Beevor doesnt disappoint, an unflinching look at the fall of Nazi Germany, the struggles of the soldiers, civilians, and politicians.

Beevor's account of the final collapse of Nazi Germany is not great historical writing. The narrative reads as a catalogue of events without the binding literary thread necessary to weave a compelling historical tale. There is little development of the historical figures -- their stories are not fleshed out. You end the book knowing not much more about Zhukov, Guderian, Chiukov or Weidling than when you started. The Fall of Berlin 1945 is weak alongside John Toland's The Last 100 Days despite greater access to German and former Soviet archival material.

I was uncomfortably unsympathetic to the thousands of German women so savagely molested by the undisciplined Red Army. While the German women were certainly innocent victims, I couldn't help but think of the pain wrought by their fathers, brothers, husbands and sons throughout the Soviet Union and elsewhere. German womanhood reaped what their menfolk had sown. That's not a very charitable point of view, but it's mine nevertheless. The exposure of the scale of wanton pillage perpetrated by the Red Army is probably the most valuable contribution of Beevor's book. It's a story that needs telling and should be explored further.

-Dentro de la objetividad, se agradecen ciertos posicionamientos frente a cierta clase de hechos-.

Género. Historia.

Lo que nos cuenta. Relato de los acontecimientos de la Segunda Guerra Mundial en Europa desde el fin de 1944 hasta su desenlace, pero principalmente centrado en la toma de Berlín, con algunos detalles posteriores pertinentes para la narración.

¿Quiere saber más del libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...

Anthony Beevor, interviewing a German woman who survived the battle of Berlin: Why didn't the Germans resist the Allied occupation after 1945?
German frau: Because we are not Russians! Russians are natural-born partisans. Germans are not.

(3.5 stars rounded up to 4) William T. Sherman knew what he was talking about in his famous quote on war, and nevermore so than on the Eastern Front in WWII. By 1945 the years of war had bred an intense hatred between two ideologies, which could only end in the destruction of one. In Antony Beevor's book about the final days of the Third Reich, the author gives a somewhat drawn out background to the success as well the final failure of Germany. Hitler's mistakes are well known in the years leading to the final confrontation in Berlin. Practically, the first half of the book deals with the grim question of whether the Allies will 'steal' Stalin's prize from him.

As we all know, political considerations have their consequences so we are left with the ruthless and often sickening confrontation of three Russian fronts with the remaining German troops trying to protect Berlin, and obstensibly carrying out a madman's desire to go down in flames in the midst of his country's rubble.

In the second half the book picks up with the fighting in the great city. The guilty, and particularly many innocent women faced the horror of the onslaught. Other reviewers have discussed this issue, and there probably is no answer except the innocent have always suffered along with the guilty. Of course, that also leaves the question of what part the civilians played in the continued atrocities of the Third Reich. Beevor does not go into that, but the question is still there of shared guilt. Were they paying the price of blind obedience?

The book ends with a brief look at the post-war lives of some of the prominent combatants, Zhukov most notably. He fought one madman, only to serve another. That he survived both is to his credit. Others were not so fortunate.

"The Fall of Berlin 1945" which could have also been called, "How the Soviets Tricked, Raped, and Strong-Armed their Way into Central Europe," kind of rocked me. I can certainly see why the Soviet Union's inheritor state, Russia, was displeased when it was published. It does not paint a pretty picture of the Soviet Union.

However, it never once came across to me as an agenda-driven book where Beevor is trying his best to revise history to paint the Soviets as monsters. In fact, very often he highlights admirable Soviet achievements, although admittedly they usually contrast poorly against all of the atrocities Stalin and hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers committed.

I feel like Beevor wrote, or attempted to write, a balanced book about something most historians - or people, anyway - tend to ignore when discussing World War II history: the systematic rape of women in Central Europe during the Soviet invasion. It is something that surely marked German society's psyche and most likely still does in some form today.

Beevor brings up several pertinent points to the reader without obviously making a judgement or opinion himself, namely: Does a Nazi have rights? And if so, how many and to what extent? The Soviets felt justified in exacting revenge on Berlin for what the Nazis did to Stalingrad, but how does it fit into one individual hausfrau's rights if she had no power over her circumstances or her husband's joining the Wehrmacht? I thought it a fascinating philosophical topic.

Additionally, it seems as if the majority of Nazis, even those capable of making executive decisions throughout the war, felt as if they were innocent of any wrongdoing, even when they were directly involved in matters to do with the Holocaust or other war crimes. Does a Nazi who utterly and completely believes that he is guiltless deserve revenge? Does he have rights? If not, why not? If so, why?

