The Fall of Berlin

by Anthony Read, David Fisher

Presents a kaleidoscopic portrait of one of the world's greatest cities caught between the lunacy and cruelty of its leaders and the brutal determination of encircling Soviet armies.

Reviews:
"Read and Fisher ( Kristallnacht ) present a vivid verbal panorama of conditions in the German capital from the staging of the 1936 Olympics early in the Hitler era to the Nazi surrender in 1945. Significant events such as the Reichstag fire and the Kristallnacht pogrom are examined in detail, but the focus remains largely on the resourceful, resilient Berliners themselves as they deal with increasing hardship and danger. In the background of the narrative, one can virtually hear the almost incessant--and alarmingly effective--propaganda broadcasts by the Nazi minister of information, Joseph Goebbels. The authors relate the unfolding events in Hitler's underground headquarters, where his lieutenants continued to jockey for position even as old men and boys were rounded up in the streets above for a last-ditch stand against the approaching Soviet army. Finally, Read and Fisher describe the orgy of rape that began when the Red Army breached the city's defenses, the scope of which is conveyed by the statistics: more than 90,000 women and girls sought medical treatment for rape in Berlin in 1945." - Publishers Weekly

"The British team of Read and Fisher ( Kristallnacht , LJ 10/15/88, and The Deadly Embrace , LJ 11/15/89) turn their attention to the bombing of Berlin by the British and Americans and how the Russian Army fought its way toward and through Berlin in 1945. The authors intend no startling new interpretations or profound analysis. Instead, they offer vignettes, often based on diaries, to describe life in Berlin late in the war. They also retell the story of fanatical Nazi leaders and of the Wehrmacht's desperate efforts to defend the city. The result is a highly readable and, at the same time, sophisticated and reliable narrative history. One objection: no good reason exists to call the Oder-Neisse "the ancient frontier of the German empire." - Library Journal

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, Germany, Military History, War, 20th Century

513 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Anthony "Tony" Read (born 21 April 1935) was a British script editor, television writer and author. He was principally active in British television from the 1960s to the mid-1980s, although he occasionally contributed to televised productions until 1999. Starting in the 1980s, he launched a second career as a print author, concentrating largely on World War II histories. Since 2004 he regularly wrote prose fiction, mainly in the form of a revival of his popular 1983 television show, The Baker Street Boys.

Reviews

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're looking for a book which covers the Battle of Berlin between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, this is probably not the book for you: only about a third of the book covers the actual fighting in Berlin. This book is more of a short history of Berlin during the days of the Third Reich, starting with its high water mark as the site of the 1936 Summer Olympics through it's surrender to the Russians in May, 1945.

Along the way, you will meet a host of individuals and learn some of their stories: German and Russian soldiers, Nazi Officials, SS troops, German civilians and refugees, foreign workers pressed into German servitude, and some prisoners of war. It's a well-written book which discusses what Berlin and those who lived there endured during World War II, as well as giving a broader view of the war with most of the emphasis covering the Eastern Front. The conduct of the war on both the Russian and German sides is covered quite a bit, with plenty of information on how Stalin and Hitler maneuvered their forces and manipulated their generals. The last days in Hitler's bunker are very interesting to read, from Hitler's decision to commit suicide, his banishment of Goering and Himmler from the Nazi Party for trying to make peace with the Western Allies, the transfer of power after Hitler is gone and the final moments of Dr. Goebbels and his family.

Some of the best parts of the book are the stories of the ordinary folks who lived and died in Berlin, and those who lived and died to conquer or defend it. There is also lots of information about the plots to kill Hitler, the small resistance movement within Germany, Allied espionage and the political/military tactics of the Russians.

Overall, a very good book about the City of Berlin during World War II and those who lived and died there.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Need a little more focus on 1945

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an extremely intense look at the final months of Nazi rule in Germany and, as the title says, the fall of Berlin.
The refresher on World War II is interesting for those who have read about this phase of history before, but the most emotional part comes with the intense fighting when the war comes to Berlin. The story of the ordinary German citizen is full of fear and heroics.
Many Berliners toughly rode out the storm while friends and family were killed in the bombings. Others protected and hid people the Reich would have sent to concentration camps or killed if they had been found.
Just when you think it is coming to the end, the fighting becomes more and more intense and even after Hitler has committed suicide, the young and old troops fight on with very few armaments. Germany had run out of everything from means to wage war to feeding the people still left in the street. Should a horse be killed in the fighting, it wasn't long before it became someone's dinner. To survive, domestic animals also became food for the hungry, homeless people hiding in bombed out buildings. The suffering was unimaginable.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinarily good book written as long ago as 1992, but well researched and as far as I can tell very accurate. It weaves a narrative history into the accounts taken from diaries, books and other documents. It starts with a history of the city and tales the main story from 1930 to '45, a timescale that puts the (unavoidable) tragedy of the city's destruction into proper context. A most impressive account.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book was very good. I see some people who are dissatisfied because the entire book doesn't deal with the end battle in Berlin on 1945. I think that is one of the book's strengths. It starts roughly around the time of the Berlin Olympics in 1936, and the best parts of the book deal with the situation in Berlin for ordinary citizens from then on. However, what I don't buy is the way that the authors almost portray Berlin as a non-Nazi city, where being a Nazi seems like an exception.

The weakness of this book is its structure. It's chronological, but it's easy to get lost in time, and what specific dates it's currently talking about. Too many times a sentence begins with "that day" or "later that day" and you have to go back a couple of chapters to see what day they're actually referring to. It wouldn't be too much to ask for a little generosity towards the reader. In comparison, Berlin - The Downfall 1945 by Anthony Beevor does this much better.

