'History always emphasizes terminal events,' Albert Speer observed bitterly to his American interrogators just after the end of the war. He hated the idea that the early achievements of Hitler's regime would be obscured by its final collapse. Yet Speer, like other prominent Nazis,refused to recognize that few things reveal more about political leaders and their systems than the manner of their downfall. This is why the subject of National Socialism's final defeat is so fascinating, and also so important at a time when teenagers, especially in Germany, are finding much to admire in the Third Reich.

This book could not possibly have been researched without the help of many people. I am first of all deeply obliged to the directors and staff in numerous archives: Colonel Shuvashin and the staff of the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defence (TsAMO) at Podolsk; Dr Natalya Borisovna Volkova and her staff at the Russian State Archive for Litera-ture and the Arts (RGALI); Dr Vladimir Kuzelenkov and Dr Vladimir Korotaev of the Russian State Military Archive (RGVA); Professor Kyrill Mikhailovich Andersen and Dr Oleg Vladimirovich Naumov at the Russian State Archive for Social-Political History (RGASPI); Dr Manfred Kehrig, Director of the Bundesarchiv-Militiirarchiv, Freiburg,and Frau Weibl; Dr Rolf-Dieter Mtiller and Hauptmann Luckszat at the MGFA in Potsdam; Professor Dr Eckhart Henning of the Archiv zur Geschichte der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft; Dr Wulf-Ekkehard Lucke at the Landesarchiv-Berlin; Frau Irina Renz of the Bibliothek fur Zeit-geschichte in Stuttgart; Dr Lars Ericson and Per Clason at the Krigsarki-vet in Stockholm; John E. Taylor, Wilbert Mahoney and Robin Cookson at National Archives II, College Park, Maryland; Dr Jeffrey Clarke at the United States Army Center of Military History.

  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

  MAPS

  GLOSSARY

  PREFACE

I Berlin in the New Year

2 The 'House of Cards' on the Vistula

3 Fire and Sword and 'Noble Fury'

4 The Great Winter Offensive

5 The Charge to the Oder

6 East and West

7 Clearing the Rear Areas

8 Pomerania and the Oder Bridgeheads

9 Objective Berlin

IO The Kamarilla and the General Staff

Preparing the Coup de Grace

12 Waiting for the Onslaught

13 Americans on the Elbe

14 Eve of Battle

15 Zhukov on the Reitwein Spur

16 Seelow and the Spree

17 The Fahrer's Last Birthday

18 The Flight of the Golden Pheasants

19 The Bombarded City

2o False Hopes

21 Fighting in the City

22 Fighting in the Forest

23 The Betrayal of the Will

24 Fahrerddmmerung

25 Reich Chancellery and Reichstag

26 The End of the Battle

27 Vae Victis

28 The Man on the White Horse

REFERENCES

SOURCE NOTES

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX