Sunday, July 7, 2002		Books

OFF THE SHELF
‘Who possesses Berlin possesses Germany’
V. N. Datta

DURING 1870-1940, political developments in Germany were highly significant because they produced a profound impact on the history of Europe and international politics. Mostly wars occur due to miscalculation than calculation. That was precisely what happened in World War Iin 1914. Nobody anticipated the war and yet due to fortuitous circumstances it originated and brought disastrous consequences for humankind. However, World War II seemed inevitable due to Adolf Hitler's aggressive policies and his perverse and fanatical ideology of Nazism. Lord Acton had written, 'History is often made by men energetic, steadfastly following ideas, mostly wrong that determine events'.

A statesman who does not foresee the unforeseeable mortgages the future of his country. That was the case with Hitler, the Chancellor of Germany, who suffered from a conviction of infallibility and evolved such dangerous policies as to threaten the peace of the world. He made no material and moral contribution to civilisation and his originality lay, if at all, in his methods than ideas.

The book under review is The Fall of Berlin 1945 by Antony Beevor (Viking, Pages 490. $29.95). This work is almost a sequel to the Last Days of Hitler by Trevor-Roper, a distinguished British historian, who by virtue of skilful detective work, provided a first-class convincing evidence of the tragic end of Hitler in Berlin. Trevor-Roper was commissioned by his government to undertake this task. The present work is written too by a historian of distinction, Antony Beevor, a specialist on military history whose Stalingrad translated in 18 languages had won immense acclaim the world over.

This meticulous study is based on massive historical material drawn from the Soviet archives hitherto not used. Its main focus is not military, but political, mainly the Soviet drive against Berlin. Since 1943 certain high-ranking German military generals were convinced that the war was lost, and the only way to save the situation was to negotiate with the Allied powers through diplomatic channels and end the war. But there remained only a remote possibility of such a course so long as Hitler remained in power. At a conference in East Prussia, Hitler's headquarters, an attempt was made on his life but he escaped with superficial injuries.

On December 25, 1944 the chief of German army's supreme command, General Heinz Guderian, informed Hitler that the Soviet army was about to launch a major attack on Germany next and requested him for the supply of more army divisions to resist the offensive. As was his wont, Hitler lost his temper and shouted, 'It is the greatest imposture scheme since Genghis Khan. Who is responsible for producing this rubbish?'

As anticipated by the chief of the German army staff, three Soviet army groups and the one led by Marshal Georgy Zhukho launched the invasion of Berlin. The author gives a blow-by-blow account of the military strategy adopted by Soviet generals and their rapid drive to Berlin before any of the Allied military could reach there. Realising the grim reality of the situation, Hitler ordered the establishment of the Panzerjagd Division, but in vain, as it was composed of bicycle companies formed from the Hitler Youth. Beevor writes: "Each bicyclist was to carry two-panzerfaust anti-tank launchers clamped upright either side of the front or attached to the handlebars. The bicyclist was supposed to be able to dismount in a moment and be ready for action against a Stalin attack."

About the advance of Soviet troops and the flights of the civilians, Beevor writes: "..... an extraordinary mixture of modern and medieval tank troops in padded black helmets, their T-345 churning up the earth as they dipped and rolled up the ground.... the tractors hauling great howitzer, all eventually followed by second echelons in horse drawn carts."

Beevor shows the magnitude of the cruelties perpetrated by the Soviet troops on the Germans. The Soviet indulged in looting and raping German women with reckless abandon. According to Beevor at least two million women are thought to have been raped during the Russian invasion. A doctor testified that out of 1,00,000 women at least 10,000 died, mostly as a result of suicide, and a large number of women who resisted the Soviet soldiers were mercilessly brutalised. To a historian, such horrible accounts of man's depravity are usually of trivial significance, but Beevor has broken new ground on the atrocious soldiering behaviour in times of war, which he has highlighted.

With the advancement of Soviet troops. the Berliners wanted to quit the Capital but Reich Commissioner Gobbles ordered that no one must leave the city without permission and anyone doing so would be punished. A number of people who had been listening to foreign broadcasts were arrested and some of them executed.

Hitler realised that the war was over, and that he had lost it. Still he ordered mass material destruction.He made the last speech to the German nation on January 30, 1945, and retired to the German chancellery. In the bunker he brooded over his defeat and attributed it to the treachery of his subordinates that betrayed him. On April 28-29 he married Eva Braun and dictated his will. He appointed Karl Donitz head of the state and Gobbles as Chancellor. He took poison on April 30 and was burned with Eva Braun according to his instructions. She too had committed suicide by swallowing poison.

From early March the American troops were also advancing towards Berlin. Stalin was determined not to allow this and was most anxious to capture Berlin before anyone else. Beevor quotes Karl Marx, who had said:"Who possesses Berlin possesses Germany and whoever controls Germany controls Europe." Stalin nursed an inveterate hatred for Germans and was determined to wreak his vengeance on them for their invasion of the Soviet Union in January 1941. The author emphasises that Stalin's object in reaching Berlin first was to seize stocks of uranium, which he needed for his nuclear programme. The uranium lay in the Kaiser Willelm Institute in Dahlem, Berlin first was to seize stocks of uranium, which he needed for his nuclear programme. The uranium lay in the Kaiser Willelm Institute in Dahlem, Berlin. On April 24, 250 kilograms of metallic uranium, three tons of uranium oxide and twenty litres of heavy water were seized.

The author emphasises that the allied supreme commander, Dwight David Eisenhower, was not interested in capturing Berlin because he wanted to win the war against Germany as quickly as possible so that he could turn to the Japanese who were causing immense casualties among the British and American troops in the East. Eisenhower wanted to enlist Stalin's support to fight the Japanese. Thus the field was open for Stalin to launch a frontal attack on Berlin in the latter part of March. At the moment the Soviet forced approximated 2.05 million, backed by 41,600 guns and heavy mortars as well as 6250 tanks.

Initially, the Soviet troops suffered heavily largely due to their reckless hurry and carelessness — the Soviet aircrafts were bombing their own men. The Soviet troops were running fast to reach Berlin first, and no care was taken of the wounded soldiers. The Soviet high command had no regard for losses, and it is calculated that on the first day of fighting, the Soviet regiment lost nearly three times more men than the German troops.

Finally, on April 15, General Zhukho, by losing 3,00,000 men as compared with German losses of 1,20,000 entered Berlin. The European war finally ended as a result of German surrender on April 7 and formal capitulation settlement was signed on April 8, 1945. When this writer visited Berlin in 1976, the Soviet Union controlled Berlin, and there was fear all around. All this ended with the fall of the Berlin wall. 'The old order changeth yielding place to new', says Tennyson.