Review of The Fall of Berlin 1945
595193
Too many details regarding the army units.  Very confusing.  Regarding the geography under attack there are no maps.  Hard to mentally picture where the various army units are in relation to Berlin.  I just think the author over researched the subject matter with too much detail about the battles leading up to Berlin.  Also, he keeps mentioning the rape and looting in almost every other paragraph.  A reader gets the message early on.
662775
This is a well done book of an important time in East Meets West history in berlin of the 60s.

Very well done and expensively published.
3512627
Armageddon: A Novel of Berlin provides the reader an excellent opportunity to learn about the period in Germany, particularly in Berlin, following World War II.  As with most historical novels, Leon. Uris changes the names of the primary players in this historical setting.  For example, true historical initiatives and events such as the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, and Berlin Airlift are described, but the novel's characters who are instrumental in acting upon those affairs within the German theater are fictional.  Notwithstanding Mr. Uris' fictional portrayals, he demonstrates time and again the comprehensive research he accomplished in creating this novel.  Notwithstanding the fictional creation of his characters, they were not only believable, but authentic human beings with plausible plights which most likely occurred during that time period in that part of the world.  Put another way, the book is so convincing, the reader feels a sympathetic relationship with the characters involved.  By the end of the novel, a perceptive reader will have increased his/her understanding of that time period, and finishing the book will cause a poignant loss.  In addition, since the book was published in 1964, political correctness did not distort the historical facts.  To put it simply, Leon Uris simply told us the way it was.
462809
I had the good fortune of reading Corneilius Ryan's Battle for Berlin epic  "The Final Battle" only weeks before coming across "The End  of War".  I was surprised by how closely David Robbins' account  parallels Ryan's classic history.  Robbins, of course, introduces  fictitious characters and ascribes thoughts and words to larger-than-life  historical figures like Ike, FDR, Stalin and Churchill.  But he seems to  get most of the salient facts straight.  The result is a gripping work of  fiction that appears to be remarkably accurate historically. An all around  good read.
4851137
I recommend this book to everyone who is interested in the history of the last month of WWII. I realized that I did not know anything about WWII after the event of Market Garden other than that the war was over in May 1945. This book gives a surprising and apparently well researched insight in some events of that last month. I enjoyed reading this text and I feel that it made me smarter about the history of WWII and therefore about present day events.
1296858
This book was extremely well written and researched. Prior to reading this, I had no idea that Jews had survived in Berlin during the war. It was good to know also about the gentile, German population that risked their own lives to help these people. The characters were well researched and drawn. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in this period of history.
2748841
This is a useful study of the bombing of Dresden in 1945. Taylor shows that Dresden was an important military, political and industrial centre, contributing significantly to the Nazi war effort. Taylor also puts the US/British bombing raid in context, showing how it was a major part of their war effort, even though it was less significant than the Soviet Union's heroic struggles. For example, in late 1944, after D-Day, 91 Allied divisions were fighting 65 German divisions across a 400-kilomtere front, while 560 Russian divisions were fighting 235 German divisions across a 3,200-kilomtere front.

Putting Dresden into context, it should not be forgotten who started the War and what kind of a war it was that Hitler started. In 1939 Hitler had told the Wehrmacht high command, "Poland will be depopulated ... the fate of Russia will be exactly the same."

After the Allies' bombing of Dresden, the Final Report by the Dresden Police and the SS, dated 15 March 1945, estimated 25,000 dead. Goebbels added an extra zero, making the publicised total 250,000. He did the same with the number of bodies cremated in the Altmarkt - thus 6,856 became 68,560. He lied in similar fashion about the numbers of people killed in the Soviet Union in the 1930s. All too many authors have let themselves be taken in by Goebbels' lies that about 20 million people were killed.

All in all, this is a fine book.
3120289
Great book written by a man who was there, but with the benefit of 20 years of hindsight.  The year was 1989.  A wall was about to fall in Berlin, but how did it happen?  Read this book for the rest of the story.  The author knew some of the key individuals on the East side of the wall.  This book is a great read, and I strongly recommend it.
3595970
A book is a partnership between reader and writer. I read Peter Schneiders Berlin Now: The City After the Wall, as a potential six-week visitor to the city, as a Jewish-American, and as a person with a vivid memory of walking through a bombed-out Berlin neighborhood in 1960, just before the wall went up. This was to be my first trip back  a 74-year-old returning 54 years later.
 Midway through this second visit, Berlin Now is serving me much better than my Lonely Planet-type guides. I immediately understood the three brass memorial plates  the Stolpersteine  embedded in the sidewalk in front of our apartment house; I knew how the SONY center (a Berlin entertainment mall) came to be and how its Daimler Group (aka Mercedes Benz) CEO creator was trashed by his successor; I knew the story of the well-assimilated Vietnamese-German community in Berlin; and I saw Nefertiti not just as a maturely, spectacularly (What a dish!) beautiful woman, but also as a product of Germanys long involvement in Middle East archaeology.
 I was initially attracted to a Berlin visit by the film White Ribbon.  It said that at least some in Germany had come to understand their nations history. Schneiders book says that White Ribbon was not a fluke. Germany is working at becoming a very civilized nation. Its politics are not highly adversarial. Its ban on nuclear power and embrace of wind and solar make economic and ecological sense. And it seems less divided by wealth and privilege than my fiercely, self-destructively partisan nation.
 Berlin Now offers a path to understanding Berlin, and perhaps Germany.

