Berlin - The Downfall 1945

Product Description

Berlin: the Downfall, 1945, is Antony Beevor`s account of the bloody Götterdämmerung that brought the Second World War in Europe to an end, & in which he has fused the large & the small scale effects of war. Beevor paints the broad picture of Marshals Zhukov & Konev, competing for glory & Stalin`s attention, as they race their armies towards Berlin. He gives the reader a gripping account of the brutal street-by-street fighting in the German capital & provides an unforgettable portrait of the last, insane days of Hitler & his entourage in the bunker. Beevor’s attention to emotional detail, in combination with his sweeping historical narrative, shows a remarkable sensitivity to the unfolding human drama of Nazi Germany’s last days. He also highlights the small details of ordinary people caught in the nightmare of history
- the sick children evacuated at the last minute from a Potsdam hospital; the Soviet soldiers shaving themselves for the first time in weeks so that they would make appropriately presentable conquerors; & the Nazi Youth teenagers peddling their bikes in despairing, last-ditch attacks against the Red Army`s tanks. The story Beevor tells is an almost unremittingly terrible one--one of death, rape, hunger & human misery--but he tells it with both an epic sweep & an alertness to individuality.