Η 9η Μαΐου εορταζεται ως η ημέρα της νίκης των Συμμαχων στον ΒΠΠ κατά της Ναζιστικης ΓΕΡΜΑΝΙΑΣ (η γνωστή VDay, ✌✌✌ victory in Europe, μετα την DDay της απόφασης στην Νορμανδία)
Στην κατωτέρω επιχρωματισμενη φωτογραφία απεικονιζονται μπροστά στην πύλη του Βραδεμβουργου στο Βερολίνο - και μετέπειτα σύνορο Ανατολικού, Δυτικού Βερολίνου - τρεις πρωταγωνιστές στρατηγοί του πολέμου. Εκ δεξιών προς τ' αριστερά, ο πρώτος είναι ο στρατηγός των Σοβιετικων (μέτωπο Λευκορωσίας) Κονσταντιν Ροκοσοφσκι, τρίτος από δεξιά, ο αρχιστρατηγος των Σοβιετικων Γκεοργκι Ζουκοφ και με την πλάτη γυρισμένη μπροστά (με το μπερε) ο αρχιστρατηγος των Βρετανών Μπερναρντ Λο Μοντγκομερι.
Για την ιστορία· λίγο καιρό μετά έγινε η μεγάλη παρέλαση στη Μόσχα, όπου το προσταγμα είχε ο Ροκοσοφσκι και ο Ζουκοφ ετεθη επικεφαλής - πάνω σε ένα άσπρο άλογο. Στον αρχικό σχεδιασμό επικεφαλής σχεδίαζε να προπορευθει ο Στάλιν, αλλά στις δοκιμές το άλογο τον έριξε κάτω· προτίμησε λοιπόν να δει την παρέλαση από την ταράτσα του Κρεμλινου, λέγοντας στον Ζουκοφ να αναλάβει αυτός μιας και ήταν του... Ιππικού στον Εμφύλιο!!!

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?stor...

Antony Beevor is one of the greatest historians of the second half of the twentieth century. The Nobel Literature Committee has not a awarded the prize to an historian since 1953. The time to award another is long overdue; Beevor would be a very logical choice.


Beevor trained at Sandhurst and served for five years in the British army. Despite being admirably trained to write the type of technical history that military academies use to train their students in battle field tactics, Beevor has always concentrated on the human side of war. He explains the cultural differences of the two armies and what the experience was like for the general population to live on a front.

Beevor is in top form with Berlin: The Downfall. At the same time that you are elated to see the Russians putting an end to an evil regime, you are appalled at the suffering of the German population under the Russian occupiers.

Some Russians have been angered by this book. They feel that it shows their soldiers in too negative a light. I think above all Beevor admires the Russians because it was their desire to win that defeated the Nazis. Beevor does not blame the Russians for anything; the fact is that war is simply not pretty.

For the last few of weeks, every time my husband sits down to another b&w WW2 Hollywood movie (he's just discovered 'a channel') I think, But It Wasn't Like That. It wasn't like that at all.

Almost 30 years ago I met a man who had been with the British troops that first entered Belsen. It was seared on his mind.

What we should remember is that ALL WAR does this to people. There probably has never been a war where rape wasn't used as a weapon of terror, when prisoners and civilians weren't arbitrarily executed. It will be happening in Syria and Yemen today. It's part of the human condition. Therefore we should do whatever we can to stop the war happening in the first place.

This hefty tome was once owned by my dear friend Peter Reynolds. It feels good to know that he turned the pages.

