Author:
Antony Beevor
Published:
2003
Publisher:
Penguin Books
Number
of Pages: 490
My
Rating: 4
(if you like this subject matter)
Summary
from GoodReads.com:
The Red Army
had much to avenge when it finally reached the frontiers of the Reich in
January 1945. Political instructors rammed home the message of Wehrmacht and SS
brutality. The result was the most terrifying example of fire and sword ever
known, with tanks crushing refugee columns under their tracks, mass rape,
pillage and destruction. Hundreds of thousands of women and children froze to
death or were massacred because Nazi Party chiefs, refusing to face defeat, had
forbidden the evacuation of civilians. Over seven million fled westwards from
the terror of the Red Army.
Antony Beevor
reconstructs the experiences of those millions caught up in the nightmare of
the Third Reich's final collapse, telling a terrible story of pride, stupidity,
fanatacism, revenge and savagery, but also one of astonishing endurance,
self-sacrifice and survival against all odds.
As
you know from my previous posts, I am a huge World War II fan. Anything having
to do with this topic I will pick up and start reading whether it’s about the
Holocaust, the military aspect, viewpoints from the citizens, etc. While I do
realize not everyone enjoys this, I would recommend this book for anyone who
does or who likes reading historical materials. For the general public,
however, this might not pique your interest.
Having
said that, I was intrigued by this book as it covered things I had never really
read about before. The Fall of Berlin
1945 is about just that- the last few months of the Third Reich and the
experiences of the general German population as the empire is crumbling and the
Red Army is taking over. I found this particular part of the book dark and horrifying as Antony Beevor does not sugarcoat the types of atrocities the
citizens had to live through; tanks crushing them, mass rape, pillage, and
complete destruction, not to mention daily bombings and attacks as well as leaders
who wouldn’t let them evacuate as the Russians came closer. Seeing this side of
things was very eye opening as well as disturbing.
Another
huge part of this book is the military tactics and battles. While I am a fan of
military books and like learning about the specifics, at times I felt that this
book went a little overboard even for a pretty educated reader as myself. The
book is obviously well-researched and he wanted to follow every detail that led
up to the takeover of Berlin, but at the same time it is so overloaded with
literally every intricate battle that
I found myself getting lost or confusing some of the many mentioned generals,
soldiers, leaders, etc. He mentions many Russian military leaders but doesn't really go into much detail about them so I wasn't able to truly get a sense about their personalities or who they were.
It
was interesting seeing the path that Hitler and his highly appointed leaders
followed towards the end of the war and how they were brainwashed by him until
the very end. Hitler would not give up fighting and he never admitted that
things were not going well. Instead, he insisted that no German surrender and
that if they did they should be killed. His health was deteriorating and he was
in no shape to be the leader of the Nazis any longer, but he decided to hold on
to his false hope until the bitter end.
Overall,
this was a very long book (490 pages, whew!) that had a massive amount of
information. It is not a quick read and is something that will definitely take
you some time to process. But, if you are interested at all in learning more
about World War II from a different perspective than the American solder, you
will find this book to be extremely informative and eye opening. A knowledgeable
and haunting read.
-Busy Brunette 