Another weakness are the maps. Too often in the books they refer to places that aren't on the maps, and the map Central Berlin 1945 is downright confusing. Again, Beevor's maps are much better, and it's helpful that he in his maps specifies which army is where, unlike Read & Fisher.

That said, this book is still very good, especially the parts that don't deal directly with the military.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book started out with a page turning description of what life was like in Berlin just prior to the war and in the years 1941-43, when the war in the East was developing in the Germans favor. The story bogged down into too much detail about specific commanders of specific units as it described the progression toward the actual fall of the city. Still, for those interested in this topic, it is well worth reading as it manages to give a good account of the suffering endured by the civilian population as the Red Army encircled and ultimately conquered the city.

[Blossem · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was hard to put down, the first hand accounts and the images that are shown in the book. The final days of the Third Reich a huge empire that crumbled to the ground. Great read and highly recommended for those WWII buffs out there.

[Alexbodalex]

You get exactly what you'd expect with this book - a focused account of the final days of the third reich. In particular, it provides a great look at the final tranformation of Hitler from authoritarian dictator to raving megalomaniac.

[Nolan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Told from the point of view from Berliners. This is a harrowing account of the fall of the nazi regime. I have been reading this very late into the night.

[Paul Janiszewski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthony Read & David Fisher - The Fall of Berlin

To some degree the title of the work is misleading in the sense that it pre-empts a focus on the final battle itself. However the story picks up the narrative at a seemingly trifling place; That of the celebrations for the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and in an unexpected manner diametrically opposed to the expectation of suffering envisaged in the cataclysm of battle:
"It was an extraordinary sight - General Hermann Goring, Prime Minister of Prussia, President of the German Reichstag, minister for air, commander in chief of the Luftwaffe, creator of the Gestapo and second only to Hitler himself in the Nazi hierarchy, sitting "wreathed in smiles and orders and decorations" astride a carousel horse in a Tyrolean style carnival. Round and round he rode, backed by merry fairground music, waving gaily to hundreds of applauding guests. Looking like an overweight Bacchus in his white dress uniform, he presented a jovial and nonthreatening image, a benign new face for the Third Reich".
A surprisingly welcome bonhomie for the reader in dire expectation of the doom, gloom and despair inherent of such a subject as war. None the less a fitting metaphorical indicator, signalling a notion that one may now use to attempt to imbue a new meaning within the understanding of the title. The book, the war, the battle, seeks a trail for the understanding of the social forces commensurate with the complexity of the issues inherent, and as its driving force, and within the human condition, that ultimately would lead to the fruition of a catastrophe, bringing to life, the Jungian archetypal climax of Wagner's Gotterdammerung. In this manner of preparatory description, and the recounting of the reminiscences of survivors, one can truly begin to understand the path to battle beyond simplistic notions of "good", "evil" and "right", "wrong".
In this manner the authors present their case. I would, for way of example, and to bring summary without complete recount, bring to attention, focus on one part of the author's rendition of the story; that of Stauffenberg's failed assassination plot and subsequent phase of retribution.
"After the first wild reaction, Himmler's men settled down to a deliberate and methodical investigation. Overall the Gestapo made around 7000 arrests over a period of several weeks. Yet few subjects attempted to flee. Danish journalist Paul Von Stemann was astonished: "Although the y all knew that arrest meant torture and likely execution by hanging," he wrote later, "no one offered any resistance. Only a few went underground and tried to escape." The Gestapo he said, had no problems. "They just sent a couple of men in a small car to someone's home or office and quietly collected their victim, who invariably have a small bag ready with such essentials as would be useful in prison. Often the Gestapo did not even go to this trouble, but would simply telephone the suspect and say they wished to see him next day at a given time at Gestapo headquarters... it was easier to gather their prey than it is for a shepherd to get his sheep into a pen. They didn't need the help of a dog.""
The authors presentation of these seemingly unrelated pieces of the puzzle leading up to the final drama, are all important. For it enables one, to within themselves, begin to drift the foggy depths of their own being, to seek a meaning that may bring light to cause. The guilty, it seems knew they were "guilty" and more than accepted their fate of punishment. They believed they had committed a crime and not just a crime of the law of the land, but a crime endangering their being, their spirit, their soul. It was of little consolation that their crime was committed in the pursuit of the the banishment of evil. They believed they needed to be punished. The guilt of their belonging: to a race, a people, a family, a notion of sanctity. These had been defiled. Such was the conundrum that had been brought to bear upon the German people as a whole. Such was the force that would plague their consciousness and drive them to the inevitable, bitter, Gotterdammerung.

[Tomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of details about the last days in Berlin before the Nazis surrendered. I liked reading the personal stories.

[Patrick Farrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a nice read. Not too in the weeds, but enough information to make it worth while.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

BW

[Kyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just didn't like this book. I think it was very good, focusing on Berliners before and during the war. Beriners tended toward socialism, and were not too keen on Hitler (and he wasn't excited about them either). The book also focuses on several of the plots against Hitler that centered around Berlin, wich were often half hearted and inept, and usually ended up with conspirators hanged with piano wire, or in less extreme cases, simply guillotined.
While the early stuff is really pretty good, I got the sense that they authors didn't do their homework on the more explicitly military stuff in some cases. The words 'Luger' and 'revolver' may have appeared too close to each other for comfort. Worth reading, in the end, but best in the first half (though you do invest a bit in the characters covered, so you'll probably end up finishing it anyway)

[Ernest · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adds some interesting details to the story of Berlin during WW II.

[Tanner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a sobering read during an election cycle.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the staples of WWII historiography.