Beevor's Berlin: the Downfall 1945.

[Fridolin]

Hi guys,
I do not know your opinion on this book, but my review of it should by titled: 'I found it disapointing'.

I have just finished it, and I find it a failure and not much better -an in many aspects worse- than earlier books (Toland, Ryan, Le Tissier...)

-This is not really a book on the battle for Berlin. It's main subject is, by far, the sufferings of civilian population, and specially the often atrocious behaviour of the Red Army, gang-rape being among the most frequent subjects. I believe Beevor was justly acclaimed for his pages on the terrible realities of War in 'Stalingrad'. Now he has overdone it.

-His treatment of tactical operations is at best perfunctory. He jumps from the operational level (at Front ot Army level) to the 'worm's eye'views of soldiers or civilians. So, do not hope to see any real discussion of what happened at tactical level at Seelow (apart from Beevor's plain opinion that Zukhov paid for his mistake with the blood of his soldiers -more or less literal-. Le Tissier is much, much better at this.

-Not very detailed on small units, or even at divisional level. You won't find much on Muncheberg PZDiv, and nothing at all on, for example, the Spanish SS units fighting in central Berlin to the very end.

-Rather superficial in political aspects too. I'd rather have Toland's 'The last 100 Days', or Ryan's than this one for the overall picture. He is rather strong, however, when correlating political and military matters (the day after Stalin said this, Zukhov did that, and so on).

-True, he uses new archival material, but he uses it mostly for the anecdote, 'à la Ryan'. But however, IMO he does not manage to use these personal accounts for a really interesting view of the military aspects of the battle. While Le Tissier's cites, for example, are always useful for the understanding of different tactical or military points, Beevor's are 80% to prove that war is hell, something we already knew. 'Rape' is probably the most often cited word in the book (well, perhaps I exaggerate a little bit).

-Illustrations: Maps are completely dissapointing. Clearly designed for the complete layman, they only show units at army level, and concentrate on those in certain operations. Very limited and utterly uninformative.

-Appendixes: None. Does not even include an Order of Battle (even at Army level), something he did in his 'Stalingrad'.

-Narrative: Gripping. Very well written. In comparison Le Tissier is rather dull.

-Overall: For the interested military buff or amateur historian, not to mention the professional, this is a rather dissapointing book, much worse than 'Stalingrad' (that paid much more attention to the actual battle). Obviously meant for the VERY general public, nothing really new, not very detailed in military matters.

PS: Now I read the whole tirade again, it looks as if I think this is a bad book.
No, it is not. It ios a great book provided you take it as it is, and acknowledge it is not a manual of tactics.
I personally found it disapointing because it did not fulfill my expectations. But it is a great book from many points of view. Problem is, I read it after Le Tissier's, and found it wanting in military detail. But it is otherwise a good book: over 400 pages, you cannot leave it once you begin reading, and it is full of anecdotal material.
Cheers

[Benoit Douville]

Well, if it's about the human side of the war, the suffering of the civilian population and the atrocity commited by the Red Army i am really interested about it. War, it's not just map and military strategy. I love military strategy but i like to hear the human side of it too. This book seem to be very interesting.

Regards

[Erich]

Wouldn't it be nice to have both sides of the story though ?...both first person from the soldier as well as civilain along with some good historical information during the last hectic weeks of the war. Unfortunate that this is since I was expecting more from Mr. Beevor as his Stalingrad book got rave reviews. Was looking forward to the OOB's and some really good maps. Guess I'll have to stick with what has already been printed until something else transpires.

E