The Fall of Berlin

The battle for Berlin in 1945 was one of the most violent ever fought for a city in the history of warfare. Over 300,000 Soviet soldiers alone were killed or wounded in the giant operation to capture the Nazi citadel. For Stalin, it was the ultimate prize, the symbol of his intentions to crush Germany and build a cordon between Russia and the West.

The scene is set during the Olympics in 1936, an orgy of parties and dinners given by the Nazi top brass to visitors and athletes. Berlin is the showcase of the 1,000 year Reich, but outside the banqueting halls the regime's iron fist is closing tighter. Read and Fisher reveal a remote garrison town transformed in the space of barely two generations into a seething and powerful world city. Seedy yet glamorous, it fell under the Nazi sway in 1933 and with the approach of war, Berlin becomes the hub of Hitler's war machine -- a vast military and industrial complex. Repression gets worse, culminating in Kristallnacht with vicious attacks on Jews. The troops depart for Poland and the world is at war. Berlin becomes the prime target for Allied bombers, who relentlessly pour high explosive onto its streets. Vivid memories of survivors take us into labyrinthine air-raid shelters and into the flak towers during this four-year pounding. From the east, the vast Soviet juggernaut ploughs on, inexorably exacting vengeance for the invasion of the USSR. The narrative culminates in an astonishing description of the final battle, in which not a building or a street is left unmarked as the fanatical and frightened remnants of Hitler's armies try to hold back the 'barbarians from the east'.

The battle for Berlin in 1945 was one of the most violent battles ever fought for a city. For Stalin, Hitler?s Berlin was the ultimate prize. More than 300,000 Soviet soldiers died in the attack.

Read and Fisher set the scene during the 1936 Olympics where Berlin was the showcase for the 1,000 year Reich. Then sketching the history of this extraordinary city, they follow its transformation by the Prussians from a political and cultural backwater, into a formidable garrison town. Both seedy and glamorous when it fell under Nazi sway in 1933, Berlin, the city, became the vital hub of Hitler?s war machine as the war approached.

After four years of relentless allied bombing, Berlin was faced with its ultimate test as a war fortress. The result? No building or street remained unscathed as the terrified remnants of Hitler?s armies attempted to hold back the "barbarians from the east."