Shortlisted for WH Smith Book Awards (General Knowledge) 2003.

Antony Beevor's remarkable Stalingrad won the Samuel Johnson prize in 1999, along with a slew of other awards. Berlin; The Downfall 1945 depicts the most terrifying example of fire and sword ever known when Soviet soldiers reached the frontiers of the Reich in January 1945. It is an unforgettable story of those men, women and children who suffered from a naked exercise of power on a scale that is almost incomprehensible. Accompanied by a major national press campaign and a BBC series that is to air just after publication. Look for this one to do quite as well as its predecessor.

Antony Beevor began his career as a professional officer in the 11th Hussars. He is the author of several books, including THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR and CRETE. With his wife, Artemis Cooper, he wrote PARIS AFTER THE LIBERATION but he is best known for his book STALINGRAD (Viking, 1999), the international No 1 bestseller, and winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize, Wolfson Price and Hawthornden Prize. He lives in London SW6 and Kent.

Berlin in the new year; the "house of cards" on the vistula; fire and sword and "noble fury"; the great winter offensive; the charge to the Oder; east and west; clearing the rear areas; Pomerania and the Oder bridgeheads; objective Berlin; the "Kamarilla" and the general staff; preparing the "coup de grace"; waiting for the onslaught; Americans on the Elbe; eve of battle; Zhukov on the Reitwein spur; Seelow and the spree; the Fuhrer's last birthday; the flight of the golden pheasants; the bombarded city; false hopes; fighting in the city; fighting in the forest; the betrayal of the will; Fuhrerdammerung; Reich chancellery and Reichstag; the end of the battle; vae victis!; the man on the white horse.