Ed Marston
Former Publisher, High Country News
Paonia, Colorado
872556
I read the "A bridge too far" and enjoy so much of CR war reporting style.  In the last battle, CR did it again with the battle preparation, how the internal politics of the Allied forces played out, and how desperate the 3rd Reich last day looked like.  Reading this book, one would wonder how the cold war would be different if the US and British forces were the first in Berlin , instead of the USSR.  After all, the US force was 50 miles to Berlin.
3005442
Maybe the best Cold War novel I have ever read. Sad to read the last page. And to think this is 2013 (14 + years after the fall of the Berlin wall) and this novel was still a page turner.
1965530
A great though lengthy read about Kennedy's first year in power and how Khrushchev used Kennedy's inexperienc against him.  Kennedy's first year was a disaster with the Russians pushing us around in Cuba, Berlin, and Laos.  Kennedy handled the Cuban Missle Crisis in 1962 wonderfully, but his first year of 1961 showed his weakness.  He let East Germany and the Soviet Union make changes in the Allied access to Berlin.  East Germany was battling for its survival.  Khrushchev made personal and political promises that he didn't keep and Kennedy didn't show enough spine to have them back down.  This kept Eastern Europe under Soviet influence for the next thirty years.

I think this is a great book on the diplomatic intriques of 1961.  Kennedy showed his inexperience and Khrushchev showed his gambler mentality in the roll of the dice for Berlin.  If an Eisenhower had been in command, this might not have happened.  In 1962, Khrushchev gambled again and lost in the Cuban Missle Crisis.  This crisis could have been linked to the Berlin chess game.  In the end, Kennedy developed some spine and the Russians backed down.

This is a great read and shows some history revision.  I was impressed with the research on the diplomatic and political chess game between the Allies, East and West Germans, and the Soviets.  Highly recommended for a historian of the Cold War.
2335669
An interesting book about a small part of Berlin history after WWII.  I have read a lot about that time but never heard this group mentioned which is a tribute to the special forces for keeping such a low profile for such a long time.  the book is not engaging from a literary point of view but is a nice bit of history of the cold war
1947199
This final book in Winston's study of the Second World War was first published in 1954.  This book was indeed a tremendous effort in the light of the fact that Mr. Churchill was in office as Prime Minister for the second time.
 Churchill describes D-Day and all its trepidations.  He describes his disputes with the U.S.A. as to the Southern France landings which in the end America got her way.  The description on the second Allied Meeting at Yalta is in itself priceless.  Winston goes on to describe the final victory in Europe.  Indeed Mr. Churchill should take a bow.  He however does not.
 His take of Potsdam and his ouster of office is all described.  His relationship with Harry S. Truman continues and Winston goes further to warn the World of the Russian Bear.  His Iron Curtain speech, in Fulton Missouri, warns the Western World of the Cold War.
 Truman stood like a rock, Eisenhower continued the vigilance.  In the end President Bush saw the Berlin Wall falling.
 Winston warned us!  Truman was right in his ways to navigate through these difficult times. Truman conceived the Berlin Airlift and threaded through the hazards of the Korean War.  Eisenhower was wise to just chill and let the Cold War continue without a major conflict.  Ronald Reagan huffed and puffed.  George Bush saw the house blown down.  It was Winston in 1945 who was prescient enough to see this happening.
 Winston dies in 1965, along the Thames all the Cranes were bowed in reverence at his funeral procession.  His legacy will live forever.  5 Stars No Problem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1980485
This a very well researched book with many accurate sources used. It is evident that the author took years to verify the facts and put together an easy to follow timeline with good maps ! He has broken down the fighting into the various districts in Berlin so you can follow the progress of the various skirmishes and get a good feel of what it was like. I highly recommend this book and I rarely give out a 5 star rating !
1109447
Hans Fallada's Every Man Dies Alone takes the reader on a vivid trip through the hell of nazi Berlin.  Excellent. ds
2065446
Das Buch hat so viele interessante Geschichten von der Nachkriegszeit!
 Ich habe lachen muessen, fast geweint oft, aber trotz allen auch viel gelernt von Berlin und der damaligen Zeit. Ich finde es ausgezeichnet, und Jutta Daniels erinnert bestimmt viele Andere an diese tumulte Zeit. Es erweckt Erinnerungen fuer Menschen, die das mitgelebt haben! Fuer die Juengeren ist es auch  eine interessante Erzaehlung. Was haben Kinder und Erwachsene damals alles mitmachen muessen. Was haben sie oft in ihrer Not erfunden!
Es ist ein sehr gutes Buch!