Where is the line?

Anyway, thanks Beevor. This was pretty good.

За читателите, изкушени от историята, името на Антъни Бийвър съвсем не е непознато въпреки доскорошната му липса из българските книжарници. Един от най-ерудираните британски историци, чийто бестселър „Сталинград“ се появи и у нас миналата есен с логото на изд. „Изток-Запад“ близо 20 години след излизането си, отново е тук с друго знаково заглавие. „Падането на Берлин 1945“ е епичен поглед върху заключителните (кървави) сцени от колапса на Третия райх, империята, която (по думите на създателя си) би трябвало да просъществува „хиляда години“.

Цялото ревю тук: https://bibliotekata.wordpress.com/20...

I am going to have to make some space for this one on my favorite’s shelf. This is my second Antony Beevor book and I have to say I’m a Beelevor!!!! This was every bit as entertaining as the Beev’s Stalingrad. One more book like this and I will be ready to proclaim Antoney Beevor the Hornfischer of the land war in Europe!!! More appropriately, Beevor is to WWII history what Justin Bieber is to pop music. In fact, I’m sure if Antoney Beevor came to my town for a book signing, he would be mobbed by dozens of geriatric men. None of us would be throwing him our underwear but instead we would be throwing out our opinions of what caused the Third Reich to lose the battle of Stalingrad and what should have been done at Kursk, etc.

This is a book about the last major battle in the European theater of WWII. It is about evil verses evil. It is about a Germany, bled white, fighting on long after the outcome has been decided. It is about the Red Army hoards fighting, looting, and raping their way through East Germany and Berlin. It is about rag tag units of Wehrmacht invalids, Volkssturm (local militia), Hitler Youth, and remnants of SS units (half of whom are foreign Nationals) making a last ditch effort to save the Reich by taking on T-34s with little more than Panzerfausts.

Beever’s account is so readable. From start to finish, you can barely put it down. The front line units of both armies were in a quandary. To the front stood the enemy and certain death. To the German rear stood the SS and feldgenderarmarie and a hangman’s noose. To the Russian rear stood the NKVD rifle regiments and a firing squad. There was no way out. Win or die. Lose and die or get sent to the gulag and die. Win and get sent to the gulag anyway and die. Meanwhile, civilians are stuck in the gears of both the allies’ military might and the Wehrmacht. Nazi officials forbade the evacuation of civilians from cities that were under attack. This was akin to a death sentence. German civilians were subjected to aerial bombardment, massive artillery barrages, tanks, sub machine gun bursts and finally the mass raping and looting by the Red Army.

What happens? The Russians win of course but unlike American sports where the winner gets the spoils many of the victorious Russian soldier are rewarded with the gulag. Repatriated Russian POWs that are not summarily executed are sent to the gulag – some of them even after picking up a rifle and taking part in the battle for Berlin! Marshall Zhukov is disgraced by Beria and Stalin after the war because his new status as conqueror made him a threat to Stalin. Zhukov’s story was particularly interesting. Trumped up charges are brought against Zhukov after the war about being awarded two shotguns that Beria turned into 20 shotguns etc. Even so, Zhukov thought the greatest injustice perpetrated upon him was by Stalin who did not share the knowledge that SMERSH had already recovered Hitler’s burnt corpse. Stalin used to visit Zhukov and quiz him...no, tease him... as to what happened to Hitler’s corpse.

This book drove me crazy. German resistance was pointless and yet they fought on anyway. Why? For some it was because they were ordered to do so but for most others it was the fear of retribution from the Soviets. The SS, for example could not surrender because the Russians were going to kill them. The furors orders often defied all laws of military science. With the empire crashing down around him, Hitler is still acting as his own Chief of Staff, issuing insane order after insane order. For example, he orders a Wehrmacht General to the Hitler bunker so that he can charge him with cowardice but instead of executing him as intended, by the end of the meeting he puts him in charge of the defense of Berlin. He put Himmler – a SS murderer - in charge of the Army of the Volga and he had never commanded anything as large as a fire team in combat! Himmler was probably the only guy with less of a clue than Hitler as what to do. (Can’t everyone see that Hitler has lost it? Would someone please put two shots to the back of the head and be done with it!!!!)

