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Fall of Berlin, 1945 — historical photograph 52.5°N 13.4°E Central Europe
1945 · 52.5°N 13.4°E

Fall of Berlin

Berlin, Germany · battle · Central Europe

Briefing

From 16 April 1945, 2.5 million Soviet troops fought their way into the capital of the Third Reich street by street. Hitler killed himself in his bunker on 30 April; the city garrison capitulated on 2 May; and the war in Europe ended six days later. Roughly 80,000 Soviet soldiers died taking the city.

Books Covering This Event (26)

Popular History

The Last Days of Hitler cover
The Last Days of Hitler Hugh Trevor-Roper · 1947

The British intelligence officer sent to establish Hitler's fate reconstructs the final days in the bunker.

Accessible
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich cover
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich William Shirer · 1960

A monumental history of Nazi Germany from its origins through its destruction, written by a journalist who.

Intermediate
Russia at War, 1941-1945 cover
Russia at War, 1941-1945 Alexander Werth · 1964

The BBC's Moscow correspondent, who spent the entire war in the USSR, writes the inside account of the Soviet war effort.

Intermediate
The Last Battle cover
The Last Battle Cornelius Ryan · 1966

The race for Berlin told from American, Soviet, German military, and civilian perspectives.

Accessible
The Second World War cover
The Second World War John Keegan · 1989

A single-volume history of the entire war by the most influential military historian of the 20th century.

Intermediate
Band of Brothers cover
Band of Brothers Stephen Ambrose · 1992

The story of Easy Company, 506th PIR, from D-Day to Hitler's Eagle's Nest.

Accessible
Citizen Soldiers cover
Citizen Soldiers Stephen Ambrose · 1997

The American soldier's experience from the Normandy beaches to the fall of Germany.

Accessible
The Fall of Berlin 1945 cover
The Fall of Berlin 1945 Antony Beevor · 2002

The apocalyptic final battle of the European war, from the Soviet advance to Hitler's bunker.

Accessible
Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944-1945 cover
Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944-1945 Max Hastings · 2004

The western Allies' grinding advance into Germany from the Rhine to the Elbe.

Intermediate
Ivan's War cover
Ivan's War Catherine Merridale · 2006

The life and death of the ordinary Red Army soldier, from the catastrophe of 1941 to Berlin.

Intermediate
The Storm of War cover
The Storm of War Andrew Roberts · 2009

A single-volume history of the war organised around one question: why did the Axis lose?

Intermediate
Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945 cover
Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945 Max Hastings · 2011

A global history of the war focused on the experience of ordinary people — soldiers and civilians — caught in.

Intermediate
Savage Continent cover
Savage Continent Keith Lowe · 2012

Europe in the years immediately after the war — vengeance, ethnic cleansing, famine, and lawlessness.

Intermediate
The Guns at Last Light cover
The Guns at Last Light Rick Atkinson · 2013

The final volume of the Liberation Trilogy: from D-Day to the fall of the Third Reich.

Intermediate

Memoir

The Second World War cover
The Second World War Winston S. Churchill · 1948

Churchill's six-volume memoir-history of the entire war, from the gathering storm to triumph and tragedy.

Intermediate
Crusade in Europe cover
Crusade in Europe Dwight D. Eisenhower · 1948

The Supreme Commander's own account of the war in the West, from Torch to the German surrender.

Intermediate
A Woman in Berlin cover
A Woman in Berlin Anonymous · 1959

An anonymous German woman's diary of the Soviet conquest of Berlin and the mass sexual violence that followed.

Intermediate
The Forgotten Soldier cover
The Forgotten Soldier Guy Sajer · 1965

A young Alsatian conscript's memoir of the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front, 1942–1945.

Accessible
Inside the Third Reich cover
Inside the Third Reich Albert Speer · 1969

Hitler's architect and armaments minister writes from Spandau prison about life at the top of the regime.

Intermediate
The Unwomanly Face of War cover
The Unwomanly Face of War Svetlana Alexievich · 1985

An oral history of the million Soviet women who fought — snipers, pilots, tank drivers, medics — in their own voices.

Intermediate
Soldat cover
Soldat Siegfried Knappe · 1992

A German officer's war from Czechoslovakia to the bunker — he briefed Hitler in the final days, then spent five years in Soviet captivity.

Accessible
A Writer at War cover
A Writer at War Vasily Grossman · 2005

Grossman's wartime notebooks as a Red Army correspondent, edited by Antony Beevor — Stalingrad, Kursk, Treblinka, Berlin.

Intermediate

Academic

When Titans Clashed cover
When Titans Clashed David Glantz & Jonathan House · 1995

The Eastern Front from the Soviet side, by the Western historian who did most to open the Red Army archives.

Academic
The Third Reich at War cover
The Third Reich at War Richard J. Evans · 2008

The final volume of Evans's trilogy: Germany at war, from the invasion of Poland to the ruins of Berlin.

Academic

Hitler cover
Hitler Ian Kershaw · 2008

The definitive biography, abridged by Kershaw himself from his two-volume Hubris and Nemesis.

Intermediate

Historical Fiction

Salt to the Sea cover
Salt to the Sea Ruta Sepetys · 2016

Four refugees converge on the Wilhelm Gustloff, the evacuation ship whose sinking killed nine thousand — six times the Titanic.

Accessible

Timeline Position

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