Just finished reading Berlin: The Downfall 1945 by Antony Beevor.

[Matilda]

It's a big book, nearly 500 pages, and I thought it might be a bit
dry, but it was fascinating.

It's extraordinarily well researched, and although I know nothing of
battles and tactics, I was able to understand (mostly) Beevor's
descriptions of the manoeuvres of the Soviet and German armies,
especially with the aid of the pages of excellent maps provided.

I also wouldn't have expected to feel pity for the German people,
but I did - the descriptions of what happened to the people of
East Prussia at the hands of the Red Army was quite shocking. Yes,
it was payback time for the Soviets, but even so - they're all
people in the end.

I highly recommend this book to all students of history, and to
anyone who'd like to learn in detail just what happened during the
months of January through May 1945.

[Captain Hilts]

1. I've heard him interviewed and I know I haven't the heart to read it.

The stuff coming out from opened archives and the increased willingness of the German people to talk about the war has really added a lot to the history.

The stuff the Red Army did to civilians and other service personnel are horrific. Reading memoirs of prisoners of war that woke up one morning to find the guards gone gave hair-raising accounts of the Soviet soldiers.

[fedsron2us]

2. A horrific account of the cataclysmic end to World War II

When you read this book you realise that Hitlers Nazi tyranny was a just as big a catastrophe for Germany as it was for the rest of Europe. Instead of introducing a thousand year Reich it resulted in the complete annihilation of German communities in Eastern Europe that had existed for centuries.

[Matilda]

3. Yes, that's what got to me.

The German people were completely betrayed by their leaders - not
only Hitler, but Goebbels, Himmler, Goering and Bormann were all
living in fantasy and denial. Had they acknowledged in at the end
of 1944 what all their generals knew - that it was over - it would
have saved tens of thousands of lives and perhaps they might have
been able to preserved East Prussia intact (although Stalin was
very determined to get a foothold there).

[Yupster]

4. If I can suggest a shorter and very good book

on the same topic.

"Defeat in the East" is a well writen book about the Russian drive from Warsaw to the Elbe.

General Guderian was put in charge of reconstituting the panzer corps after the defeats in Russia. By the winter of 44, he had a modest panzer reserve built up. It wasn't much, but it was the biggest reserve the Germans had had behind the Russian front since the first offensives.

Then Hitler took the entire force and sent it west for the Battle of the Bulge.

The result was that when the Russians did attack across the Vistula, the German front snapped and disintegrated.

This created an incredible disaster as the civilian population was caught unprepared. They either hunkered down or started walking through the snow in the dead of winter.

The result is believed to be the largest number of rapes in the history of the world. The entire population of eastern Germany was completely emptied of civilians through terror, rape, murder and deportations.

The worst part is that the policy worked.

The entire portion of the country was emptied of German civilians. The names of the cities were changed to Russian or Polish names, and Russian and Polish civilians were moved into the German homes.

They remain there today.

Great German cities like Konigsberg (Kaliningrad), Breslau (Wroclaw) and Stettin (Sczeczin) were lost forever. The provinces of East Prussia, West Prussia, Pomerania and Silesia have all disappeared from the map after 1,000 years.

And since the civilians were terrorized off their lands, there are no protest movements today. There are no UN resolutions, or terrorist bombings or marches. The land was just stolen and that's that.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0553134698/qid=1124253960/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/102-8248449-4356153?v=glance&s=books

[Matilda]

5. Thanks for the tip.

I'd like to read more about it, because I didn't realise the full
extent of the desecration of East Germany until I read Beevor's
book.

Hard to know who was more evil - Stalin because he did it, or Hitler
because he caused it.

[Yupster]

6. And what we know as East Germany today

was central Germany then.

What used to be eastern Gemany is now the western half of Poland.