Zhukov At the Oder: The Decisive Battle for Berlin [Hardcover]

Tony Le Tissier (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 28, 1996 | ISBN-10: 0275952304 | ISBN-13: 978-0275952303 | Edition: First

In his new book, Tony Le Tissier provides the first detailed account of the Soviet-German conflict east of Berlin, culminating in 1945 with the last major land battle in Europe that proved decisive for the fate of Berlin. When the first Red Army soldier reached the Oder on the 31st of January, everyone at the Soviet Headquarters expected Marshall Zhukov's troops to bring a quick end to the war. However, despite desperate fighting by both sides, a stalemate persisted for two months, at the end of which the Soviet bridgeheads north and south of Kustrin were united, and the fortress finally fell. By drawing not only on official sources, but also on the accounts of individuals involved, Le Tissier meticulously reconstructs the difficult breakthrough achieved on the Oder: the establishment of bridgeheads, the battle for the fortress of Kustrin, and the bloody fight for Seelow Heights. Numerous maps and step by step illustrations show the operations of both contestants in detail and reveal a most interesting episode in the history of the Second World War in Europe.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“...it is so well presented: the book is dense in terms of the amount of information included, but it reads very easily....Zhukov at the Oder will appeal strongly to readers interested in the Russian Front of the Second World War, but also to anyone interested in reading a well written battle narrative.”–Canadian Military History Book Review Supplement

About the Author

TONY LE TISSIER (MBE) served 22 years in the British army, retiring in 1977 to work for the British Military Government in Berlin, his role including that of being the last British Governor of Spandau Allied Prison until its closure following the death of Rudolf Hess. After the unification of Germany in 1991, he elected to stay in Berlin working independently as a historian, writer, lecturer, and battlefields guide. His previous works include The Battle of Berlin, 1945, Berlin Then and Now, and Farewell to Spandau.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 360 pages
• Publisher: Praeger Publishers; First edition (February 28, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0275952304
• ISBN-13: 978-0275952303
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,482,814 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Military History Ever on The Battle of Berlin, March 24, 2007

By 

Michael Slater (Ashburn, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Zhukov At the Oder: The Decisive Battle for Berlin (Hardcover)

This is the best book ever written on the Battle of Berlin. The author to his great credit uses mostly primary sources, to include interviews and memoirs of participants, unit records and histories, and his own detailed knowledge of the terrain. This book is not a rehash of other books. It breaks new ground and is a must read for students of warfare. The first 1/3 of the book focuses on the period of January-March 1945 and the battles fought on the Oder River, as the Red Army struggled to seize and expand bridgeheads, while eliminating German ones, even as the remnants of the German Army's "Army Group Vistula" threw in desperate counterattacks to stabilize the frontline short of Berlin. The author does an incredible job integrating and explaining the tactical and operational pictures of the opposing armies, and interweaving the fighting with the immense psychological pressure Stalin and Hitler placed on their commanders. Zhukov's rivalry with Koniev is explained for the first time as a life and death matter for Zhukov, as Stalin moves his chess pieces and pits them against each other to ensure and secure his own postwar prominence and leadership. The second 1/3 of the book focuses on preparations the German NINTH Army made to defend Berlin and contrasts these to those Zhukov's 1st Belorussian Front made to break through the German lines and seize the Reichstag. The last 1/3 of the book focuses on the first four days of the last major Red Army offensive and ends with the incredibly bloody seizure of the Seelow Heights. Throughout the book the author tends to divide individual chapters into easily readable and understandable segments dealing with each German Corps and the Red Army forces they opposed. The maps help you follow the action. The author also provides excellent order of battle information for each side. The Germans are clearly scrapping the bottom of the barrel, but some of the Wehrmacht's last-levy forces put up an incredible fight, to include obscure formations such as "Battle Group 1001 Nights." The surprising reliance the Soviets were forced to place on the Polish Army is a clear indication the Red Army's enormous manpower losses in previous campaigns has bled Russia white. The author also explains the doctrine the opposing forces used in this campaign, to include a new (1945) German doctrine on defensive operations that would cost the Red Army dearly in men and tanks. The book ends before the actual fighting in the city of Berlin. To read about this part of the campaign, read the author's superb book, "Race to the Reichstag" and then read his "Slaughter at Halbe" for an exciting and fascinating account of the German NINTH Army's breakout south of the city to the west.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scholarly & definitive Work on The Battle of the Oder & Seelow Heights, January 19, 2009

By 

David M. Dougherty (Arkansas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Marshal Zhukov at the Oder: The Decisive Battle for Berlin (Hardcover)

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.

20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Thundering of Berlin 1945, May 21, 2000

By 

S. K. Ming (Beijing, China) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Zhukov At the Oder: The Decisive Battle for Berlin (Hardcover)

I like reading books on the subject of the Berlin War of 1945 when the Reds stormed across Eastern Europe and ready to plunge into Berlin, the heart of the Reichstag.John Le Tissier knows very well of this War and he researched thoroughly of the subject, like the blunders Zhukov committed at Sellow Heights, and the endurance as well as the misery of the 9th Army under General Busse, not to mention the decimated German Army and the preparation for the showdown in Berlin.I believe this book is not just a book of WWII, but rather a good book on Courage, Sacrifice, Endurance of the German Army as well as the Germanic people, and also the madness of Hitler and his cronies in the Highest Command of the OKW.