The Red Army political officers inspired their men to take revenge against Germany. It is true, you reap what you sow and the Germans had ravaged Eastern Europe. Now it was their turn. According to Beevor, East Prussia was severely punished as a result. But finally, at the eleventh hour, the Soviets discovered that this policy of retribution was causing a defeated enemy to fight on to the last. They had to change this policy or the German’s would continue to fight just so they could surrender to the Western Allies. Secretly, the Soviets needed to get into the Kaiser Wilhelm institute to collect materials for the atomic bomb! This institute was located in what was agreed upon to be the Western sector. So the Red Army changed their policy. They fed the people of war torn Berlin. Red Army General Berzarin actually mixed with the people at the soup kitchens and talked with them. The German people liked him. He died in a mysterious motorcycle accident shortly after the war. Was this another Stalin purge?

Beevor also takes on a few taboo topics in this book. He examines the mass rape by the red Army and contends that is was not just a crime of violence. It may have been so in East Prussia but not always. There was some grey area because it was also one of sexual relief. The Red Army raped everything in its destructive path and didn’t even spare the Jewish women they liberated from the concentration camps. In fact, they raped the Russian women that were taken back to Germany against their will and were forced into slave labor. One Russian woman slave laborer said we used to dream of being rescued by the Red Army. When the day of liberation came we were raped. Why? Repatriated Russians were asked “why did you not become a partisan?” In other words, you were a traitor for surviving so we will rape you.

Beevor is also critical of the Wehrmacht. After the war German high command admits to making mistakes but no one would take responsibility for the atrocities. Instead, many senior members of the Wehrmacht made themselves out to be victims. I found this to be a very interesting discussion.

In 1933 Hitler said “give me 10 years and you will not recognize Germany.” By 1945, senior members of the Wehrmacht had to agree, he kept his promise. Berlin was a bombed out wasteland and no longer recognizable even to its own inhabitants. Read Beevor’s take on the battle of Berlin to understand the horrors of total war.

For 2019, I plan to read other Beevor books. D-Day and the Second World War have already been downloaded to my kindle.

Interesanta si foarte complexa pentru istorici si specialisti din domeniul militar.
Stufoasa, tehnica si coplesitoare pentru cititori obisnuiti, neavizati (ca mine).

astounding to imagine the brutality that took place during the year or so this book covers. an excellent book of history that reads like a nightmare...

The book recounts the last mounts of the WWII and details the Red Army’s advance, the Battle of Berlin and the ultimate defeat of the Third Reich.
The book also focuses on the atrocities committed by the Red Army against German civilians, which was very painful to read.

Treba shvatiti razmere istočnog fronta. Pred ofanzivu na Berlin, u bici za Zelovske visove, Sovjeti su imali 30.000, a nemačka strana 12.000 mrtvih. Tokom bitke u Normandiji, saveznici 4.000 žrtava, a sile osovine između 5 i 9 hiljada žrtava. Koliko nas je čulo za Zelovske visove?

Bivor i ovde kombinuje ozbiljnu istoriju sa anekdotama i ispovestima običnih vojnika i civila. Detaljno je prepričana svađa Hitlera i Guderijana (pre nego što je genijalni general otpušten 8.3.), strašni poslednji trenuci porodice Gebels pre nego što su Magda i Jozef otrovali svojih šestoro dece, jako je zanimljiva priča o pregovorima za predaju tvrđave Špandau krajem aprila, a tu je i priča o tome kako su članovi Hitler-jugend sa korpama kapsula cijanida stajali na izlazu iz berlinske Filharmonije, po završetku poslednjeg koncerta u Trećem Rajhu.

Iako se nisu baš predali na zapadu, strah od "azijskih boljševističko-jevrejskih bandi" je doveo do toga da su Nemci radili na tome da Berlin nekako padne u ruke zapadnim saveznicima. Dok su Rusi ginuli na Zelovskim visovima, saveznički tenkovi su napredovali auto putem. Naravno, bilo je jasno da je rat izgubljen, ali se u Berlinu govorilo da "optimisti uče engleski, a pesimisti ruski".

Ipak, Berlin je za stepenicu ispod preostale 4 Bivorove knjige koje sam pročitao (Drugi svetski rat - I tom je verovatno najbolja istorija 2. svetskog rata u jednom delu, a odlične su i The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 i Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege, 1942–1943). Najveći deo bavi se kritikama sovjetskih trupa. Ne sumnjam da je ponašanje sovjetskih vojnika često bilo osvetoljubivo, da su pljačke i silovanja retko sprečavana, ali nije baš smeo da mi nakon čitanja ostane osećaj da je Crvena armija bila loša strana u ratu. Paušalno i bez dokaza često se ponavlja tvrdnja o 2 miliona silovanja, kao da svaki takav pojedinačni događaj nije dovoljno strašan sam po sebi.

Ideja za dalje čitanje: Jedna žena u Berlinu.