It is hard to define what makes Antony Beevor so good in his writings on the great Second World War battles. I am not a fan of 'Battle Books' in general as I much prefer a broader context to my history and Battle stories, although they usually come with some background introduction and an epilogue are usually unsatisfying in this respect. Beevor doesn't make much of an effort in this regard, granted the book begins in December 1944 and ends with the disposal of Hitler's body in 1970, but nearly all of the intervening 400 odd pages describe events in just March and April of 1945, with nearly all events described taking place between the rivers Vistula and Elbe.
For all of you who take my initial description at face value and are enthused by the possibility that this is a day by day, minute by minute description of the race for Berlin (by which I mean the race between Soviet Generals, not between the Soviets and the Western allies - Beevor makes clear the Americans were never in a race) I must warn you that this is not that book. As with
Stalingrad
, Beevor somehow manages to make a cohesive, flowing narrative by piecing together short vignettes about individuals or small groups of people (rather than events).
For any of you who take my last statement at face value and are enthused by the possibility that this is a literary version of one of those (in my opinion) awful 1970's disaster movies where we are eternally tortured by flashbacks to the banal romantic past of individuals facing imminent doom... this is a million miles away from that. Each vignette is relevant to the event occurring within the overall narrative of the battle, in fact each vignette makes up a part of that narrative with remarkably little visible linking material.
What struck me reading ‘Berlin’, and I now realise this is equally true of ‘Stalingrad’, is how cold and rational Beevor is when telling these harrowing stories of personal tragedy. This is not a criticism, Beevor's approach of focussing on individual tragedy would be almost unbearable (or worse maudlin) if he was not so cold. As it is some of the stories are intense but do not overwhelm, allowing emotion to be balanced with an understanding of the events.
So to enter the wider debate: which is better ‘Berlin’ or ‘Stalingrad’?
‘Stalingrad’: but it is an incredibly close run race. I guess to equate to the race for Berlin mentioned above, 'Stalingrad' would (appropriately) be Zhukov, 'Berlin' Konev and
Arnhem
Rokossovsky.
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Beevor writes engagingly about the many interconnected threads of the fall of Berlin and the aftermath. However, more detailed maps would have been very helpful alongside long descriptions of infantry and tank movements. He is at his best when he's discussing the personal accounts of the people involved, which are often very moving.
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