What to read about the end of the second world war
Five books about history’s bloodiest conflict
THE SECOND WORLD WAR sparked decades of scholarship. By one count, 70,000 books had already been published by 1989. The 80th anniversary of the end of the war, both in Europe and Asia, is precipitating yet more studies. In light of the commemorations, many readers will be looking to learn more about the conflict. Whether you read history for diversion from current affairs, or because you feel it offers “a vast early-warning system"—as Norman Cousins, an American journalist, did—these are five of the best books published about the second world war this century.
Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944-45. By Max Hastings. Knopf; 672 pages; $22. Pan Macmillan; £18.99
The last eight months of the war in Europe were among the bloodiest and most destructive. Adolf Hitler was determined to resist to the very end. Remarkably, the Wehrmacht carried out his orders to the letter, fighting with skill and tenacity against the advancing Soviet armies in the east (which were intent on not just defeating the invader, but exacting retribution on German civilians) and the American and British forces coming from the west. The author illuminates the appalling story using archival material, unpublished manuscripts and interviews with almost 200 witnesses from all sides.
The Fall of Berlin 1945. By Antony Beevor. Penguin; 576 pages; $22. Published in Britain as “Berlin: The Downfall 1945"; £12.99
Josef Stalin was determined to get to Berlin before the Western allies. For the final assault on the German capital he amassed 2.5m troops, 7,500 aircraft, 6,250 tanks and 41,600 guns. From his bunker, cut off from the apocalyptic reality, Hitler ordered boys and pensioners to fight on with little more than anti-tank grenade launchers. This is a scrupulously researched account of the unmatched savagery of the Red Army’s attack and the final days of the Third Reich.
The Bombers and the Bombed: Allied Air War Over Europe, 1940-1945. By Richard Overy. Penguin; 608 pages; $30. Published in Britain as “The Bombing War"; £20
By the end of the war more than 500,000 Europeans had been killed by aerial bombardment. The London Blitz, the firestorm that engulfed Hamburg and the seemingly wanton destruction of Dresden remain among the most powerful symbols of a total war that was fought with little ethical compunction. With a wealth of narrative detail and analytical rigour, this book shows what the war in the air was like both for the terrified aircraft crews and for those on whom the bombs fell.
Hirohito’s War: The Pacific War, 1941-1945. By Francis Pike. Bloomsbury; 1,208 pages; $40.95 and £29.99
This is a definitive history (in a single if very chunky volume) of the war in the Pacific. As well as carefully analysing and describing in vivid detail the great campaigns and battles of the war, it offers important context, including the growing tensions in the region from the early 1930s. The crucial characters are colourfully, often scathingly, drawn. Rather than seeing war from a mostly Western perspective, the author convincingly gets inside the thinking and decision-making of all the belligerents, particularly the Japanese.
The Third Reich at War. By Richard Evans. Penguin; 960 pages; $25 and £18.99
The final book of a monumental trilogy on the Nazis examines both the motivations of leaders and the willingness of most Germans to become complicit in their crimes. It provides a reminder that, even when the war was going against them, there was no flagging in the Nazis’ attempt to implement “the final solution to the Jewish question". When defeat became a certainty in the last months of the war, the Nazis tried to ensure that no survivors were left to be found in the camps by the advancing enemy. Nearly a quarter of a million people died on the subsequent death marches.
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