Fall of Berlin, The 1945

by Beevor, Antony

• ISBN13: 9780670030415
• ISBN10: 0670030414
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-05-13
• Publisher: Viking Adult

Summary

Acclaimed for his vivid re-creations of some of the twentieth century's most significant battles, Antony Beevor is one of the best known and respected military historians writing today. He now offers readers a gripping, street-level portrait of the harrowing days of January 1945 in Berlin when the vengeful Red Army and beleaguered Nazi forces clashed for a final time. The result was the most gruesome display of brutality in the war, with tanks crushing refugee columns, mass rapes, pillage, and destruction. Hundreds of thousands of German civilians froze to death or were massacred because Nazi officials had forbidden their evacuation. Hitler, half crazed in his bunker, issued wild orders while Stalin was prepared to risk any number of his men to seize the city before the other Allies could get there. Making full use of newly disclosed material from former Soviet files as well as from German, American, British, French, and Swedish archives, Beevor has reconstructed the different experiences of those millions caught up in the death throes of the Third Reich. The Fall of Berlin 1945depicts not only the brutality and desperation of a city under siege but also rare moments of extreme humanity and heroism. This account also contains new revelations about the motives behind Stalin's hurried assault. Sure to appeal to all readers interested in military history and the Second World War, The Fall of Berlin 1945promises to be the definitive treatment of the subject for years to come.

Author Biography

Antony Beevor is the author of a number of books, including The Spanish Civil War, Inside the British Army, and Crete: The Battle and the Resistance. With his wife, Artemis Cooper, he wrote Paris After the Liberation, 1944-1949. His book Stalingrad was awarded the first Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, The Wolfson History Prize, and the Hawthornden Prize for Literature. A #1 bestseller in the U.K., Stalingrad has been published around the world in seventeen languages. Beevor is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Artes et des Lettres in France.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	vii
Maps	xi
Glossary	xxix
Preface	xxxiii
Berlin in the New Year	1	(10)
The 'House of Cards' on the Vistula	11	(13)
Fire and Sword and 'Noble Fury'	24	(15)
The Great Winter Offensive	39	(17)
The Charge to the Oder	56	(21)
East and West	77	(19)
Clearing the Rear Areas	96	(19)
Pomerania and the Oder Bridgeheads	115	(21)
Objective Berlin	136	(12)
The Kamarilla and the General Staff	148	(17)
Preparing the Coup de Grace	165	(8)
Waiting for the Onslaught	173	(17)
Americans on the Elbe	190	(16)
Eve of Battle	206	(10)
Zhukov on the Reitwein Spur	216	(18)
Seelow and the Spree	234	(15)
The Fuhrer's Last Birthday	249	(12)
The Flight of the Golden Pheasants	261	(19)
The Bombarded City	280	(11)
False Hopes	291	(19)
Fighting in the City	310	(18)
Fighting in the Forest	328	(11)
The Betrayal of the Will	339	(15)
Fuhrerdammerung	354	(16)
Reich Chancellery and Reichstag	370	(16)
The End of the Battle	386	(20)
Vae Victis!	406	(15)
The Man on the White Horse	421	(11)
References	432	(3)
Source Notes	435	(31)
Select Bibliography	466	(10)
Index	476