggering, and continued well after the formal end of hostilities. Initially apparently officially condoned (at times encouraged), the gangraping, casual murder, drunken rampaging and looting continued for months and months, from the first foot of Germany until well after war's end became so disgusting, out of control, and embarrassing, even to Soviet leadership one would think beyond shaming by any type of mass crime by this point, that generals were eventually forced to at least try a little bit to rein their men in. Much of the criticism of this book by other reviewers centers on objections to the author's ongoing discussion of the wanton raping and butchering and looting of civilians, apparently thinking that by showing that the average Russian peasant soldier could be every bit as brutal as the average German Sonderkommando man it takes away from the Russian victory, or somehow brings them down to the level of the Nazis morally. But the truth is these things happened, and to wish them away is simply delusion, the whitewashing of history.

The book is well referenced, the research was deep and thorough, the bibliography and index are excellent, the writing taut and compelling. There are even a number of b&w photos, highly evocative in that they cover not only soldiers and military topics, as well as the average civilian, the aftermath of the struggle.

The destruction of Hitler's evil Nazi regime was absolutely required and at this point of the war, inevitable. The book gives us the violent story of the very violent end to a war of unparalleled violence.

A well written history book
This is a very good book focused on the Soviet offensive into Germany and ultimately to Berlin starting from Jan 1945. You'll find detailed descriptions of the offensive, how the soldiers faught and how the local population suffered. The author does a good job on describing the war scenes, so that you can actually see a " movie" in your mind. The author also incuded detailed maps and also quotations from veteran's memories.

A bit long read but still interesting
I found this book an average read. It took almost 200 hundred pages to actually get to the battle for Berlin.

I also found that the constant minute description of atrocities committed by the Soviets as they advanced made for laboured reading.

All in all I think that there are better and more succinct reads on the fall of Berlin out there.