“Berlinlilerin belleğinde bu olaylar capcanlı kaldı, çünkü bütün pencerelerin kırılmış olması nedeniyle her gece çığlıkları duymak mümkündü. İki ana Berlin hastanesinin tecavüz mağdurlarına ilişkin tahminleri, 95.000 ila 130.000 arasındaydı. Bir doktorun vardığı sonuç, Berlin’de tecavüze uğrayan 100.000 kadından 10.000 kadarının çoğunlukla intihar şeklinde olmak üzere, yaşadıklarına bağlı olarak öldüğüydü. Doğu Prusya, Pomeranya ve Silezya’daki 1,4 milyon tecavüz mağduru arasındaki ölüm oranı, tahminlere göre çok daha yüksekti. Toplam en az 2 milyon Alman kadının tecavüze uğradığı sanılmaktadır ve anlaşıldığı kadarıyla birkaç kez tecavüz edilenler çoğunluğu olmasa bile, epeyce büyük bir azınlığı oluşturmaktadır. Ursula von Kardoff’un arkadaşı olan Sovyet casusu Schulze-Boysen, ‘peş peşe yirmi üç askerin’ tecavüzüne uğradı. “(s.419)

I've read people on GR criticizing Beevor as a historian saying that he doesn't develop his characters, among other things. Horse shit. I love him as a historian because he's much better at writing than most historians. I don't give a crap if you detail everything the way some people expect, if you can't keep a reader's interest I have no use for you. Beevor writes with the skill of the best authors of thrillers. Unputdownable is an invented word seldom used to describe history books, but it's a fitting adjective for Beevor's output.

You may want to read Beevor’s prequel to this history, Stalingrad. Both books make for great reading on one of the most epic struggles in human history. Without knowing a thing about the Battle of Stalingrad a reader may have trouble understanding the ferocity of the Red Army in their crushing defeat of the Germans in Berlin. The fact that the German Army insisted on fighting on, well after their defeat had been certain gave the Soviets even less room for sympathy or humanity. What a horrible place that must have been in the spring of 1945.

"I’ll forgive the Russians absolutely anything they do to this country when they arrive. Absolutely anything," one English prisoner of war said in the book. That sort of hits the nail on the head.

Sorry, you can’t fight to the bitter end and then expect anything approaching mercy, especially when you waged war as the Nazis did in the USSR. They should have surrendered at D-Day. The same goes for the Japanese. Anyone who opposed the use of atomic bombs in WWII doesn't know much about the brutal fighting in the Pacific when the Japanese elite had know for a long time that their cause was lost.

I read Beevor's 'The Second World War' back in 2018. This too is well researched. The book is focused on the Russian advance to encircle and capture Berlin before the Western Allied forces get there first. Written from both the Russian and German perspectives there are plenty of personal stories to capture the grit and grief of the war. Western allied advances are also covered but in less detail, as that isn't the focus of the book. One of the ironies pointed out is that many of the 'German' military defenders of Berlin at this point besides youth and the aged were foreign volunteers including French and Scandinavian nationals. There were also Ukrainians fighting for both the Germans and the Russians. Makes me wonder how much bitterness in that part of the world today is still a ramification from World War II atrocities and battles. If WWII history is your interest, this is a great book to read.

4,5 stele.
În partea finală a cărții sale cu adevărat extraordinare, Stalingrad, Anthony Beevor se referă la impactul extraordinar pe care l-a avut înfrângerea armatei germane condusă de Paulus în întreaga lume, dar și în ceea ce privește moralul soldaților și al civililor ruși. Pentru toată lumea era cât se poate de clar că ultimul episod al acestui război se va scrie nu imediat dincolo de granițele URSS, ci la Berlin: "Moralul civililor şi al soldaţilor în egală măsură a fost încurajat de jurnalele de actualităţi care ridicau în slăvi victoria, în care apăreau imagini tremurate ale lui Paulus şi ale coloanelor nesfârşite de prizonieri de război ce şerpuiau în peisajul înzăpezit. Toată lumea ştia că ruşii duseseră greul atacului german şi că Frontul de Est făcuse Wehrmacht-ul să sângereze de moarte, mult mai sigur decât orice alt teatru de război apusean. Armata Roşie va merge înainte, aşa cum urlase un ofiţer la prizonierii de război, până când Berlinul va arăta la fel ca Stalingradul în ruine".
Era cât se poate de firesc ca, după monografia Bătăliei de la Stalingrad, Anthony Beevor să scrie o altă monografie, chiar mai amplă decât prima, despre Berlin. Prima dată am citit această carte în urmă cu cincisprezece ani, imediat după Stalingrad. Recitind această carte, constat că, deși am uitat unele amănunte, totuși cartea a fost și rămâne una de referință. În plus, conține și o foarte convingătoare descriere a demenței lui Hitler, ce este "irecuperabil în fanteziile lui". Un amestec înfricoșător de grotesc și hilar. Însă tragedia prin care trec oamenii obișnuiți atinge proporții ireale. Lectură plăcută!

