Berlin

The Downfall 1945

By: Antony Beevor

Narrated by: Peter Noble

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Berlin by Antony Beevor, read by Peter Noble.


Berlin: The Downfall 1945 is Antony Beevor's brilliant account of the fall of the Third Reich.

The Red Army had much to avenge when it finally reached the frontiers of the Reich in January 1945. Political instructors rammed home the message of Wehrmacht and SS brutality. The result was the most terrifying example of fire and sword ever known, with tanks crushing refugee columns under their tracks, mass rape, pillage and destruction. Hundreds of thousands of women and children froze to death or were massacred because Nazi Party chiefs, refusing to face defeat, had forbidden the evacuation of civilians. Over seven million fled westwards from the terror of the Red Army.

Antony Beevor reconstructs the experiences of those millions caught up in the nightmare of the Third Reich's final collapse, telling a terrible story of pride, stupidity, fanatacism, revenge and savagery, but also one of astonishing endurance, self-sacrifice and survival against all odds.

Critic reviews

Fascinating, extraordinary, gripping

A masterpiece of modern historical writing (Michael Burleigh)

This brilliant storyteller makes us feel the chaos and the fear as if every drop of blood was our own. It is much more than just a humane account; it is compellingly readable, deeply researched, and beautifully written (Simon Sebag Montefiore)

Great book, great narrator

Enjoyed the book and recommend it
great narrator and a great book
worth my time and money

Really really good.

It's on par with the other books written by Antony Beevor, but this one seems to emphasise the civilian blight of germans once the Soviet Union crossed the reich's borders.

Really full of small anecdotes that make the war feel more "human" instead of the book being just a chronological catalogue of who did what, when and why.

This book is both frightening and fascinating

The author masterfully weaves horrifying facts about World War II into a compelling narrative, making it both deeply unsettling and impossible to put down

If only there could have been more

I was absolutely hooked from start to finish. The detail was, in my opinion, perfectly balanced. Tough listening in places but the reality of war shouldn't be avoided. Particularly poignant listening, as I now live in the former East Berlin and work within 5 minutes of the Führerbunker.