Ebook: Zhukov at the Oder - The Decisive Battle for Berlin

Describes in detail Soviet-German activities on the Oder River barely 40 miles from Berlin from the end of January 1945 to the culmination of the four-day breakthrough battle that decided the fate of the German capital.

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REVIEW:


Author Le Tissier is up to his normal very high standard with this work which is probably a reprint of his 1995 "Zhukov At The Oder", a book that I do not possess and therefore cannot verify the correctness of my statement. But no matter, if the reader is interested in the preliminaries to the Battle of Berlin, this is certainly the definitive work. I recommend that it be supplemented with the author's "Slaughter At Halbe" which describes the fate of the Ninth Army after the actions in the book being reviewed, and also his "With Our Backs To Berlin" which contains narratives (some of which are partially included in this work) of the fighting in and around Berlin. For a more comprehensive work on the fall of Berlin, try "The Fall Of Berlin" by Anthony Read and David Fisher.

One of the outstanding features of this book are the maps which allow the reader to follow the course of the Zhukov's attacks -- twenty-nine of them as a matter of fact. As one who often comments on the lack of maps to aid in comprehending the narrative, I was very pleased with the author's use of these supplements. The only negative I have to offer is a certain amount of repetition in the narrative and the author's use of the same stories and narratives in more than one of his works.

Part One discussed Zhukov and the Soviet and German military forces. Here I recommend reading "The Memoirs of Marshal Zhukov" (Delecorte Press: 1971) for more detail on Zhukov; David Glantz's "Colossus Reborn" on the Red Army; and the US War Department's "Handbook On German Military Forces" (Louisiana State University: 1995). The author's treatment of these subjects is very concise, and the interested reader will no doubt seek more detailed references.

Part Two presents the formations of the Soviet bridgeheads across the Oder from which they could launch the final attack on Berlin. The fighting in the Kuestrin Corridor was particularly intense, even though the German forces were cobbled together hurridly and were vastly overmatched. Zhukov's 1st Byelorussian Front had outrun its supplies, become disorganized and stalled by the dogged defense.

Part Three gives the planning of the Berlin offensive by Zhukov and what planning there was on the German side. The author also presents Stalin's tactic of playing Koniev off against Zhukov, supposedly in the sense of having the marshals compete for fame and glory, but actually to help keep Zhukov from becoming a personal threat to Stalin himself. The meddling by Hitler and Himmler are discussed, and fortunately for the Germans, the defense specialist, General Heinrici, was put in charge of the Oder Front (Army Group Vistula.)

The Battle of Seelow Heights and the Oderbruch is contained in Part 4 in four chapters -- one for each of the first four days -- and Zhukov's planning and operational decisions are shown to be close to disasterous. Fortunately for the Soviets, the German forces were simply too weak to accomplish anything more than make the Soviets pay dearly for every yard. In addition, Koniev was able to create a breakthrough in the South by Gorlitz, and Stalin changed his axis of advance to approach Berlin from the South. Zhukov was not able to make a clean breakthrough until the third day of atacks, but when he did, he was able to beat Koniev to the heart of Berlin. It must also be mentioned that Heinrici pulled his men back from the forward lines immediately before the Soviet artillery barrage and attack, so that the attack not only hit air, but it became disorganized and bogged down in the churned-up bottom land in front of the Seelow Heights. Untouched by the heaviest barrage of the war, the Germans on the Heights took a very heavy toll of Soviet soldiers and tanks. Nonetheless, the foruc is on Zhukov's generalship, and in this instance his performance was less than stellar.

The remainder of the book covers the operations following the breakthrough, the fate of the German 9th Army, and Zhukov's later years. He was greatly mistreated by Stalin, not so much for his excessive losses before Berlin, but for his popularity and potential as an opponent to Stalin.

Through all of this the author discusses the operations and sprinkles first-hand accounts of the fighting and situations to give the reader a clearer concept of what was actually happening. Personally, I think these personal accounts are what makes the author's works so compelling, easy to read and interesting. One can readily fall asleep reading about some corps capturing some town and losing however many tanks in the process. But the personal accounts bring the situation into the reader's living room.

The end notes are even important, particularly in explaining such things as "Seidlitz-Troops" and resolving conflicting accounts. The bibliography is also an excellent list of references although I would like to add "Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg, Vol 10/1, Der Zusammenbruch des Deutschen Reiches 1945, Die Militaerische Niederwerfung der Wehrmacht" (2008). This is the official German history of World War Two and the volume covering the events of the author's work.

In conclusion, this is an important and thorough scholarly work. I recommend it to all students of the European conflict in World War II.