Падането на Берлин и на Райха: http://knigolandia.info/book-review/p...

Най-подробно Бийвър акцентира на Източния фронт, разбира се. Там противоборството между руските главнокомандиващи армии е видимо, а Сталин играе своите игри, котио сякаш нямат спир. Превземането на Берлин и пленяването на Хитлер и другите от нацистката върхушка са абсолютни императиви и нищо не се скъпи в името на тази цел – дори целенасоченото заблуждаване на съюзниците, които в крайна сметка се отказват да влязат първи в германската столица, дори тя да е на един хвърлей от тях. Германската съпротива е фокусирана върху руснаците и за мен лично беше изненада колко успешна е тя – дори смазващото превъзходство в хора и техника на руснаците не им осигурява “царски път” към Райхстага. Точно обратното, борбата е безмилостна и в крайна сметка се води дори за отделни квартали и улици.

Издателство "Изток-Запад"
http://knigolandia.info/book-review/p...

Having read - and been gripped by - Stalingrad, I had to read this. Two sides of the same coin. Painstakingly researched and clearly written. This is a superb book that I heartily recommend

List of Illustrations
Maps
Glossary
Preface

--Berlin: The Downfall: 1945

References
Source Notes
Select Bibliography
Index

A seminal treatise on the end of Nazi tyranny, coupled with a scathing commentary on Stalinist cruelty. What comes across in this wonderful nonfiction work, which reads like a thriller novel, is Beevor's extraordinary grasp of his subject matter, his meticulous research, and refusal to stoop to generalities. The population of Berlin suffered for their sins, especially the woman, and Beevor does not pull any punches. This is a testament to the fact that we are one step away from brutality - one step away from being everything we judge to be abhorrent. A modern masterpiece, for sure. Five stars.

This is the third of Beevor's books I've read, the first two being Stalingrad and D-Day, and I've thoroughly enjoyed each of them.

His greatest strengths is that, rather than just providing regurgitations of battle locations and dates with accompanying strategies and statistics, he gives the reader a wealth of context. Whether it's from contemporary news, post-war debriefings and interrogations, or diaries from military and civilian sources, he amasses an impressive amount of information that allows him to create a narrative that is both accurate and comprehensive. His research chops are unparalleled.

As for this book specifically, it filled in a number of gaps in my knowledge. In fact, it was basically all gap-filling, as I knew far less than I'd originally believed. One of the biggest holes in my knowledge was the fact that this part of the WWII story was basically all the Soviets. I'd thought the Allies had gotten into the mix in Berlin far more than they actually did. In fact, they were bit players in this book, specifically because of the profound naiveté of Roosevelt and Eisenhower. Stalin played them like fiddles, and post-war Europe would have looked a lot different if Churchill and Co. had gotten their way more often.

And while I knew that Hitler was responsible for lapses in judgement that ended up biting the Third Reich in the ass (*cough*invading Russia*cough*), seeing the true extent of his missteps--just in 1945 alone--was astonishing. One can only imagine how things would have turned out if he hadn't been so delusional and paranoid. Pretty scary, considering how bad things were with his incompetence.

The bottom line for a Beevor book: if you're interested in a subject he's written about, his work is the best place to start, and odds are good that it's the only book you'll really need on the subject. He's that good.