The Last Battle

The Last Battle, the second book of Cornelius Ryan's World War II trilogy, is a vivid and haunting account of the last days of Hitler's Third Reich and the fall of Berlin. As in The Longest Day (1959) and A Bridge Too Far (1974), Ryan weaves his narrative tapestry with meticulous research and eyewitness accounts of military and civilians on all sides who were caught up in the cataclysmic events of that terrible spring of 1945.It is April, 1945, and Germany is tottering at the edge of defeat. On the Western Front, General Dwight D. Eisenhower's Allied armies have crossed the Rhine, the Reich's last natural defense against invasion from the west. Now, sensing that victory is near, American, British, Canadian and other Allied divisions are racing for the Elbe River and beyond - with Berlin as the long expected prize.In the East, millions of Soviet soldiers have swept into Germany from the Baltic states and Poland, storming into the Nazi heartland with blood and fire. Urged on by their thirst for revenge and the orders of Red dictator Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Army also races west toward the German capital. Here the dying Third Reich will stand or die in its last battle.Ryan deals here not only with the fall of Berlin, but he also explores in detail the very complicated political and military issues behind Eisenhower's most controversial decision of the War: the Western Allies would not cross beyond the Elbe River to capture Hitler's capital. Though Ryan's tone is impartial and he delves deeply into the wrangling between President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Premier Stalin, the reader is still left with the impression that the plans dealing with Germany's postwar fate sowed the seeds of the Cold War which followed V-E Day.The Last Battle, although longer and far more complex than The Longest Day, is a very human story that keeps the reader involved. One feels the suspense of the frantic Allied advance eastward, cheering the "Amis" (as the Germans nicknamed the Americans) on even though it will be the Red Army that gets to Berlin first. The German participants, military and civilian alike, are depicted fairly and without the expected "victor's triumphal" tone that would have painted all the Germans as Nazi villains. Indeed, one can feel sympathy for Berliners who - with the exception of Hitler and his most loyal followers - would rather be at the mercy of the British and Americans rather than fall to the feared Russians. It must be said, however, that although Ryan wrote this book during the Cold War, he is fair and balanced in his reporting of the Soviet advance to Berlin.

Good American/English journalism. Gets every perspective. Written just a decade or so after the war, so seething a bit with anti-nazism. Relationship with Heinrici, the field marshal in charge of the Oder Defense, is the highlight of the book.The stories are really the meat of the book. The author interviewed various people and then wrote short stories about their experience. This seems a little foreign for someone searching for a "nothing but the facts" perspective (i.e. see "Siege of Budapest"), but it's effective.Overall, the highlights are the description on the lead-up to the battle and Heinrici's nearly successful defense of the Oder. The description of surrounding deployments leading up to the siege, Wenck's 12th army and his rescue of 9th army, Mantueffel 5th Panzer Core falling back into the city with tanks for the final defense, army group Steiner and his remnants from the Courland pocket, who were unable to attack the flanks of the Russian siege, the flight of "the Golden Pheasants"- all these movements are explained in terms of the general disintegration of Germany. It is a surprise that any units fought at all. An interesting deference is give to the brutality of the SS in Berlin, with an interesting story of a red-haired SS man who ran around killing mutineers, defending against the Russians, and dying painfully in a hospital from multiple bullet wounds to the stomach. Finally, good mention of the Berlin Flak-towers, which is actually how google introduced me to this book.The book becomes a bit too rushed as the Soviets "closed the noose." I also felt there was a bit too much time spent on the American drive through Germany. Even though this played an important role, I didn't find it as interesting.Overall, a must read for anyone interested in the battle. I struggled between "4 stars" and "5 stars", ultimately I gave it benefit, since I am surprised how much I retained from the book (must be the story-telling).

I rated this better than "A Bridge Too Far" (ABTF), which might be because I am more familiar with ABTF and Operation Marketgarden than I am with the last battles to end WWII in Europe as described by this book. This book describes the last days of the Third Reich (ironically named "the Thousand Year Reich") after the Americans and Brits turned back the Germans' Ardenne Offensive in the West and the relentless march of the Soviets in the East from 4 perspectives: Western Allied soldiers, Soviet soldiers, the civilians in Berlin, and the German military defending Berlin. I learned quite a few things after reading this book: Eisenhower threatened to hand in his resignation if Montgomery doesn't stop his self promoting statements to the press, AND that the Soviet soldiers weren't exactly pleased to learn that even the lowliest Polish peasant they encountered as they fought their way west to Berlin through Poland had much higher living standard than they generally did. They discovered that their Communist leaders had lied to them all these years about how prosperous they were in the Soviet Union, and how bad the average folk had in the decadent capitalist countries. Of course none of them had enough courage to do something about the lies by starting another Russian revolution. The other interesting thing I learned is that there really was a difference between the way the western Allies treated the civilian population as they fought their way through Germany and the way the Soviets treated civilians on the Eastern Front. There was very little pillaging, plundering, raping and looting in the west, but quite a bit of all 4 in by the Soviets in the east (interestingly, not by the professional soldiers who led the way, but by the 2nd, 3rd, etc. waves of draftees who cleaned up resistance after the professionals went through.Would love to see this book in a movie, something similar to what was done with ABTF.

This is without a doubt, a history lovers delight! The Last Battle will open your eyes to a time that few can relate better than Cornelius Ryan. Much of World War II history is about D-Day, the Normandy landing, the Battle of Bastogne, General Patton, General Montgomery and other events in the Allied push across Europe. Little is known about the final battle of Berlin. Ryan has done an outstanding job of research in his account of just what happened in those last days of the war in Europe. The author details the accounts of not only the military, but the political aspect of why the Americans and British held back and let the Russians take the city. The story is written clearly and takes the reader into the minds of those involved. You'll find out what Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin actually agreed upon. The tactics of Eisenhower, Bradley, Montgomery and other generals will be discussed in detail. You will know just what the Russians had in mind as they moved in to take, what they considered, their prize....BERLIN!The latter part of the story focuses primarily on the German defense of the city and what their plans were for throwing back the advancing Russians. The reader almost feels as if he is sitting in on these meetings with Hitler, Goebbels, Himmler, and other leaders as they planned their last best effort. We also learn from the Russians as to how they planned to take the city. In addition to all this military data, the author tells stories of those civilians trying their best to survive. Most fear the Russians and what would come with occupation. Many fled west, preferring to be captured by the Americans or British. What the average Berliner endured will break your heart. The atrocities were unbelievable and the Russians showed no mercy.This is an incredible account of just how horrible war can be. If you are a fan of World War II history this would be an excellent ad to your library. I highly recommend it.

Hard Copy. I have read this book several times over the years and I keep returning to it. Ryan was a master recorder and teller of war stories, which he combined in 3 great books of such. The Last Battle is in my opinion the best. (The Longest Day and A Bridge Too Far being the other two). It is, like his other books broken down into several different areas and stories, which could seem segregated, but he writes so they are all joined up. Not once did I feel disconnect between what was happening. I think this is an important book; one that should be read by as many people as possible as it brings together the finale of that great crusade, (as Eisenhower put it), to liberate Europe from evil. What a great challenge this would be for the film making industry to put this on the silver screen. A mammoth task for a mammoth subject but one that could be done well with the right production team and actors. Finally - he did write one last book 'A Private Battle', which was his battle with prostate cancer following his diagnosis. It is a day after day record until he finally passed away. A moving story, which needed his wife to write about his final hours in this world.